[nico] So there were a number of home issues we rationalized as "its an old house" or " its our first house", but one we could not get over was the retaining wall. The original wall was about 16 ' long and 10' at its highest point and consisted of mortared flagstone (local sandstone). The entire mass was leaned out towards the driveway. Not a great place for a car (is the earth telling us something?).
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| Note the original stone retaining wall in the process of failing |
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| cracks in our yard from subsidence |
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| does insurance cover new rebuilt failing wall? |
Although the "builders" who flipped the house rebuilt the wall as per our closing agreement, they rebuilt it upside down! When they"fixed" if for the second time, the wall not only leaned but also bulged. Turns outs they backfilled the new upside down wall with pieces f the original wall. It only took a few Appalachian thunderstorms for the wall to move. Gotta love that WV clay! Cracks also developed across the yard above the wall and along the sidewalk.
Realizing that the wall was going to fail, the city threatened to condemn our new rebuilt wall. Nothing like this sort of incentive to rebuild our wall, our yard, our house...and our life!
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| some men move gravel; Peter moves boulders |
Fully skeptical of the army of shady contractors in Morgantown, we gave up hope on finding someone to help us rebuilf. Then we met Peter Galik the man and passion behind Rock and Water. Sera mentioned meeting Peter and described him a Slovakian climber / nature philosopher / precision maker of landscape and I instantly realized that this gift from the landscape gods was, in fact, my old climbing friend Peter. Peter is nothing less than amazing, creating an ecosystem of intent and precision (without the use of a level...or eating...or stopping...ever).
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| Breakfast with a backhoe |
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