Alex HannaAnybody have any specific expertise in water pumps and draining water from where it's not supposed to be? Our derby warehouse is a mess and I need help thinking about how to engineer a solution.
I know you all were expecting hot AI takes from this account, but I'm on vacation, which means I take on my part-time job of thinking how to keep a dilapidated warehouse dry.
Amy Winecoff@alex my secret desire is to have a alt feed where all the researchers I follow only post about their personal interests
@aawinecoff oh hell yes
Bridget Winds Cogley@alex for several inches of standing inches of water, Home Depot or Lowes have small pumps that link to a garden hose. This is temporary. If on the regular, that's a different discussion, a sump pump may help, but could require digging into concrete. Please feel free to share more details or pictures.
@WindsCogley Well it's not a basement, so why a sump pump?
@alex if there's a spot consistently collecting water (ex: floor is uneven) can cut a channel in and direct the water. If it's a low area, sump pump pushes out the water. Otherwise, a drain out and down the hill. Changing gutters, etc can help also redirect drainage. Key is pushing water out if this is a reoccurring issue.
CUSTARDvillain@alex if we are taking dampness dehumidifiers might help. For standing water without the ability to divert the source one might have to trench and thus re direct the water. I’m sorry I am not familiar with the space.
On naval vessels we use various pumps but we also have spaces with standing water inside the ship. The ventilation system has dehumidifiers in key places to main some dryness. Drain flow suction (dfs) was the basic and use gravity when possible. 🤷🏻♂️
On naval vessels we use various pumps but we also have spaces with standing water inside the ship. The ventilation system has dehumidifiers in key places to main some dryness. Drain flow suction (dfs) was the basic and use gravity when possible. 🤷🏻♂️
@GrimCrack3rLiev it's not dampness. its lots of standing water we try to divert with tarps and kiddie pools.
parenTessaLation@alex @GrimCrack3rLiev followup query, where is the water coming from?
And where do you need it to go?
Does it tend to pool in one place or are there many small locatioms of puddling?
@jakimfett @GrimCrack3rLiev it's rain because the roof is a sieve. there are many, many small pools. :(
@alex @jakimfett i found the instagram video. It made me think of rain barrels.
Short of a new roof, gaining roof access to patch it or putting the tarps on the roof exterior, I mention rain barrels as hoses can be hooked up to the barrels to help remove the water. Either creating funnels from the tarps to ‘feed the water’ into the barrels. Or using tensing on the tarps to favor one side as the down spout. Think big 🛝. I wish i could send you a new roof tbh.
Short of a new roof, gaining roof access to patch it or putting the tarps on the roof exterior, I mention rain barrels as hoses can be hooked up to the barrels to help remove the water. Either creating funnels from the tarps to ‘feed the water’ into the barrels. Or using tensing on the tarps to favor one side as the down spout. Think big 🛝. I wish i could send you a new roof tbh.
@GrimCrack3rLiev @jakimfett Yeah, unfortunately a new roof is way too expensive. I was thinking of creating a few tarps to funnel. We have a downspout on one side but we've had a new tarp tear multiple times in one month. :(
We have a big ladder and a cherry picker for mounting tarps, though.
@alex what is the intended purpose of the warehouse space?
Does the goal involve keeping some portions entirely dry, or is this about dealing with the standing water, or...?
Because using tarps and such as a stopgap until the rains are done sounds like an option, but if a little bit of wet is okay, focusing on fixing the drainage (and planning towards repairing things on the roof once the weather is more amenable to outside work) might be better.
There's also the question of where is the water going. If you have a storm drain or other dumping point for the water, fixing the drainage depends on what else you need the floor for too, because the straightforward method of cutting channels between standing water and the storm drain could make it less easy to walk or move things (especially heavy things) across.
Are there areas that don't leak that could be shored up around their edges with tarpage? It sounds like the weight of the water is tearing the tarps, and you might need a frame to encourage the water to run off the tarp (towards the storm drain?) but at that point you're kinda just building a small temporary inside roof.
@jakimfett It's about keeping areas kind of dry. And we use many, many tarps already.
David Bruchmann@alex @jakimfett @GrimCrack3rLiev if you close the holes with bitumen or something else you should cover this filling material afterwards by a waterproof layer that also resists the sun. The weather is destroying bitumen or some other materials over time and you need a weatherproof finish.
@davidbruchmann @jakimfett @GrimCrack3rLiev Some folks re-tared the roof a few years ago, but yeah I don't think they had a waterproofed layer above it.
@alex @jakimfett @GrimCrack3rLiev You should likely make a plan which parts of the roof have to be replaced and which can be fixed. Then if fixing is too much for the whole roof, make a plan perhaps which areas below are most important to protect, then you had to fix the roof there at first.
@alex @jakimfett @GrimCrack3rLiev not sure about the amount of water on the floor below the roof. There exist vacuum cleaners that suck also water.
Sean@alex it might be worth asking Ima and Neo from Santa Cruz if you know them. That warehouse is a second floor setup so it’s not quite the same as what you’re describing, but they struggled with a leaky roof for ages and might have some advice or connections.
@complexmath yeah they are supposed to be up here next month. I'll ask
Veronika Cheplygina@alex what's the floor made of and what's under it? I don't have any specific expertise but since in NL there is a lot of water where people don't want it, maybe I can suggest some search terms 😅
@DrVeronikaCH I mean, the floor is concrete, and we layer a sport court on top of it.
@alex our building sucks water from the ground, therefore walls are always wet and the air moisture is higher than usual. This is a construction problem and destroys the cement between the bricks and the plaster over time.