(English followed by Japanese)
このところ、ちょっとブログが滞っていた。でも決して記録することがなかったのではない。今年も振り返ると少しずつだけどいろいろと改善された。
最近、広島は豪雨災害が絶えない。ウチも浸水した。黄金山にどんどん家が立ち並び、周辺の住居環境が変化したからか、山からの水の流れが変わった。そして母屋では水の被害があちこちで顕著になった。
居間の畳がトランポリンのように感じる箇所があることには、しばらく気がついていた。先日とうとう、恐る恐る畳を開けてみると、床下はすごいことになっていた。
顔を両手で覆いながらも、指の隙間から見てしまう、まるでホラー映画を見ているかのよう。どうやら祖父母が床下に作った「芋がま」にヒビが入り、水が溜まるようになってしまったらしい。冬の食料を貯めておく芋がまは、この辺りの古い家にはお馴染みの存在だとご近所に聞いた。いったい誰がこの汚水を処理するのか。
いろいろな対策を検討した結果、夫と業者さんとで水を出し、土を入れて水がたまらない高さにする。道路からの浸水ルートにも土を盛って高くして、母屋の床下に水がなるべく流れないように、その後、腐った木材を取り替える、ということになった。言うと簡単だが、かなりイヤな作業だったことは間違いない。関係者に本当に感謝。お陰でかなり気持ち良くなった。古民家に水は大敵。
It’s been a while since I last updated my blog. This doesn’t mean not much happened with the house. I’ll start with the most horrifying looking problem of the year.
For some time I was aware that our tatami mats bounced like a trampoline in one of our living rooms. Been just too scared to lift the mats and face yet another problems of the house.
I was mainly worried about kids running through the room. We sighed in despair. Just when we thought we could finally start beautification of the house rather than spending more money on structural issues, we thought. When we lifted the tatami mats, it was BAD.
There was so much rain water trapped in what is called “Poteto Storage”, built under the house by my grand parents back in the day when it was a good idea to keep food for winter. This under floor storage was apparently a common feature around this area.
It was like watching a horror movie. Covering eyes with hands and peeping through fingers. The damage was BAD.
Unlike many might think, tatami mats are not nailed securely on to the timbers underneath. So you really want to make sure it is good and solid under there.
We got some help from our local builders. We told them we need to do what we can do ourselves to save cost. It was really good of them to agree to this, they even gave us guidance and just took up the jobs that we couldn’t do ourselves. After contemplating different options, we decided that filling more soil into the old potato storage hole and stopping rain water from accumulating was the most effective way. This was easier said than done. Who wants to go in there and scoop out that filthy water? Hats off to my husband and the builders.
The garden ground also had a slight slope leading a lot of rain water into under the house rather than to the ditch where it was supposed to go so my husband laid out more soil on the garden, creating a gentle slope to lead water towards outside.
Water is really the biggest enemy when it comes to a traditional timber house like ours. Thanks to our team, the problem was solved in the end and the living room feels like a much healthier space to be in now.