Equipment has been dropped off so that several projects can get underway this spring. Among them is an urgent installation of a drainage system for the Elgin St. side of the parish gardens. Water from this spring’s melt and rains was flooding through the rear door of the parish centre, onto our new floor! Frank Szabo of Dundas Valley Construction, the firm that handled our parish centre renovation said that this spring’s flood made sense of what they found when removing the old floor,
“It came up a very easy, the glue being practically gone. Other areas of the floor didn’t show that. If we’ve been having a flood through the door every 5 or 6 years over the last forty years, going under the floor, that would explain what we saw.”
Because the old floor was wood parquet, any water coming in would not show, the water flowing through the floor and being absorbed by the wood. The new vinyl floor has the water clearly pooling on top, and posing a serious risk to damaging the new installation once the water eventually intrudes underneath the vinyl.
All-in-One landscaping, a local Dundas landscaping firm, will be taking on the task of digging two to three “french drains” and a catchment tank to stop a recurrence of the flooding. All-in-One’s Lucas Waxman says he is putting into place something that will be capable of dealing with typical spring rains and snow melt, but also “once a century” storm events.
With the heavy equipment on site for this urgent project, the One Heart, One Soul project of rebuilding the Marian garden and putting in place proper pads for park benches, etc. will be undertaken once the drainage problem is addressed.
Work will begin in Holy Week, but will be suspended Good Friday.