Back to work

It was a gorgeous day today, so naturally, I pushed myself more than usual. The tank's "owies" are getting much needed first-aid.

My sister came and held the ladder while I coated half of the upper part that I can't reach without a ladder. Wednesday she's going to come back, and we'll do the other half. Then the rest I can reach. So that's a relief. I just couldn't chance a fall. I would have gotten all scraped up, at best. Been there done that. Had enough. 

She lives in Iowa most of the year so we don't see one another very often. We were visiting, and I wasn't paying a lot of attention. When I took my gloves off to get a drink, I forgot to put them back on. Next thing I knew, my hands were all coated with Drylok. I thought no biggee, I'd just wash it off, but I cannot get it off with anything. My hands look gross. I hope the stuff sticks to the walls that good. 

Cleaning the bad areas for patching with Quikwall surface bonding cement, I did come across some wet caliche among the bedrock. But no water got through either the caliche or the rock. It had to have seeped (or run) between the tank walls and the caliche/rock, and found a good route out. I'm determined that won't happen again. And I looked closer at the flaked off concrete and it did have fiber in it, just for the record. But the whole tank was never coated with Drylok before.

I was kind of disgusted that my sister took such an unflattering picture of me, until I realized she was holding the ladder, and didn't have a better angle option. I'll remedy that Wednesday. Meanwhile, it's good for a laugh. (I like to think I can laugh at myself, anyway.)

I've figured out something that might help save the tank from future damage. When it rains, water runs past the western side of the tank to the main arroyo. (The tank is built into a smaller tributary.) So I'm going to divert the water away from the west side, where all the water damage is, and has been in the past, and it might help. I'll build a sort of curb out of rocks and cement to divert it. Shouldn't take more than a couple of days, but not until the tank is waterproofed.

I have some exciting (to me) ideas for fixing a couple of bad places on the road coming in, too, but that'll be after the tank projects.