In spit of best efforts to construct a berm around this Johnson Road, Silver Creek residence (as pictured in your May 9 issue), it did not hold with the water bursting through the berm and surrounding the house to a height of about two feet. Of course, this is an unnerving experience for both tenant as well as the landlord. But in the vein of ‘things can always look worse than they seem’ readers should take another look at the picture and picture this.
Imagine the house as a box – with the bottom of the box being the front deck… all the way up 16 feet to the top of the box – the A-frame roofline. Not the box is then suspended one-metre-plus off the ground in mid-air onto treated posts and beams. In other words, there is no basement under this house.
In fact, apart form the electrical, water and plumbing pipes running upward int the house in insulated tubes, all there is under the house is the pasture floor, covered in plastic and held in place by a few inches of gravel. And, of course, we have an insulated skirting around it to keep critters out and to keep it warm in the winter. This is so occupants can rest easy knowing that in May freshet, water is in and round the house… in June the water is out. All tenants are shown the house design and explained how it works when they move in.
Was it a close call? Well yes, the water rose to 10 inches from touching underneath the main floor. But the building and its contents are safe and dry. We appreciate the tenant’s patience and understanding of what it means to live on a waterfront property.
Complete in 1998 by Canadian Framing Ltd, it was built utilizing construction techniques used around the globe for waterfront dwellings. For years 1998 to 2014, the high water did not touch the front steps. For 2014, 2016, 2017 and now this year, however in May the water covered the property to a depth of two feet – receding by early June .
M. Button