We are sure you are all aware of the water line break we encountered on Sunday December 18, which initially affected the entire community. Ron Richards, the Chairman of the Building & Roads committee, immediately gathered his committee to investigate and start the repair process. They were initially able to investigate and isolate the problem to Buildings 1 through 6 and the Clubhouse. The rest of the community had their water back early Monday morning. The entire repair process took several more days and had a number of outside plumbers, etc. to help with the problem. During that period Ron and his people helped to get water to the units affected in order to help with getting toilets flushed, cooking, etc. Their efforts helped to get water back to all the units by Wednesday. Our community is extremely fortunate to have these dedicated individuals who give their time for the benefit of the entire community. Thank you all very much. We also do not want to minimize the efforts of all our committee chairs and members for what they do for our community. VOAM 2017 Board Inside this issue: Building & Roads 2 …...Winter Report #1 2 …...Water Line Issue 2-3 Social Committee Note 4 Knit & Crochet Group 4 …….Water Line Issue 5 Villas Experience VOLUME 11, ISSUE 1 M M ESSAGE ESSAGE F F ROM ROM THE THE B B OARD OARD …………………….. …………………….. G G EORGE EORGE R R OSE OSE Jim Gail Steve Nellie George Hazi Balent DeBlazio Simonin Rose AT LARGE TREASURER VICE PRESIDENT SECRETARY PRESIDENT We would like to wish everyone a happy holiday season and a wonderful new year.
Transcript
We are sure you are all aware of the water line break we encountered on Sunday December 18, which initially
affected the entire community.
Ron Richards, the Chairman of the Building & Roads committee, immediately gathered his committee to investigate and start the repair process. They were initially able to investigate and isolate the problem to Buildings 1 through 6 and the Clubhouse. The rest of the community had their water back early Monday morning. The entire repair process took several more days and had a number of outside plumbers, etc. to help with the
problem.
During that period Ron and his people helped to get water to the units affected in order to help with
getting toilets flushed, cooking, etc.
Their efforts helped to get water
back to all the units by Wednesday.
Our community is extremely fortunate to have these dedicated individuals who give their time for the benefit of the entire community.
Thank you all very much.
We also do not want to minimize the efforts of all our committee chairs and members for what they do for
our community.
VOAM
2017
Board
Inside this issue:
Building & Roads 2
…...Winter Report #1 2
…...Water Line Issue 2-3
Social Committee Note 4
Knit & Crochet Group 4
…….Water Line Issue 5
Villas Experience VOLUME 11, ISSUE 1
MM ESSAGEESSAGE FF ROMROM THETHE BB OARDOARD……………………..……………………..GG EO RG EEO RG E RR O SEO SE
Jim Gail Steve Nellie George
Hazi Balent DeBlazio Simonin Rose
AT LARGE TREASURER VICE PRESIDENT SECRETARY PRESIDENT
We would like to wish everyone a happy holiday season and a
wonderful new year.
Building and Roads Committee Report…………………………..Ron Richards
Water
Line
Issue
Winter
Report
#1
Around 11:00 am on Sunday, December 18, a resident reported water running in the street between the clubhouse and Building 1 on Fair Meadow Drive. We had just had considerable rain for the last 2 days. We considered whether this could be runoff since there were reports of water flooding nearby roads. This was an unusual location for such runoff here. It did not subside after a couple of hours. We have an engineering drawing of the water system which was reviewed. The consensus was we probably have a water line break of some type. We notified Elite Management that we would need a commercial plumber on Monday. (Our Community, like many other condominiums, has a private water system with one service point
with the water company.)
We then shut off the two valves in front of the clubhouse. We had to wait for the water to drain from the pipes higher up than the Clubhouse. Finally, the water stopped surfacing in the street. The time was 6:45p on Sunday. It was now a matter of waiting for the plumber. An email was sent to all residents at 7:45p informing
them their water would be off until a plumber could make repairs on Monday.
Monday
At about 6:00 am on Monday, we again reviewed the drawing, this time on a computer where we could enlarge it, and found that the water lines crossed at the corner of Glen Arden Circle and Fair Meadow Drive and were interconnected. Further, we found a series of 4 valves located on each side of the four-way interconnection which would permit us to isolate each section of our Community. We then closed the valve at the stop sign on Fair Meadow Drive and turned on the second valve at the clubhouse. This provided water to all locations except Buildings 1 thru 6 on lower Fair Meadow Drive. A further examination of the drawing on the computer showed other valves which will permit us to isolate Phase II or Pine Brook Court. An email was sent to all
residents indicating the water was back on for all except Buildings 1 thru 6.
Later Monday morning we learned that brown water had been observed in the Men’s Room at the clubhouse on Saturday night during a local party. The drawing indicated that the clubhouse connection to the water main
was located under the asphalt in the handicap section of the parking area.
On December 11, 2016, we had our first snow event. This was followed by freezing rain that evening and snow the next 2 days. We had an issue reported about salt hitting the garage door. The drivers were notified. We had another freezing rain event on the 17th. Freezing rain is the hardest
for us all to prepare for.
The markers were placed by Mow, Mulch & More in mid-December. Over time, some of these get knocked down or are leaning.
Please remember that if you try to straighten them out or place them upright again, that they bite. Do not touch these with your bare hands. Please use gloves. You may get little slivers of fiberglass similar to splinters, otherwise. It is helpful to have them in their proper place and for you to do it.
Thank you.
Mow, Mulch & More provided salt for the street during the water
Elite Management contacted McKean Plumbing out of Washington, Pa. They re-arranged their schedules and arrived around 9:00 am. We reviewed the drawing with their expert, Lynn, and the location of the surfaced water. The 8-inch water line was indicated on the drawing to be 3 feet from the curb, but no
indication of depth.
There was no guarantee that this was the general location of the leak. We knew we would have to dig. But before you can dig, you must call 411 PA One Call (Call Before You Dig). They contact all utility companies and determine the location of each utility service line – electric, gas, phone, and cable. Lynn also had called for his backhoe service provider. At around Noon, the utilities provided their OK to dig, and the backhoe was
on site.
Now we had to dig to begin the search for the leak. It was decided to first locate the water line under land rather than asphalt, and then work toward the area under asphalt. We found the water line at a depth of about 7 feet and reasonably close to the 3 feet from the curb. We also uncovered a 6-inch flexible french drain that was about 3 feet below the surface which runs parallel to the curb. The water was turned on again and the leak was evident upstream of our initial dig, but we still could not determine how far away. We dug a small hole at the mail house end of the parking area and turned on the water again. No water surfaced there. Therefore, the leak was somewhere near or under the parking area. They dug up to the asphalt and still didn’t find the clubhouse tap. To remove the asphalt, they would need a bigger backhoe and the asphalt would need to be saw cut to minimize damage to adjacent asphalt. Ron contacted Tarbuck who agreed to perform the saw cutting. It would be a couple of hours before he could be there. Rather than pay overtime to the plumbers who would be just standing by until Tarbuck arrived and completed the saw cutting, we told
them to resume tomorrow. Tarbuck’s crew arrived about 6:30p and were completed by 8:00p.
Tuesday
Work restarted at 8:30a on Tuesday. One of the plumbers brought out his camera used to examine sewer lines. We cut the 6-inch french drain and inserted the camera. We turned the water on and located where it entered the french drain. We then had a close approximation of where the break was. We then had to remove and save the curbing, remove the asphalt back to where the leak was indicated, and then dig carefully to find the clubhouse tap. After a couple of hours of digging we uncovered the clubhouse tap which
was the source of the leak where it attached to the main.
The connection is called a saddle tap because there is a hole drilled in the main pipe and a tap is installed which resembles a saddle since it has a strap which goes around the pipe to hold the tap in
place.
What we found was a huge stone sitting on top of the tap and the strap was broken. Normally the main would be back filled with gravel until covered and then the rest of the ditch would be back filled with dirt. There was only a small amount of gravel present and the rock was apparently pushed into the ditch during the original back fill. Our conjecture is - the rock may very well have partially cracked the strap at that time. Over time,
pressure from the main line caused further stress to the strap which eventually completely broke.
Examination of the strap shows evidence of an old partial crack and then where the more recent balance of
the strap had cracked leading to the strap breaking and the tap moving away from the main causing the leak.
Page 3 VOLUME 11, ISSUE 1
Broken
Saddle
Tap
Strap
Water
Line
Issue
(cont’d)
A u l d L an g S yn e is
a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song (Roud # 6294). The song's title translated into standard English as "old long since", or as it appears in the first line of the chorus as, "for (the sake of) old times". The song is all about preserving old friendships and looking back over the events of the year, and is sung all over the world, evoking a sense of belonging and fellowship, tinged with nostalgia. It has long been a much-loved Scottish tradition to sing the song just before midnight—bidding farewell to the old
year.
HISTORY
AND
WORDS
TO
AULD
LANG
SYNE
M eets the
second
Tuesday of each
month—6:30 to
8:30 PM, at the
home of Karen
Neubauer
[537 Fair
Meadow Drive].
All are welcome
at any time.
The Clubhouse
Christmas Tree
will be taken
down on
January 9th at
9:30 am
Knit and
Crochet
Group
Inspirational New Year Quotes 2017
“Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they
have no account.”……………………………………………………...Oscar Wilde
“If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.”…………………….Confucius
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”…...……….George Eliot
“For last year's words belong to last year's language; and next year's words await another voice...And to make an end is to make a beginning."” .T.S. Eliot
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes, because if you are mak-ing mistakes, then you are doing something—trying new things, learning, liv-ing, pushing yourself, changing yourself and your world, doing things you've never done before. So that's my wish for you, myself, all of us—Make New Mistakes, glorious, amazing mistakes; mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever.” ……………………….……………………………………………...…Neil Gaiman
“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” ………………………………………………………………………….Brad Paisley
“May Light always surround you; Hope kindle and rebound you.
May your Hurts turn to Healing; Your Heart embrace Feeling.
May Wounds become Wisdom; Every Kindness a Prism.
May Laughter infect you; Your Passion resurrect you.
May Goodness inspire your Deepest Desires.
Through all that you Reach For, May your arms Never Tire.” …….D. Simone
Note
from
the
Social
Committee
Kay
Richards
Page 4 VOLUME 11, ISSUE 1
English translation
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
And surely you'll buy your pint cup! and surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We two have run about the slopes, and picked the daisies fine;
But we've wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine†; But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne. CHORUS
And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o' thine! And we'll take a right good-will draught,
Lynn had ordered most of the parts required for the repair ahead of time, except for the clubhouse connection which was not known until it was uncovered. They used a compression module to repair the original tap hole and then installed a new saddle tap for the clubhouse. We turned the water back on to the balance of the residents at 3:55p. We scheduled the repair of the clubhouse connection for the next morning.
An email was sent to the residents of Buildings 1 through 6 as to how to clear their water lines, and another one announcing the water was back on.
Water Line Issue (cont’d)
Wednesday
The plumbers installed a brass fitting arrangement to permit a connection from the saddle tap to the original PVC line that runs to the clubhouse curb box. They reinforced this arrangement with cement blocking and shims to assure no movement during back fill. They completed the hookup for the clubhouse water.
