Marc's Musings

It was hit or miss today, the original forecast for today had been 10% POP but, as can be attested to by my rained out bike ride, mother nature does not watch the weather reports. So some workmen showed up today, milled around a bit and then left. Some of the other guys came by to pull hay bundles across the foot of the driveway to ensure dirt does not get pushed out into the roadway by any pop up storms.

But the afternoon was largely rain free so the crew from Daco Stone showed up and finished the wall(s).

We were toying with having the back face of the wall by our boulder wall covered too but thought better of it and settled for a smoothing coat of mortar to give it a more refined look than the native industrial concrete

We also had the portion of the driveway retaining wall rock faced just to be consistent with the stamped concrete patio area that we now have as a “Cap” for the driveway.

Walking around the wall from the shed:

And overall…

Michelle is very happy with the look!

The way is now clear for them to come in and install the lanai. This should begin in a couple of days weather permitting.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 24 – Rock Face on retaining walls has begun

2012 Home Renovations – Part 26 – Lanai parts have arrived

Michelle was concerned about the colors of the stones that arrived from Daco Stone. The sample board we were using to drive the decision was only about 15″ x 19″ of stone and, while it largely represented what we actually received, the darkest stones were represented as no more than a couple of inch high sliver on the sample. So there was some great back and forth before we were able to move forward with the install. I think most of the last minute stuff could have been avoided had the guy from Daco been more responsive to Michelle’s earlier email and phone calls from the earlier in the week.

Anyway, work has begun and will likely only need one more day to complete.

Part of such a large project – for us neophytes at least, is that there are a LOT of things that are taken for granted by the builders. i.e. the “normal” way of doing things or expected results when you make a selection.

One of the things that we absolutely did not know was that you would need to specify that “capstone” meant a solid single piece across the top of the wall if that is what you want. It turns out that having a capstone built out of smaller pieces looks fine, but I was surprised nonetheless since it was never discussed and my and Michelle’s assumptions had been that it would be solid.

At the end of the day here is what things looked like

Note also in the picture above that our pool heater has arrived. There are also some other boxes that you can’t see behind this that speak to the impending completion of the project!

2012 Home Renovations – Part 23 – Columns continue and Rock Face Stones have arrived

2012 Home Renovations – Part 25 – Rock Face completed

I submitted a couple more checks that bring this project to about $115,000 so far.  The original cost was expected to be in about the $140,000 range. We’ll see.

Workers were at my place all day today but what was accomplished does not jump out at you.

There was progress on the columns but there is still much to be done. You can see that the outer layer is complete on 3 of the 4 columns, crown molding is in process on all of these

Looking at the end of the retaining wall, in the center of the below picture you can see one of the anchors for the lanai is now in place. It looks dark brown to me, but I’m told it is “bronze” by those who know better.

And replacement vinyl siding has been installed where the flower beds used to be. It looks more green in this picture than in real life but the match is very good considering we’re trying to match to 15-20 year old existing siding.

I think the most exciting news is that the rock face stone and supplies were delivered today. Tomorrow and Saturday the stone will be installed, making way for the lanai to be constructed next week. Michelle wants to root through the boxes to ensure that the stones are all pleasing colors.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 22 – New Columns and Tile Sawing

2012 Home Renovations – Part 24 – Rock Face on retaining walls has begun

As expected, things came to pretty much a crawl while decisions regarding rock faces and colors were being made.

Three days ago new columns were installed to replace the multitude of makeshift supports

The next day they came and finished sawing the existing tiles so they were even. They had originally been cut and notched to accommodate the former lanai wall plus some had been damaged in the demolition.

and they repaired and reinforced the cross beam that will eventually top the new screening (whitish in the center of this picture)

Then they came back and began covering the rough columns with a more finished wood

In a couple of days I am expecting them to start rock facing the pool retaining wall. I think this will take about a day to a day and a half. After that the lanai install can begin.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 21 – The Boulders are installed

2012 Home Renovations – Part 23 – Columns continue and Rock Face Stones have arrived

With the exception of a couple of half cap stones, the modular retaining wall is complete.

Once the rock face in the back is complete (and possibly the Lanai too) we’ll move forward with pulling out the remainder of the driveway and pouring a new one. We just want to have all the heavy stuff done to avoid unnecessary traffic over the new pavement.

In the back the stairs have been largely completed. We will soon be bringing the soil up around these and the newly built wood wall.

Below, some parts of the wall will be left loose until we finish putting in the various hoses, pipes and electrical connections

This topsoil was brought in by hand so as not to damage the new patio. This area will be for various butterfly bushes and bird feeders and baths so that we can enjoy them from the screened in area.

Below, those pallets of boulders that I showed a few days ago have gone into replacing a rotting railroad tie retaining wall that was shoring up the original hill. This still needs tome work.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 20 – Modular Retaining wall continues

2012 Home Renovations – Part 22 – New Columns and Tile Sawing

We are in that phase of the project where the work done is more incremental than it was originally.

Below we see that work continues on the modular block retaining wall

And initial fill behind the wall that will allow widening of the driveway also continues

The dirt pile continues to shrink. We’ve had several people drop by offering to take the dirt for projects that they have ongoing. But I think we’re going to end up using ALL of it in the last phase of this job.

There is not much more that will be done with this retaining wall. Hay (Pine Straw) has been put down to control erosion. The cement wall is very near the property line so all that “Pine Strawed”  portion is my neighbor’s to do with what he wishes. It’s not much different than it was before my project. He’s still trying to figure out what he wants to do with that area.

In the back, now that the patio cement is mated to the existing slab by the shed, we’re pulling out the existing timbers and replacing them with new ones that will extend through the new length of this area.

At the end where you see the shovels and pick axe there will be steps to provide easy access to the back yard now that our former path that led there is blocked by the pool retaining wall

Right about where the Pool retaining wall and the wooden wall meet will be where we locate the pool heater, fastlane hydraulic pump and the salt water system.

The wood beams will only come to about halfway across the end of the cement wall. We intend to rock-face the wall and we’ll put a final corner on it here so that the wood won’t be visible unless you are actually looking at it from this vantage point.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 19 – Sealing the Deck, Start of Modular Retaining Wall

2012 Home Renovations – Part 21 – The Boulders are installed

Arriving home after 5 days down South we were greeted with a VERY strong smell. I was thinking “Geez, what did the cat eat this time?”. But the answer came to us when we peeked out into the back and could see a couple of small barrels of sealant that still sitting on the patio. As of these pictures the first coat of sealant had been applied to only a portion of the deck.

The initial pour of the stairs was also done. There is a fair amount of work ahead to smooth them out and ensure that they are properly leveled. I was surprised to see how well the cement captured the patterns from the mold planks.

The overview gives you a sense of the pattern and subsequent cutting that we opted for. I’ll take closer pictures of the deck once the sealant application is complete. I was somewhat concerned that the 3 x 3 foot cutting would look too industrial (like a public swimming pool) but I think this size, at the suggestion of the concrete guys, really complements the space.

Below we can see the very gradual ramp that was crafted to rise up from the deck level to the shed slab level.

And looking from the driveway toward the shed and pool you can now see the driveway and patio make their curvy way to the shed.

Here are a couple of pallets of boulders that will be used at the West end of the yard to control erosion and to provide a transition from the hill to the pool retaining wall. If you look at the first picture in this post, the boulders will go roughly where the end of the blue pipe is located in the center of the image between the juniper and the wall.

And below we have the modular block retaining wall taking shape. This will support the additional dirt base that will help re-slope the driveway to allow for the top of the driveway to be on less of an angle than before. Also this will allow us to widen the driveway somewhat to make parking easier when we have guests.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 18 – Finally, the deck pour

2012 Home Renovations – Part 20 – Modular Retaining wall continues