| March 25, 2008 - Work has officially begun in the backyard! We submitted plans to the city for our shop building in February and they finally were approved and back to us last Monday, March 17. Jason rented a trencher last Friday and Saturday and has started getting the building ready for concrete! |
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March 25 - The forms are almost completed. We are so excited to finally
be starting on this new project! 
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passed our 2nd inspection today! The foundation and forms are all
prepped and we plan to pour concrete on Thursday. After that, things
will probably move a bit faster...
Jason has also been working on putting in drain lines and water lines and back-filling the other trenches. To the right, you can see what it looks like as of today: |
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April 10 - We
poured concrete today! With the help of Dad and two guys from our
Bible study group, it went so quickly! They started at 7 and were
done before 11! We also picked up the lumber today so Jason plans to start framing the building this weekend! Here are a few photos from the day... |
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April 21 - The building is almost all framed. We are waiting on trusses, which should be here sometime the middle of next week. The framing of the walls went really quickly! Jason and my dad (with the help of my mom and I, I must add) had all but 2 walls up within a few hours! Now the slow part has been adding the shear wall (at least 75 nails per sheet!). To the left is Jason framing the first wall, April 12. He actually built 3 walls himself and then had to wait for help in lifting them into position. |
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To the right, you see Jason and his dad working on that wonderful shear wall, April 17. Jason has the drain lines in on both sides of the yard now. He also has the gas, electrical, and water lines clearly marked with lath and flagging because...they will start to DIG OUR POOL TOMORROW!! Yippee!
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April 30 -
Wow, a lot can happen in a week! To the right,
you see it being dug, Yesterday, we picked out our tile colors and also what color and style decking we will have. Lots of decisions to make but this is an exciting process! |
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April 28 - A view from the back corner of the yard We have a large swim step for the kids to play on (someday) and a large bench that runs all along the back side of the pool. The bench will be a great place to relax and sit underneath the 3 "sheer descent" waterfalls, which will come out of the raised wall along the back.
Jason has been finishing up the loose ends on the building and now we are just waiting for trusses (still), which should be here by the next week sometime. |
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May 6 (my birthday, by the way!) - Today our decking is being poured! It has been slow going this morning but they have the forms all set, the footings for posts dug, and the dirt is level. The first concrete truck actually showed up just 1/2 hour ago (1pm) and now the wheelbarrows are flying! Yesterday and
Friday, they worked on the tile. They still have to come back to put
in 3 diamonds underneath the 3 sheer descents, but you can get an idea of
what it looks like, at least! |
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More pictures from today to come... |
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May 15 - Sorry
for the delay in updates! Below are
(finally) some concrete pictures, You can see
the finished concrete around the pool, |
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It was fun to watch them work - so fast and efficient! Every guy knew where to go and what to do and when to do it! Amazing. I had also never seen stamped concrete being done (to the left). What a fascinating process! It turned out to be a long day for the concrete guys, as they didn't finish until about 6:30pm. And finally, there's been some progress on the shop building. Jason's been piddling around waiting for the trusses, which got delivered on May 9. He and his dad actually got them all up that afternoon/evening! Now there is
plenty of work to do - electrical, plumbing, sheeting the roof, and
more! He will be a busy guy from now on! |
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And the
pictures you've all been waiting for... |
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May 26 - We have been enjoying our pool, although not doing as much swimming as we want, due to the cool weather! After they finished plastering on May 15, it took over 19 hours to fill the pool. Then we couldn't swim b/c of the acid they put in the water to bring out the color in the quartz plaster. It was so unfair to look at our finished pool last weekend in the 100 degree weather and not be able to jump in! So we got to swim for the first time last Monday, May 19 and I swam again twice on Tuesday (got my first sunburn of the year too) but not since! But it is so beautiful - it's fun to look out the windows into the yard now! |
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First
Jason |
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As for the
building, the roof sheeting is all done, as of May 17. In the meantime, Jason's been working on grading the dirt areas and preparing for sprinklers. If we get held up on the building for long, we may put the grass in sooner than we planned! Yippee!
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June 26 - A big apology to my "faithful followers" (ahem, Heather!) for the month between updates! Jason completed the sprinkler project (see right) the first week of June. Once he got past digging through our hard ground, he really enjoyed the process of laying out and putting together the sprinklers. No grass yet for me though. On June 11, we planted our first plants in the yard! We put 7 photinia bushes in the planter behind the pool. Even though we bought the 5-gallon size plants, they barely peek over the top of the raised wall. (see below left) The plumbing
in the building was completed on June 13, and now Jason has been working
on the electrical work (see below right). Notice his "work
attire" - makes it easy to cool off in the pool when the heat gets
unbearable! Tomorrow will be our big inspection on the building for framing, roof nailing, plumbing and electrical. If we pass, then we can move on to wrapping and roofing it! What a big difference that will make! |
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July 3 - Well, we passed most of the inspection - at least enough to be able to move on. So Jason started wrapping the house and roofing it on June 28. He was going to hire the roof done but got talked into doing it himself, so it's one more large project! To the right, you can see him wrapping the walls with paper. After it is all wrapped, we can start on the siding. Below left is the start of the roof. On the first day of working on it, he got close to 1/3 done. The afternoon was too hot to work - the paper got too sticky to even cut! Yikes! Below right is
Jason painting the fascia board, June 30. I hesitate to put that one
on b/c it means he gets all the credit for painting, when actually I did
most of it and just left the highest parts for him! |
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July 7 - The roof is complete, as of this morning! (see right) Jason has worked on it here and there for a little over a week. I'm proud of him and his determination to continue this project, even in the almost-100 degree heat! The building is almost all wrapped as well (see below left), and the doors were installed on July 4 (below right). I think there are a few odds and ends to finish up and then we have another inspection before we can start the siding and insulation. |
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It's starting
to look like a real building now and I
can't wait until the bathroom is usable! |
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July 31 - Sorry for the delay in updates. It's been slow going here but there is finally progress to report! We started work on the siding last Friday and I would say it's probably not quite 2/3's of the way done. It really makes the outside look finished, even though it still needs to be painted. Even the neighbors have been commenting on how nice it looks! To the right,
you see the beginning of the siding. Jason has also been hard at working covering the eaves with plywood that will be painted the same color as the siding will be (actually, very similar to the color it is now). |
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October 2 -
Again, it's been a while, but it has been hot and we have been lazy!
We have finally finished painting. OK, there are a few minor touch-ups left but the major painting is done and it looks great, if I do say so myself! (right) Also, this
past week, Sept 26-27, we planted more plants! They are alongside
the fence on the east side of the yard. |
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October 28 - We have grass! It still surprises me sometimes to look out the window and see green out there. It is so wonderful! See right for a look --> The sod was delivered on Oct
11, and with the help of Dad and Mom Wood and a friend from Bible study,
it got laid in less than 1 1/2 hours (see below right and center)!
Since I was not really "allowed" to help much, I was the
official cheerleader and snack-provider! Jason also decided it was time to seal our concrete. It took only a few days and really brings out the texture of the stamped concrete! (see below right) We
just got two more trees that we'll be planting soon |
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To continue on, click below...
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But I
thought I'd update you on the little progress we have made...
