Despite the plumbing issue that came up over the holidays, we had a great Christmas in our new house, with six family members and one dog coming to stay – 11 of us in total. The house looked great. Here is the preparation for our Christmas dinner. Lisa and my mother made a great beefRead more about Our first Christmas at the new house[…]
It almost seems like a mythical thing, the driveway. Something rumored but never seen. We’ve been living without a driveway, or ability to park off street, since we moved in back in August. In fact, we haven’t had a garage to park our cars in since early 2013, almost six years. Now, we are gettingRead more about The driveway[…]
Our pool house was mostly complete, but lacking the deck and the shower slab. That work started in December. First, the steps leading up to the deck, and the supports around the deck had to be poured. We also added a collar around the old fireplace foundation for good measure; that 100+ year old formerlyRead more about Pool house deck[…]
Sigh. Yes, we had another major plumbing issue that cropped up in December and finally got resolved last week. This wasn’t as bad as the one that did a big number on our basement, but it has left us with a sense of PTSD for fear of other issues. It’s hard to imagine at thisRead more about The next (and hopefully last) plumbing disaster[…]
It’s been over two months since my last entry on the house progress. It was partly the business of the holidays with six family members visiting, and Christmas with three kids, partly another major plumbing issue slash disaster, and part just plain fatigue with all things building and our house; it’s been almost three yearsRead more about Yea, I took a break from blogging (and it’s been a slow couple of months)[…]
The landscapers put down a bunch of the flag stone stepping stones on Friday, and they look great.
We are trimming our palms for the first time since we moved them. Some of them are showing some rotting up in the canopy, which is just a sign that the roots are not yet fully established. I’ve been told that it can take up to 10 years after transplanting for the roots system toRead more about Trimming the palms (again)[…]
The landscapers have installed perhaps half or more of the plants called out on the landscape plan so far. Thinks look sparse and a bit barren, but that is just want it will look like until we get the shredded wood bark down, and things grow in a bit.
We tore a couple of new holes in the original stone wall in front of our property, to make way for the new driveway on the opposite side of our frontage, and the walkway. We repaired the opening for the old driveway, and in the last week, have started work repairing the rest of theRead more about Completing the stone wall[…]
The landscape guys are making working on the ;paving stone and flagstone walkways. These are set on gravel or sand, simetimes with a dollup of mortar underneath, and go all around our yard. In the front and along one side of our house, we will use 24″x24″ square pavers. The plans called for 30″x30″ pouredRead more about Flagstone and paving stone walkways[…]