Construction Diary

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Hi there! I'm Merry, married to Husband for 43 years, 2 grown daughters, 5-1/2 cats (one's feral), 1 dog, living on a little acreage in the Midwest. I am a Christian and like writing Inspirational Christian romance (I have several books out) travel, reading, history, archaeology, sewing, quilting, and writing.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Testing Colors...

We stopped at a Home Depot and checked out colors with Becky and Mom. The beauty of concrete siding is that it never has to be painted unless you choose to do so, of course. With that in mind we looked at colors. Richard wanted brown tones, I wanted earthy Southwestern tones. This is what we compromised on.



The house color is Sunset Beige. The trim is called Applesauce Cake. Mom, Becky and I really love it. Pa and Richard are less enchanted. Richard likes it, but not as well as other colors.



This is the unfinished living room where we watch TV most nights after a hard day's work. Note the plug going out the window. We're using the contractor's temporary receptacle to power up the TV.

However, the electrician has now installed some working lights in the hobby room and a couple working plugs around the house for inside use. I'm hoping we can dig out the refrigerator and move it in, I'd like more freezer and fridge space!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

HeatWave!

The construction is currently at a standstill due to the "bubble of hot air" currently encompassing the MidWest. Temps have soared into the triple digits - 103 degrees the past two days.

The electrician is due this evening to do some finishing up, but if its as hot inside as it was a few days ago, I may discourage him from continuing (110 degrees INSIDE with fans on!). I don't want him dying of heat stroke.

When the evening comes it cools down considerably. We've been able to watch TV inside the house and lounge about.

More updates when the weather cools off!

Monday, August 06, 2007

The new stair pad...

The complete, finished new concrete stair pad. Richard had to dig around the edges, pull the form out, then replace the dirt. The steps were slightly wobbly due to an imperfection in the concrete so he bought some rubber shims to place under that part. Echo approves, she's been up and down the steps several times now.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

The new back porch landing...

We fenced in back of and to the right of the house for the dogs. The Airstream actually sits inside the fencing so the dogs would be penned if I opened the door. A gate at the front allows all of us out of the fencing. The fence is fastened to the 4 foot foundation of the house. In front, we backfilled with 2 feet of dirt because the yard needed leveling to the driveway.

However, the house's back door is still 4 feet off the ground. We needed a temporary back landing & stairs so I could still let the dogs out and they'd be penned in the yard in the evenings (around here wandering dogs are usually shot).

Our contractor made a small landing out of the scraps of wood that were left. As you can see, the base is only concrete block.

We will build a large deck out the back of the house later. You can see the crawlspace entrance under the stairs. Echo has already sniffed around peeking in cautiously to check it out. When the whole foundation space was open she'd play in there, but since we put the floor on she's avoided it.



The temporary landing.

By the way, the fence is also temporary - we plan to move it and make a much nicer looking Western rail style later.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

POURING CONCRETE...

So, Richard and I, amateurs that we are, decided to pour our own stair-step pad. It's easy with Quikcrete, right? Here's the results...



Richard spent two days digging out and leveling the area. Then he built the form and installed it. This was the first indication that this may not be quite as easy as we thought.



Richard then laid the bottom of the form with sand, rocks and rebar. He wrapped the porch so we wouldn't get the cedar decking messy. The stairs are jacked up because the contractor made them before we poured the pad (we didn't know much back then).



The first two loads are dumped in. We had to do it a bag at a time because the concrete mixer was too heavy for me to handle...and Richard couldn't handle it alone.



Here I am being a mortar dog...or whatever its called. The person who pushes the mortar around.



About the time I finished my job, we realized that we were running out of concrete. I hopped in the car and drove to the local DIY hardware store...and bought 10 more bags. That should do it, thinks we...



We got this far with the 10 new bags of 'crete...and ran out. And the pad isn't level...oh, no! So off I got to the store to get 3 more bags. But while I was there, I thought "Self, if I have to drive this road again"...so I got 10 more bags. It was a good thing. Richard called when I was halfway home to get MORE than 3, too. Great minds think alike.



Richard puts the final touch on our 40 bag concrete pad. Life is good. And whoever said it was easy deserves to be hit with a two-by-four!

P.S. The contractor complimented Richard and I on working well together. He said we did a good job and made a good team. We also play well with others and don't run with scissors...LOL.