Tamping the Base

We learned early on that remodeling must always be done in a sequential order, and that if one hurries through the process just to get it finished, invariably, one will have to backtrack to fix a mistake.  That is what happened to us.

Yesterday we started the day by digging up a small section by the patio where the sidewalk will meet the Florida room.  Then, while Rick ran to the store, I dug up the drain pipe that he buried a couple of days ago. During the night (doesn't that man every sleep?), he analyzed what he had done with the new drain, and he decided that running the pipe straight over from the box to the buried drain system would not work.  He said that we had to excavate it so we could run some elbows down to lower the the pipe as it leaves the drain box.  That really made sense since otherwise the drain pipe would be very near the bottom of the pavers.  So off he went to buy elbows to angle the pipe down while I resurrected the recently buried drain pipe.  Within a couple of hours, we had the drain pipe reconfigured and buried again.

The pile of paver base soon after it was delivered gave us plenty
to do with it.

Then we set our sights to getting the ground as level as possible in anticipation for the paver base, which was delivered by 7:00 this morning.  The truck driver was wonderful.  He drove half-way up the driveway and was able to carefully dump the paver base without getting hardly any on the grass.  Sadly, we ordered 4.5 tons of paver base, and they delivered (and we paid for) 4.84 tons.  We probably will have a little left over, so we will have to see how our efforts go tomorrow.  Any left over base can be put down as a foundation for patio stones behind the shed.

Rick works on raking the side yard while I used
the wagon to load, carry, and dump base for
the sidewalk next to the patio.

Moving 9,600 pounds of paver base is hard work!  Thankfully, the weather was in the low 70s today, and we had a delightful breeze blowing. (In reality, we probably only move about 6,450 pounds today.) Working in the morning is no problem, but when the sun hits us in the afternoon, work grinds to a halt quickly.

The base before it is tamped down is a moist, loose mix of
ground up stone and aggregate.

We were able to get the entire area covered with the first layer by 10:30 this morning.  Rick called the paver supply warehouse to see if they had a power tamper available.  They did, so by noon we were home with one in the back of the truck.  The man at the store told us that the tamper weighed about 60 pounds.  Yeah, right.  I have lifted 60 pound bags of concrete with Rick with no problem.  This tamper I could not pick up!

The power tamper does a great job, but it is
not something that I could begin to lift.

What we finally did was to back up to the pile of paver base, slide the tamper off the truck, and let it fall into the mountain of paver base.  From there, Rick could drag it down.  So far, so good.

Compared to the first photo, you can see that we have
reduced the size of the paver pile by more than half.

The tamper works very well.  By 1:15 this afternoon, our pile of paver base had shrunk considerably. We still have to add another layer tomorrow and to level things out, but hopefully by tomorrow at this time, we will almost be done with this step of the work.  Then we are going to take a week off while Stephanie visits before we get a load of sand and start laying the pavers.  Thank God Stephanie is coming.  I need a break!

Slowly but Surely

Work never happens in the time limit one sets.  We plan to complete a certain amount each day, but the hands can never move as quickly as the mind imagines they will.  Such was the case with our latest project.

We were out early Monday morning with the intension of getting the rest of the dirt dug out and distributed in the back yard.  Rick also hoped to get the drain installed.  Those two tasks took us two days, and we still are not finished.

Monday afternoon Rick takes a break.  The east
side of the patio shows the amount of dirt that
still needed to be removed.

The digging continues.  The only "treasures" we have found included a two-foot-long rebar that must have propped up the now dead holly tree at one time, and a small, rust-encrusted saw blade. While most of the branches that we have encountered could either be pulled out by hand or slipped with a small pruning shears, we did find one very large root from our old, also departed ear tree.  That log was so rotted, though, that we were able to prop it up with our shovels, and Rick was able to tear it off with his hands.  While the feat looked like he had the strength of Superman, in reality nature had done most of the work.

A large root was in the way, so Rick ripped it out.

Distribution of the dirt continues to be a problem.  Our landscape crew comes to cut our lawn every Monday.  When we talked to them, they suggested that we evenly distribute the dirt and then plant LOTS of grass seed. Rick ordered some that same afternoon.

A 2x4 rests in front of the concrete edge that Rick had to chip
out by hand.

The edge of the patio also presented another small problem.  Under the surface of the grass, we found a rough concrete shelf that had seeped under the forms when the workmen poured the patio.  That extra concrete would be in the way of the pavers, so Rick had to use a dry-chisel to pound it out. So now my Superman hero looked like Fred Flintstone, chipping away at the rock.

We had to readjust one slope, so that meant more dirt had to be moved around.  When we got to the edge of the poured cement patio, we realized that the pavers will be even with one corner of the patio, but will be dropped down at least an inch on the other end.  That is just the way it has to be.  The patio is sloped away from the house, but the pavers must slope in the opposite direction to drain the rainwater into the front yard.

The partially finished drainage ditch will
alleviate future water problems.

To help alleviate the drainage problem, we started to install a drain catch basin at the low corner of the patio. We will tie that in to the underground drainage system that currently serves the down spout from the rain gutters.  If and when we install a lanai roof over the patio (perhaps next year, if funds allow), we can use the same drain catch basin for our new rain gutters off the lanai roof.  We have to put this infrastructure in place before we lay down pavers because we hope that we never have to pull them up again.

We ran out of time and energy to complete the drain Tuesday afternoon.  Late Tuesday evening we went out with tarps to cover the drain ditch since the weatherman predicted a 100% chance of rain today.  While the rains are here, thankfully they are not strong.  We certainly can use the moisture, and having a day off from digging is not too difficult to endure either.

Prep Work

We worked hard on Saturday to get finished what we could before the promised rain arrived.  The rain came early, so although we were able to dig a bit and to get the tools put away, we did not have enough time to cover the areas with tarps that we had dug out.  I figured we would face a muddy mess this morning.  I was wrong.

We got just to the end of the patio on Saturday before the rains came.

We awoke to soil that was barely damp even though we did have a couple of good showers yesterday.  Actually, what rain we received we could have tolerated at that rate for about 48 hours.  Two inches below the surface, the soil was dry.  While that was wonderful as far as moving dirt was concerned (dry dirt weighs less than wet mud), we certainly could have used more rain for the trees, flowers, and grass.

We started the day with part of the north side dug out, and finished the day with the topsoil gone, with the area "roughed in," and with just some more dirt removal yet to go.

Yesterday Rick had dug to just around the corner of the patio to see where our new drain pipe would go. (See the picture above.)

Rick used a string line to define where the pavers
will lie in front of the patio,

Today we finished excavating that part of the yard, and Rick dug out the area in front of the patio.

The north side needs more dirt removed and the slope
graded so the rain will drain to the front yard.

We filled in low spots in front of the fence.

And have more mounds of dirt to distribute in front of the sheds.

We are quickly running out of room for the excess dirt.  I spent most of today just picking four bags' worth of grass and debris out of what Rick is digging up. Then I have to spread the dirt into an even layer.  We really need a bobcat to do a good job in the back, but my garden rake will have to do for now.

We worked until noon then had to quit as the sun became too
intense.  We accomplished what we wanted to do today.

Tomorrow will see the end of the dirt removal/ dispersement at least for the back yard.  We also will probably install a drain and the piping to go with it so we can move on to the next step: paver base!

Paver Progress

Anyone who visits our back yard will now see visible changes.  We got up early, worked hard, and are pleased with our progress.  As everyone knows, a good paver job depends totally on good preparation.  That is what we did today.

The completed pile of pavers shows how much work we have ahead of us.

We started with moving the final pallet of pavers from the front yard into four locations: the pile in the back yard, a small pile of pavers in the garage, and two more small piles on the concrete lining the north side of the house.

A select pile of pavers waiting to be installed
on the north side of the house.

Last night in the middle of the night, I realized that putting all of the pavers in the back yard would be stupid since the first part of our work will be the front approach to the north gate.  We piled those pavers in the garage where we could easily reach them.  Then we did the same with other pavers which we will use as we work our way to the back yard.  Why move pavers further than we have to? By staging them where we have, we will be able to more quickly fill in the pavers as we work.

After the pavers were where we wanted them, Rick continued to work outside in placing 2 x 4s as guides for the pavers.  I went inside to get some laundry and weekly cleaning completed.  Once that was done, I went back outside to discover that Rick had started to dig out the north side yard.

The first part of the north yard is dug down about
six inches deep.

I took over the digging for a while, and Rick hauled the dirt away and spread it around the low areas by our new sheds.  We quit when we ran out of shade which coincided when we had run out of energy.  We agreed that we would work each morning, but that we will be finished by noon.  If we do not do that, we will be working too much in the sun, and I will damage my muscles from too much stress.

We used the dug out dirt to fill in the low spots around the sheds.

This will be a slow process, but in the end we hope that it will have a paved north side yard and a patio surrounded by a solid surface rather than mud and grass.

Pavers!

We awoke this morning ready to clean up the north side of the yard by removing the stepping stones. They needed to go so we could carry in the pavers which were set to be delivered tomorrow.

The north side yard with the stepping stones
removed in preparation for the pavers.

We removed the stepping stones by 8:30 this morning, and Rick started to dig out under the fence to put in 2 x 4s so we could frame out where the pavers would rest.  Then Rick's phone rang...

The driver delivers a pallet of pavers to the front yard.

The paver company wanted to deliver the pavers today instead of tomorrow.  OK.  Change of plans.  Instead of investigating where we would put in the underground sewer for future gutters on a lanai roof and the drainage tiles we planned for the pavers, we simply got the ground ready so we could transport the pavers to the back yard. We put down left-over wooden panels on which to stack the pavers so they would not sink into the sandy soil in our back yard.

Rick watches the truck drive off as the pavers rest in our front yard.

The truck came at approximately 11:00 a.m.  By 11:30, the driver had unloaded three pallets of pavers to our front yard.  He did a great job of dropping them where we wanted them by the north gate.

Rick got out our garden wagon and carried back two or three loads of pavers "just to see how hard it would be."  My blood sugar was low, so I went in to eat some lunch. Rick joined me by noon.

After lunch, we worked together to carry the pavers into the back yard.  We have to put them there because we are working from the front yard to the back, so we have to "feed" the pavers from the back to the front.

The first pallet of pavers sits in our back yard.

By 1:30, we had one whole pallet of pavers stacked in the back yard.  We found a way to work together so that neither of us was doing too much lifting or bending at one time.  At our age, we need to protect our backs.

Two of the three pallets of pavers await distribution once we
prep the side yard and add the base and sand. 

By 3:30, we had moved the second pallet of pavers to the back yard, and our hands and backs were crying for mercy.  We moved about 4,400 pounds of pavers this afternoon.

We have one pallet left, but that can wait until morning.  We simply covered the pallet for the evening, and since the pavers are banded together and the pavers weigh about 2,200 pounds, I don't think anyone is going to carry them off in the night.

Moving pavers was not in our plans for today, but we are happy that we have moved as much as we did today.  Our efforts today will make tomorrow easier... if we are able to get out of bed!

Organized Confusion

With three sheds to fill, we have been busy in the garage finally getting our possessions organized.

The saw rests on the board that Rick cut to size
to fit in the shed.

Before we could put anything in the sheds, we had to buy solid wooden floors for them.  The floors that came with the sheds are just molded plastic, so any weight on that structure would eventually puncture the floor and allow water to seep in.  So off to the store we went for wood for the floors.  We purchased a waterproof deck paint, and Rick soon had two coats of paint on all sides.  Once they were dry, he put them in each shed.

We wanted to get the shelving units out of the way, so in the first shed on the north side of the house, we put in a half-high shelving unit to hold all of the boxes that contain our plumbing, electrical, painting, sanding, plastering, gardening, etc. supplies.  These are the items that we may have to readily access, so we wanted to keep them close at hand.  When we want something in the future, remembering where we put it may take some thought.  We truly have just created organized confusion.

In the second shed, we put in the large items: the cement mixer, the power washer, and the wheelbarrow.  As time goes on, we certainly may add to that stash.  Chris already warned me to save room for the paver saw!

The sheds start to fill as we try to decide where to store items.

In the third shed, we have the other half of the shelving unit.  That shed stores the things we occasionally use like the leaf blower, the insecticide sprayer, and other occasionally used items.  Having the shelving units disassembled or moved to the sheds freed up lots of space in the garage.

Rick hangs the mechanism to support his bike.

The result?  The bikes are hung out of the way.

A part of the new garage design centered around Rick's workbench at the back of the space.  We originally had his bike hanging in that area, so yesterday he cut new 2 x 4s and moved his bike so that it would hang next to mine when we want to store them.  Now the area above the freezer and the workbench are free of overhead items.  We still will get the bikes down and store them on the floor for most of the time that we are down here so we can readily ride them, but for now we have too many projects to ride, and they are best out of the way.

A new flower in the pot adds a little color to the porch.

In an effort to finish the look at the front of the house, we went out yesterday and Rick bought me some Valentine's Day flowers to plant in the new porch pot.  We bought two Queen Kalanchoes.  They have dark, shiny leaves and will bud with orange flowers.  I probably should have purchased the red variety to better match the red Ti plants and the reddish crotons in the front garden, but these will have to do.  The crotons also have orange in them, so I hope the kalanchoe plants blend well.  We'll see.

Gladys shows off her flowers.

I am sure that the plants will not survive the summer in the containers unless we have a very, very wet summer, so I will enjoy them while I can.  I said at least four years ago that the little freesia plant that I stuck in a pot would never survive, and it is STILL growing and multiplying quite nicely, thank you.

This is Florida, so one never knows.  What grows, grows.  What doesn't won't be planted again.  For now, Gladys has a nice flower on her front porch to share with the world.

Three of Three

After 41 years of marriage, I know my husband pretty well.  He was outside assembling the third of our sheds at a little after 8:00 this morning.  The pictures show the rest.

The lone second shed as the day ended yesterday. (The first
shed is on a slab on the north side of the house.)

After assembling the metal structure for the roof,
we had the walls up by 9:21 a.m.

9:44 a.m. -- With the doors on,
Rick works on adding the pistons
to hold up the roof.

9:50 a.m. -- The third of our three sheds is complete.

We think the sheds will give us the storage we need,
and they do not seem to be obtrusive in the back yard.

By 9:50 a.m., our third and final shed was complete and resting on the slab in the back yard.  We still want to get some plywood and paint it to protect the plastic floors of each of the three sheds.  Once that wood is painted and in place, we will be ready to rearrange all of our goods and finally free some space in our garage again.

Shopping, Smiles, and Sheds

We have made tremendous changes (both inside and outside) since I last wrote on Thursday.

The changes started on Friday when we got up early and poured the last section of the shed slab.  We had everything staged, so the last section was completed by 9:15 am.  Rick had a doctor's appointment on Friday afternoon that took forever.  His original 3:30 appointment was changed to 2:30.  Great!  However,  we sat in the waiting room for some time, and then he sat in the examining room for over an hour.  Not only did 2:30 come and go, but he ended up not seeing the doctor until after 3:30 in the end.  He is not a happy camper right now about the whole medical care issue in Florida.

Saturday started with a thorough house cleaning since I did not have time to do that on Friday. We were expecting my niece Shinae, her husband Dave, and their five-month-old son Ian for lunch on Sunday, so I needed to do the cleaning that I usually do each Friday, and I wanted to complete some baking for the lunch. We made an early trip to the grocery store to purchase the food for our feast.

We took some time off mid-morning, though, to go to the Dunedin Art Show.  I have been waiting for the show because I wanted to find some bright art for our newly-remodeled bathroom.  After lots of walking (it's a huge show) in the hot sun, we found two prints by two different artists that we purchased.

A colorful dock in the Florida Keys was
the first print that we chose. (The picture really
is hanging straight; my photography is off!)

The second picture is of colorful dragon boats.
We needed some bright colors to bring a little life
to the room!

Saturday afternoon found me in the kitchen baking zucchini bread and a batch of Snickerdoodle cookies.  Late afternoon we went out again to shop for frames for the pictures and a new pot for the front porch extension.  I have yet to decide what to plant in the pot.  I have to find something green, drought-tolerant, and hearty. Friday evening was spent making peanut butter cookies.

Our new copper and yellow colored
pot awaits a plant on the front porch.

We got home from church on Sunday just as I received a text that Shinae and her family had safely landed in Tampa.  They found their way to our house, and we had a delightful time showing them the house, catching up on family news, and cuddling with their son Ian.  Sadly, we had to shoo them out the door after a short visit because they had more family to visit with before making it to their final destination about two hours south of here.

Rick and Ian had a great "chat."

Ian laughs as I cuddle with him.  It was so
much fun snuggling with my sister's
grandson.

Of course, after they left Rick was antsy to do some more work, so he changed his clothes and started to drag shed parts out of the garage into the back yard.  Long story short, two hours later he and I had assembled one of the two sheds.  He wanted to do the second one, but my watch showed 4:00 p.m., and I refused to spend until 6:00 p.m. putting up the second one.  There is always tomorrow.

Rick works on the roof structure for the
half-built shed in the background.

Instead, we unpacked the second shed so that we could cut up all of the boxes and put the cardboard into the back of the truck.  We have a recycling center not too far from our house, so we easily can make the short drive there to dispose of the shed boxes.

The completed shed awaits a wooden floor
to strengthen the structure.

We still have room for the other shed that I am sure will be
in place by this time tomorrow.

I am sure that by tomorrow evening we will have purchased the wooden flooring that we want to put into the sheds, and that the second shed will be standing next to the one we completed today.  Stay tuned for those pictures tomorrow.

Concrete Organization

The day dawned cloudy but with no rain in sight, so we decided to pour some of the concrete foundation for our slabs.  We started by working together to lift the 60-pound bags of concrete into our garden wagon for transportation into the back yard.  There we had a table staged to hold the bags in preparation for dumping them into the mixer. We used 13 bags (780 pounds) of concrete for the first section. Thank God we had the concrete mixer to do that part of the job.

The first 4 x 4 foot section, 4 inches deep, was
poured by mid-morning.

The first section of the base went well, so Rick asked me how I was feeling.  At that time I was not tired, so we brought in the 13 bags of concrete for the second section.  We work well together as a team, so by noon we had the second section poured as well.  This concrete job went better than the concrete we poured last year on the north side of the house because we could be on all sides of the form.  We were able to scree the mixture much more easily this time.  Sadly, the wind picked up so we had to constantly pluck small live oak leaves off the slabs until they started to harden.

Rick works on smoothing the concrete in the second section.

We completed two sections, so tomorrow we
can take out the center forms and pour the last section
of the slab.

While the concrete in the second section was setting up, we decided to stage the last bags of concrete for our work tomorrow.  We carried in 14 more bags of concrete, so all together we moved 2,400 pounds of concrete today.  While Rick worked the last section, I cleaned up some of the gear, covered the concrete to protect it from dew and morning mists, and secured our tools under the table.  Tomorrow we should be able to get an early start and to be finished with the entire job well before noon.

This afternoon we traveled back to Tampa and the Container Store to get some of the elfa shelving components re-cut.  They cut one bracket incorrectly, and they gave us the wrong sized standards for our right-hand garage wall.  The mistake was an honest error since the woman who took the order read the wrong measurement off of an earlier plan we had discussed.   In the end, they were very accommodating, and we soon were driving home before the evening rush hour started.

New shelves along the right-hand garage wall
hold just some of the items that will stay in the garage
rather than going out to sheds. We will use the bottom shelves
to hold left-over wood.

Once home, Rick just HAD to get the shelving up on the wall.  I felt no such need to continue to work, so I took a little time off to read my Kindle while he worked.  However, he called me out to the garage a couple of times to ask my opinion, so finally I just stayed out there and helped him organize the new shelves.

We still have lots of organizing to complete.  In the end, though, we will have a much better organized garage that will be fairly free of clutter.  And as an added bonus, Rick finally will have a work space at the front of the garage.

Benches and Shelves

I am very tired tonight, so this will be a quick blog.

Yesterday we had a relaxing day because nothing had been delivered, so we could not proceed with our projects.  Instead, we took advantage of Senior Tuesday at the Cinema ($6.00 for a matinee) and saw "Hidden Figures."  This movie is excellent, so I urge everyone who is reading this blog to take time to see it.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.

The bench on the porch extension awaits visitors.

Today our cement, re-bar, sheds, and bench were delivered at 10:30.  The cement is waiting for our attention tomorrow.  The sheds are safely stored in the garage, and the new park bench is assembled and resting on our front porch.  While it is not the most comfortable in the world, it does provide a place to sit down to remove our shoes if they become muddy.  With a few pillows, it would even be a comfortable place to relax for a while.

The shelving unit starts to take shape at the front of the garage.

Since the day became too warm to move cement around, we went to Tampa to buy shelves for the garage.  Rick has been adamant about getting Elfa shelves as we try to de-clutter the garage.  We will do two shelving units: one at the front of the garage to hold the compressor, to store the saw, and to provide a workbench area, and a second one of 12" shelves to hold some of the smaller items that will not go out to the sheds.  We only half-finished the front unit before it got too late to continue.

We must return to the Container Store tomorrow because two of the pieces are cut incorrectly. We really have no room to complete the other wall anyway until we can get the sheds built and out of the center of the garage floor.

The work continues tomorrow toward that goal.

Slabs and Short Sheds

We went out this morning and ordered pavers for the north side yard of our house.  They will be delivered on February 17.  God help us!  Three pallets of pavers may be the death of us yet.

While we are waiting for that delivery, we got to work on our next project.  Last night, after dinner, we drove to Home Depot to pick up two 12-foot 2 x 4s to frame our concrete slab in back in preparation for our sheds.

Yes, I said sheds (plural!)  We were going to put up one eight-foot-tall 8 x 10 shed, but Rick's research and phone calls to the companies that manufacture the sheds taught us that both companies have had trouble with their sheds.  Because of the height, they do not tolerate high winds well, and their roofs sag due to the hot Florida sun.  If a homeowner tries to strap down the sheds, the side walls bow out and the straps void the warranty.  Do I want to pay almost a thousand dollars to have a shed that will either blow away or warp in the sun?  Nope.  I don't think so. The space at the top of a tall shed tends to be wasted space anyway, so I am not sorry we chose not to buy the tall shed.

Rather than put up that shed, we have decided to erect two smaller sheds like the one we already own on the north side of the house.  The shed is lower, so wind in not a problem.  The lower profile also makes the entire structure more solid.  The top has a piston-activated lift system, so we know that they operate well.  Also, Steve told us to protect them to just put on a good coat of car wax a couple of times a year.  Since the sheds are lower, we can easily treat the top without having to climb on ladders.  Our current shed holds several large machines from our garage, and we have never had any trouble with rain leaking into the structure.

We have purchased two more storage sheds
like the one we already use.

The new site of our sheds will be near the south
side fence. The fence and the live oak tree
will help shade the sheds from the hot sun.

To keep the sheds level, we have decided to pour a concrete slab on which we can place the new sheds side-by-side.  They will take up only a small footprint in our yard, and they will not be visible from the street.  If no one knows they are there, no one will be tempted to break into them when we are gone.

Rick pulls out chunks of the Brazilian Pepper tree
roots that he sliced out with the SawsAll.

Rick put together the frame for the slab this morning.  He then took out the transit (thank you Steve and Chris) so we could make sure that the frame was level.  We put it back near our oak tree, so of course we encountered roots.  Strangely enough, the roots were not from the oak tree but rather from a large Brazilian Pepper tree that we removed more than six years ago.

The round paver stone that was completely
buried under the shed site.

Rick also found one other treasure: a round stone paver that somehow got buried near the now-removed patio blocks.  Gladys gives up yet another of her buried treasures.

Having three sheds will give us the storage room we need to free our garage of clutter.  We will keep items that we do not use often in the two sheds in the back yard, and we will keep the more frequently used items in the shed on the north side.

Sheds are not our first choice, but without basements in these Florida houses, storage is at a premium.  The sheds should work well for us.