Our Latest Project

I can't even remember if I have written anything about the latest project we have taken on… the outdoors!  Since we bought this house, we knew that the outside needed a good amount of work, but this has turned into way more than we anticipated (go figure)!

We decided to start with the front half… a new driveway and some landscaping… no big deal, right?  Wrong.  Winter seemed to never end so it was a little later than we had hoped on getting going on the concrete.  We couldn't exactly ask for bids when the ground was snow covered!  Once we got going though, we haven't looked back!  We took a couple weeks of calling around, meeting people, and all that good stuff until we hired someone for the job.  They started April 7 and estimated it to be a couple week job… ha!

In all the talks, we decided to add a new courtyard patio to the task list to match the driveway/carport we would be putting in.  The brick on the courtyard was in really bad shape… bricks were coming up, it was so scuzzy and no matter how many times we power washed, acid washed, cleaned, etc, it continued to get gunky looking soon after.  But the worst was the slope that angled towards our house.  Every time it rained we ended up with puddles around the doors (and puddles in random spots throughout because it wasn't even anywhere!).  And if could be such a great place for the kids to play.  

Here is a quick "before" shot of the patio:  

The crew started with the carport/driveway.  They spent a couple days clearing out the rock and leveling out the ground.  We had a serious slope problem there, too.  Water accumulated around and in the carport (we flooded a couple times already!) and around the steps leading up to the front patio.  They raised that area several inches and sloped the entire thing towards the street.  

The kids have been quite entertained by all the activity

Day 1 of the concrete pouring (back when we were still hopeful of a quick and easy project)

After much discussion (much and much), we decided to go with black concrete with a "picture frame" finish.  We are really happy with our decision.  The more they do, the more we love it.

Then started the nightmare…

The guy we hired, Jon, started to get the courtyard cleared out… just tearing out old brick, no big deal, right?  Wrong.  Majorly wrong.  We were sitting inside when we heard a hard "tink" and next thing we know Jon is at the window waving John to come out.  Great.  Underneath all the brick was a thick layer of concrete.  For so many reasons, the concrete had to come up.  Concrete can't be poured over existing concrete, the concrete wasn't in good shape, the slope was towards our house and in order to fix that the areas that needed raised would end up higher than the start of the house, and the list goes on and on (all kinds of technical things I would explain incorrectly, I'm sure!).  Jon had rented a jackhammer to help with some of the stubborn brick areas and he gave the concrete a go.  After 20 minutes he stopped… this was going to add some expense if he were to finish because this was not going to be easy.  The concrete had a layer of thick mesh wire between it.  Which means the jackhammering did not go smoothly...at all.  Basically someone had to do a small, very small, section at a time.  You'd have to stop every few seconds to unstick the jackhammer from the wire, cut the wire pieces, and continue on.  This caused the concrete to crumble so getting it out of the courtyard wasn't easy either.  Shoveling crumbled concrete that got tangled in the mesh wire was a huge pain.  Because of the way the courtyard is set up, no one could get a bobcat back there to do the hard part.  John and Jon talked options and options for a good week… we even had someone with a back-hoe come give us a bid on getting it out that way.  Of course the bid was outrageous because of all the liability with the windows surrounding the area.  The concrete removal was going to have to be done the hard way.  And by John (the labor by someone else was OUTRAGEOUS! - no one wanted any part of it!).

John called on some good friends to come help one Saturday, hoping to get the majority of it torn out in a couple days.  John laughs about how every single person would work for about 5-10 minutes, stop, look around and say, "There has got to be a better way to do this…" and offer some suggestion that John had already thought of (considering he'd spent a good week going through options!)

The kids and I made ourselves scarce (Rudy whined when the jackhammer was going, "Mom, so loud!!") and hid out at Gran's for the morning.  

And stayed out back as much as possible.

At the end of day 1, this was the progress.  Can't see it?  See that little gray hole of rubble?  That took a good 8 hours, with several bodies helping.  

Needless to say, the courtyard removal was John's worst enemy.  Max, John's cousin and helping hand throughout this whole house project, was the only one to return (can't blame them - I heard the work compared to "slave labor", "like being in prison" and some other colorful expressions).  They spent the next week-10 days getting it all torn out.  I hate to sound like I'm the victim here, but that means we had a jackhammer running for a week-10 days and I had 2 kids to distract through it all, and try and get to sleep through.  It was just no fun for anyone! 

Well except the kids who loved to watch...

 …and help.

Drinks, anyone?

But it eventually all got torn out and John has never been so relieved.  One day when the kids and I were watching by the windows, I could hear John and Max's conversation.  They both agreed this was the worst project of the entire house.  Max stopped at one point and said, "I think we've met our match."  Then they played the game of "What was the next worst project?"  It was hard for them to compare anything to this one.  It was just so physically exhausting and slow moving.  Poor guys.  

We also tore out the awkward wall that separated the courtyard from the backyard.  Now when you open the courtyard gate, it is one long path to the backyard.  

Trying to keep the new concrete clean…Rudy has his own blower to help.

We still will have to seal everything, which will give it a richer black look - almost as if its wet.  But thanks to the rain, we haven't been able to do so yet.

Check out that pile of courtyard rubble… it was never ending and took Jon over a day to load it up and get it dumped!

We have also had some work done on the front patio/walkway.  John tore out the old ledge around the fountain, it basically just picked right off.  It was in pretty bad shape and not safe at all.  We had a bricklayer come and redo it and also replace some bricks around it that were broken/falling apart.

We still need to power wash and seal the brick and we are planning on getting the fountain up and running (and done right this time around) soon.  So I'll share "after" pictures later :)

While all this activity is going on outside, the kids can't stand to not be a part of it.  One day we planted flowers in one planter…because that is all that was ready for flowers.  But at least it kept us occupied and busy for a bit!

This is a familiar scene at our house… bobcat, trailer, concrete truck, mud...

The courtyard is done with concrete now, but it was a long process.  It took about four days of pouring because they could only do one strip at a time.  The concrete truck wouldn't fit back there, obviously, so they had to manually wheelbarrow it back.  What a chore.

In addition to the carport/driveway and courtyard patio, we also decided to add a "sidewalk" from the driveway to the courtyard gate.  One day the kids were up in time to put their hand prints in… 

Rudy's expressions in these two pictures crack me up… he had finished his handprints and we didn't take the time to clean him up before getting Avery's in… and he was not happy about it!

And Avery pretty much had to be dipped in...

…but the trouble was worth it :)

Here are some progress pictures of the "sidewalk" (we aren't really sure what to call it, so sidewalk has become our term even though it isn't really a sidewalk).  It will go all the way through to the backyard and have rock around each of the rectangles.

I never thought I'd be so happy about concrete!!

With having to raise the level of the concrete to avoid our flooding issues, we also had to tear down the storage shed that was at the end of our carport.

Since we need the storage, John had to get to work building a new one.  

And of course, Rudy has been a big help.

While Avery wonders around and climbs on everything.

He doesn't do anything half-way, that's for sure.  Our new shed is beautiful.  It still needs painted to match the rest of the house, but even unfinished I still think it looks great.  Rudy calls it, "me house" and often walks through and says, "Come on in guys!"  It will be great to have to store all our bikes, balls, strollers, etc.  But one door will have to remain clear of things because the kids love to play inside of it!

And with all the activity outside, this happens on the regular.  When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.  

We met with a landscaping company a couple weeks ago and they are in the process of coming up with a landscape design for us with different options for bushes, plants, trees, rock, etc. in our new areas.  Gutters are also being put up in a few days, so no more waterfalls to walk through when it's raining!   

There is still one large strip of driveway to finish with the concrete.  Unfortunately it has rained all week or they could have been done… one week isn't a big deal, except when its the difference between  a week without a newborn at home and a week with one.  Oh well.  There could be worse things to have to deal with!

  

I am so ready for this project to be done.  It is all going to look so great and was much needed, but these last several weeks have been difficult!  The constant mess around our house has made a constant mess in our house.  It's impossible to walk outside and not walk through rubble, dirt, mud, or some sort of concrete mixture.  Between the kids, the dog, and my husband (who has been doing work or helping with the concrete day and night - anything to save some $$!), our floors have been impossible to keep clean.  The noise and activity around the house has made our nap schedule very difficult.  I have been able to get them to sleep for the most part, but for not as long or not as well.  And if they know "guys" are outside working, they can't stand to be inside.  So we have been forced to find things to do outside of the house or let them be part of the action - of course when concrete is getting poured, that isn't an option!  John has been so patient with the kids helping him.  It will be so nice to be able to go outside and play and not have to be keeping them from all the dangerous tools and equipment surrounding everything!  Sooner than later, though…