Sealing the Basement Walls, and Backyard Fence Prep Day 1

May 20, 2016

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While we were away on vacation in Houston and Austin, we had some work done on our backyard. We’re in the process of getting a new fence installed along our southern border – a taller privacy fence to replace the really old, wire fence (something we believe was set up by the prior owners of our house).

We’re working with a company to handle the old fence removal and new fence installation. Though we’ve gotten more used to the idea of us doing most things ourselves… nearly everyone we’ve spoken with has recommended we hire someone to handle the actual fence installation.

After doing a search on Angie’s List, we decided to go with Osceola.

We returned to find our southern fence gone.

This is what it used to look like.

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We also had them remove the fence along the East property line as well.

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Mid-morning, we had a crew arriving from The Care of Trees – the same company we used for the tree removal, several years ago.

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They came back to grind down the large stump even more, and to remove a series of smaller items in the path of where the new fence would be going.

They got as much as they could last time, but now with the fence out of the way… they could get the remaining bit (it was a huge tree).

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While they were out working on the stump grinding, Liz and I tackled the basement. With a layer of concrete on the walls, our next step is to put on a layer of masonry waterproofer.

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The first coat on.

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We covered a decent distance, in about 2.5 hours.

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After that bit in the basement, we shifted our attention to the outside.

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Because of how long the fence has been in place, our yard and our neighbor’s yard have different levels (theirs is much higher than ours).

In order for the fence folks to install, they need a clean, level surface. So our challenge was to clear away any weeds from the neighbor’s yard, and dug up anything (roots in particular) that might get in the way of the installation.

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I filled up a large garbage bin with soil. We’ll either add this back, or find a way to get rid of it gradually.

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The heigh difference is a little more pronounced here. And you can also see that we unearthed a lot of bricks, during the process.

It’s hard to make out, but there is a line that stretches about 5 feet above the yard indicating where the fence will go. Our plan for clearing is to have about 4-6 inches cleared, to either side of the line, just to be safe.

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After a full day’s work: the victory beer.