The AC unit, in place! It was a little tricky getting this thing up high enough… but we eventually got there. Bob and I had to put it in place, make some marks, and then take it back down. After he drilled in holes for the base/feet… we had to put this thing back up again.
We’ve got another unit going in, but it won’t be quite as tight a fit as this was.
A little slow going for me. But incorporated a few big clamps, and getting fancy with the spices.
While I was working on the porch demo, Bob was getting our refrigerant lines set up in the basement. We unrolled a pretty long line over the backyard, and fed it back in to the basement.
Today was a big supply run. We were out in the suburbs, running several errands over several locations. It was… a lot.
One thing that we’ve yet to fully address/fix is the fact that our cement floor doesn’t quite lead water to the french well. When water collects down here, it routes directly towards the basement door… and we’ve gotten more water/flooding ever since we set this area up.
It didn’t really hit me until much later, when Liz pointed out that today… officially… we were done with all our soil backfill.
The bricks will likely sink a bit, in the coming weeks. And we’ll need to readdress the soil getting compacted down. But for all intents and purposes, all the soil backfill we need to do is done.
Spent some more time with the rotary hammer, trying to clean up this small outcropping of cement. It was slow going, but I definitely had a better handle on things after our prior attempts.
Spent today starting to do some of the backfill. There’s a small gap between the concrete walls, the plywood supports, and the actual backyard. That space needs to get filled with soil, so that the yard doesn’t collapse into it… and to also provide a bit more material for rain to run through.
I had plans this morning to pick up some mulch for the front yard and parkway. And honestly, that was about it. Get some mulch, and then just relax. But today ended up turning into another house day, despite it all.
Liz, suited up to do a bit more grinding/smoothing work.
Liz got some guidance from Bob, regarding a certain attachment we needed to get for our grinder. This would help take down some of the excess mortar, and also help smooth out some of the rougher spots.
A kind of odd evening, just watching the sprinkler do its thing and slowly make its way towards us. But we both found this incredibly soothing, incredibly calming.
One of my main goals: fix the spigot, which was leaking. I did a bit of research on YouTube and found out my problem was the anti-siphon valve.
If you thought our concrete work was over, think again! With our concrete blocks in place, the next step we had was to fill the cores of all the blocks with concrete. Our aim was to make a “soupy” layer, to pour down each core… and to finish the tops with a more solid layer.
Bob, cutting some of the rebar down to size.