I have a bit more invested in the backyard plants now, as I was tending to them nearly every morning when Liz was away in Georgia. Being the one responsible for the plants, albeit briefly, made me feel a bit more connected to everything back here.
Liz and I hit it right at 5:00 PM today, after work. We got suited and prepped fairly quickly, and were able to get the short course along the driveway done… as well a full course on the wall along the yard.
You can barely see it in this photo, but we have a dirty trick: we’re using 3/8″ nuts, and placing the between each course of block. This ensures that we’ll have the proper distance between blocks, and serves as a kind of guardrail.
It’s not what the professionals do, but… we are far from professionals. So long as things are consistent, no one’s the wiser.
Liz, mixing up the mortar as Bob gets the blocks in place. I mostly hung out up top, passing along blocks as needed. Both Liz and Bob did the brunt of the work today.
For those of you who remember the original movie “I’m getting a lot of concrete and gravel delivered”… this is the sequel: I’m getting a lot of concrete blocks delivered.
All told, it’s 90 concrete blocks and 12 corner blocks.
Close to the end of the day, we settled back with a drink and some music. And admired that good-looking arbor that someone put in, many months ago.
Bob was here today, and brought the stairs back down. And more than that, he fixed them against the supporting wall… and added an extra brace, to boot. Should give us a bit more sturdiness, before we actually put in the for real wall(s) down here.
All told, we used about 70 bags (with 13 leftover). Not too far off, on the original calculations.
Unfortunately, the forklift couldn’t really make it very far down our driveway. What this meant is that the materials got dumped near the front of the house… and we’d need to physically transport things towards the back.
One of the apple trees she planted started to flower. Which, as far as omens go, is a good one that I’ll take. This guy seems happy where he’s at, and here’s hoping he’ll continue to be happy.
More soil removal, getting the rest of the area down to the same level and tamped a bit.
Doing a bit of math with the laser level. The height of the laser line to the ground is about 4.5″. If we want 10″ below where the basement floor is, we want to hit 14.5″ on the tape.
One bummer: we were short on some lumber. So I ended up hopping in the car, and driving to the nearest Home Depot to get some more 2×3’s. I was quick, but still lost a bit of time.
Before you think that this means a lot of free time for me, think again. There’s a lot more work to be done under the back porch, and not a lot of time to get it done. So I’ve got a week of solo runs ahead of me.
Liz and I hauled out the back basement stairs. We’re clearing out this space for a cement pour, and taking these guys out was one of the last steps before we really hit the final stretch.