Major Moves on the Landscaping

OMG!!!

The weekend before last, Wally (irrigation and exterior lighting) worked most of the day Saturday on the irritation system. He said he knew that John would be hard at this during the coming week and he wanted to not get in his way.

This past week, the landscapers showed up with intent. They finished the wall along the east fence and the wall around the northeast corner of the garage. Then they started building the berm. Lots of dirt, gravel, etc. They installed a French drain on the inside of the wall along the east fence with it draining into the same line as the drains on the east side of the chess board.

Mike and Nate showed up on Tuesday to finish the crown molding in the connecting porch. They also put on more bar cabinet handles and installed the grill on the vent in the connecting porch. They also studied the wood facings on the ice maker and refrigerator. They have questions for Bob. This was the only half day that Mike was here.

After they left, we started staining the deck around the hot tub and the connecting porch. It really turned out nice.

On Wednesday, Todd (cabinetry) delivered the rail for the bar and the door to cover the circuit breaker box. He also took away the entertainment center door to move the hinges so that it opens at the side instead of at the bottom.

John (landscaping) had numerous plants delivered. No hornbeams yet, but the boxwoods, yews, a holly and others I cannot remember.

The really big show for the week was starting on the koi pond. Todd (waterfalls) and crew started on Thursday. John had had a lot of rock deliveries in preparation.

Lots of discussion about the pond among the crew. Early Thursday morning, I went out and asked Todd if there was some drawing or sketch (as John had told me there would be) or were they intending to just "wing it"? Todd said he could sketch something for me if I wanted him to do so, but he believed he knew what we wanted.

Setting the Skimmer

Liner

Rubber Liner Sandwiched Between Sheets of  Six Ounce Felt

Bottom Drain

Selecting the Right Stone

First Stone In Place

Second Stone

By the end of the first day (Thrusday), the pond had been dug and the stone walls started.

Friday morning, Todd told me that he expected to have water in the pond by the end of the day. By mid-afternoon, Todd told me that he wished they had started on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

Skimmer box and 3" hose going to top of berm

By the end of the day, they still had a lot to do. It was tarp covered for the weekend. John later told me that he had given Todd three days to complete. Todd thought he could do it in two. I only hope he can finish it on Monday.

Sunday afternoon, I pulled the tarp back and T and I reviewed what had been accomplished. Later in the afternoon, John came by and we discussed. We had some issues with the distance between the edge of the water and the edge of the chess board. T wanted it a small a distance as possible...maybe a foot or so, but no more than two feet. In actuality, it is over three feet. John said they would fix that. We also were uncomfortable with the "stack rock" appearance and the amount of fall on the water fall. After much give and take, a plan was developed.

Monday morning, Scot and Ben arrived and got after making the changes. A little later, Todd and John showed up and we went over everything again. I showed everyone pictures of the stream that John had previously built at a local hospital and pointed out the specific portion that we wanted to emulate.

Steam at St. Mary's to Emulate

Todd's response was that he wished he had seen this picture last week before they started. I reminded him that I approached him the first morning he arrived asking him about the plan. He really did not have one. I should have shown him the picture to ensure he knew what he wanted to achieve. Anyway, I think we are all on the same page now. John assured me that, once we have water in and circulating, if we need to make changes, they will drain it and those changes will be made.

Getting Chilly

Over the past week we have had beautiful weather. Cool and dry. The coming week's forecast is for more of the same.

Last weekend we cleaned and stained the two outside Tiger wood porches. Overall, it is a three day process. Not complicated however. The first step is to "clean" the wood using their own water based cleaning solution. Not sure what it is comprised of, but it is supposed to open the pores of this very dense wood so that the subsequent stain can penetrate. The visible impact of the cleaning was to bleach the wood. Post cleaning, they recommend letting the wood dry for 48 hours. Thankfully, we had no rain in the forecast so we went after the outside porches. After drying, the application of the oil based stain (semi-transparent) went quickly and was ready for use after another 12 hours. The product is very beautiful.

West Porch after cleaning

West Porch after staining

Second Floor Porch after staining

It really lets the wood grain come through. We also learned that the stain has a very strong odor. They make an indoor version which supposedly is less aromatic. We have ordered a gallon but, as of today, it has not arrived. We did go ahead today and cleaned the interior Tiger wood deck around the hot tub and in the connect porch. It is now in its 48 hour drying phase and should be ready to stain around noon on Monday. Hopefully the stain will be here on Monday. The major chore inside is was to mask away all the Sapele wall panes, the hot tub and the porcelain tile floor.

Cleaned Hot Tub Deck

Cleaned Connecting Porch

 Scotty finished the chess board installation. T is very happy with it. Talking with Wally (irrigation), he has a friend who is deeply into chess and woodworking. He said he will find out if he is interested in making some chess pieces for us. There are some offerings on the internet, but apparently, they all come from the same manufacturers. For our board with 24" squares, we think the King should be about 36" tall with a base diameter of about 18".

Joe showed up on Friday to poor the remaining concrete walkway on the east side of the chess board. As T and I were leaving around noon, he said the concrete should arrive in an hour. Alas, it never showed up. John said we should expect them to be here early Monday morning.

Wally got a good start on the irrigation installation this week, and in fact, he is here today (Saturday) working on it. He thought he would be done this coming week.

He is also will be installing our accent lighting. T has decided the path lights will be a tulip style.

Mike was here during the week and finished installation of the crown moldings in the sunroom. He still needs to install them in the connecting porch. He also installed one handle on the bar cabinet doors.

Next Tuesday, Bob (cabinetry) said they would be delivering the door for the circuit breaker box and the bar bottle rails and shelves.

John (landscaping) thought we were going to plant the eleven Horn Beams along the east fence this week and had he people dig the holes. Alas, it was not to be. The trees will not arrive until late next week (hopefully).

John is expecting major progress on the landscaping this coming week. He originally was very confident that the entire landscaping part of the project would be finished before the end of the month. That now seems optimistic, which is unfortunate since we have had beautiful weather.

On Tuesday, John had a fencing company come out to talk with us about the fencing. The guy said he would have a proposal to us in a couple of days. Nothing yet.

We finally got the City inspection on the AC systems. There were a couple of issues they sighted and Frank (HAC) was here the following day to rectify them.

We also had a final inspection of the plumbing. No issues. Mark (plumbing) showed up to winterize the garage water system. I talked with him about the hot water line to the sunroom. The line has about 20 feet of needless copper line and it takes about two minutes for hot water to reach the sunroom tap. We looked at it together and the following day, he had one of his guys out to do some re-piping. Now it only takes about one minute for hot water to reach the sunroom tap. Mark also took the limestone sill that has been sitting behind the garage for the past four months. Don't know what he intends to do with it, but we are glad it is gone.

No electrical work this past week.

Paula (brick) came by to look at the work remaining for the bricklayers. Nice lady. They should be here this coming week to finish the work. They have already been paid so I don't expect any additional cost. Maybe wishful thinking.