Big Picture: Where are we?
The hardscape project is UNDERWAY!
Technically this status report is being written on Tuesday, but that’s OK…
Corp Update
- And….. they’re off! Friday, Jan 12, we started demolition of the concrete for the hardscape. Fred spent the day breaking up concrete, putting it in the truck, and hauling it away. By the end of the day, he’d taken down a big chunk of the retaining wall, as well as big chunks of the patio area. Next up will be the remainder of the wall, and finally the existing parking pad.
The weather has taken a nasty turn – cold and snowy. In theory we can work through it all, but in reality- not so much. Driving a dump truck full of concrete on snow/icy roads is no fun. Also, we have a bit of work to do *outside* the cab of the excavator, and that is ZERO fun in the frigid cold, so we will play things by ear next week. - Here’s a timelapse video of some of the excavation work.
- Macro level, it’s worth sharing the schedule for the project. I expect the entire project to take a couple of months, assuming we get decent weather.
- My sub (Fred Kim) is a firefighter for the City of Pgh, and he works a 24 hour shift, followed by 3 days off. He is also a dad, so that means on the weekends, he’s usually not here. Roughly speaking, it means that if the weather cooperates, we get about 17 days of “possible” work in a month, but then it’s impacted by weather.
- I hope that we can get the walls all set by the end of February. Then we’d pour concrete some time in March, assuming we get some warm weather. On the other hand, if we keep getting really cold weather, it’ll slow our progress.
- My own estimates of this work are as follows:
- demolition: ~4-7 days
- Foundation prep: 2 days
- lay block: 5-7 days
- Patio base prep: 2 days
- Patio stone setting: 3-5 days
- Concrete forms and pouring: 4-6 days
- Over at Hack, I’ve been working on the repair of our vestibule door. The door was originally set with a mortise lock, and over the years, it has been carved up like a thanksgiving turkey. I patched in some new pieces, and it should be as good as new.
- Next week, the weather is expected to be very cold, so there may be limited progress outside.
Goals for January
- Demo all of the retaining wall and the concrete parking pad and patio
- Excavate dirt and dig footers for retaining walls.
- Get gravel installed for all footers.
- Complete rehab of inner vestibule door and mount it.
- If possible, start making some of the trim for the outer vestibule door on the Hack CNC.
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