Big Picture: Where are we?
Hatfield fence is complete. Work resumes on the deck this week.
Corp Update
- Friday was off for travel to celebrate the second iteration of the 40th birthday of one of our most valued employees. Happy Birthday Mom. XOXOXO
- Before leaving for Seattle, I finished the fence at Hatfield St. The neighbors there couldn’t be nicer, and they were very accommodating of the work. I hand-dug all of the post holes, then mixed up the concrete by hand (about 1200 lbs worth). We got a bit of rain after I’d loaded the dirt into the truck, so my weigh-in at the dump was hitting just under one ton of (wet) soil. Lots of physically hard work, but the fence is now done and we can check that off the list.
I had a guy lined up to help with the fence but he was a no-show. Hence, it took me 4 days to do what could have been completed in < 2 days. A bummer to be sure, but it is what it is. - No work on the deck this week, as I was focused on the fence. Tuesday I’ll start putting down deck surface, and hopefully get the fence fully installed by the end of the week,
- No meaningful progress on the front steps this week. I did finally get the stone mason and the concrete guy on a text thread and politely prodded them about expected dates. They copped to ordering the stone very late, and at this point we are a few weeks away from actually setting the stones. Grrr….
- The neighbor with the curb issue is being obstinate. After they verbally agreed to leave the curb in place, I had an agreement drawn up. They did nothing with that agreement for two weeks, so I dropped them an email that we will move forward under the premise of the verbal agreement. They then replied that they want the curb cut. I’m exploring options at this time, but suffice it to say, I won’t be picking up their mis-placed Amazon packages.
- Had another evening of welding the planter boxes. I’m getting better at stick welding, but my vertical stick work is still garbage. Fortunately, we have a pro to handle the tough ones. I’ll confess that we did make a tactical error in our welding. I believe my pro spends most of his time working with MUCH thicker steel, so he’s not as attuned to how much heat he is dumping into the steel. When we finally dialed back and worked in shorter stitches, it comes out perfect. Some of the earlier welds, though, are 4” long continuously welded, which caused some warping of the steel. We’ll hide that reasonably well, so it’s not fatal, but it’s a good lesson learned. I’ll order the final steel pieces this week, and hope to have the planters done by July 15.
- Here’s the schedule for the next few days
- Mon: Instal flashing on ledger boards
- Tuesday: Install deck surface
- Wed: Fence around deck
- Friday: Build the gate and complete the deck
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