Landscaping…Wrap-up (phase one)

Andy and the JLM landscape crew finished up what we are calling phase one of the back yard plan yesterday. They will be back to add the crushed red limestone trails and work on the walkways out front later but are done with the grading, drains, walls, patio, and tree planting. The first photo shows the new back yard from on top of the dumpster. Here we see all the elements of the plan together for the first time.

The second photo shows the boulder walls, and boulder “out-croppings” in the grade rising from the patio on the un-structured side of the basement walk-out. the painted line marks the edge of one of the limestone trails.

the last photo shows the upper “look-out” drain that runs all the way to the back wall of the house by the breeze way entrance. This will bring water from the gutters and dog run on the back side of the house to the top of the hill at the edge of the woods. We have purposely placed the outlet in the hill above the trees to provide watering in this area.

Nosy Neighbors…

While visiting the “L” Shaped House this afternoon I ran into one of our new neighbors on the trail. He was “nosing” around behind the garage and generally seemed to be up to no good. When I tried talking to him he just stared at me for a minute and then walked away without even saying goodbye…

Siding…day 1

The Tappe siding crew started work at the “L” Shaped House today. By noon they had the end wall of the garage finished and a good start on the front. The first photo below shows the primed Hardie siding and finished MiraTec trim on the end wall. The eaves and soffit are covered with metal as the siding is installed.

The next photo shows the front side of the garage with siding, Trim, and the beginnings of the “thin white line” that will wrap the house installed. It looks like our friend Camille will get her wish…we will probably have a green house (at least for a while).

Heating & A/C…Day 6

The heating and A/C guys were busy today installing the flues for the fireplaces. The first photo shows the basement fireplace sitting on the corner framing with the flue installed in the ceiling, the gas pipe plumbed to the back, and the electrical connection coiled on the wall. The second photo shows the outside vent for the basement fireplace as it exits the house.

The two photos here show the flue for the living room fireplace. The first as it runs through one of the open web trusses and exits the back wall. The second shows the co-axial pipe in the flange at the top of the fireplace framing in the living room. The direct vent system brings combustion (cold) air into the fireplace in the region surrounding the exhaust (hot) air pipe in the middle.

Landscaping…day 12

Andy and his crew have finished the paver patio. They were rinsing it off for the very first time as I arrived around noon. The first two photos show the patio in all its glory … Nice!

The next photo shows the “un-structured” side of the basement walkout with the upper and lower boulder walls and the transition to the pavers. The JLM guys finished the upper boulder wall this morning and placed a few more “out-croppings” in the the hill. The second photo is a close shot of the short boulder wall that defines the left hand side of the trail into the patio showing the transition details.

 

The last photo shows the crew installing the landscaping drain tile pipe outside and above the paver patio. The pipe is being placed in the trench so that the top will be just barely covered in river rock allowing water flowing at the surface to migrate in. The drain tile pipe will connect to the 4” PVC drain system just visible at the far left and will flow out beyond the back yard. Our plan is to let this feature take on the look of a dry river bed.

Landscaping…Day 11 (Evening report)

Andy and his crew had a really productive day in the back yard at the “L” Shaped House. In the first photo you can see that they came a pretty close but did not quite finish the patio pavers (they ran the block saw out of gas). All that is left is some fussy sawing as they lay the accent blocks. Standing in the center of the patio looking out into the backyard feels great. The pavers look really nice and the transitions to the modular blocks and Boulders work well. The JLM landscape guys have absolutely transformed the place!

The next photo shows the back yard from the top of the dirt pile at the end of the garage. In it we can see many of the new trees, the end of the modular block walls, and the grade going down to the patio. Andy and his crew spent some time cleaning up the area at the edge of the woods and have made it look very nice.

Landscaping…Day 11 (Pavers)

Andy and his crew had installed about half of the pavers in the patio by noon today. They plan to have the entire patio finished by the time they leave tonight. The first photo shows the the pallets of paver stones and pile of granite sand above the patio. Here you can see two sizes of colored pavers and the accent stones they are using to create the patio.

The next photo shows the paver installation progress around noon today. Andy plans to create a circular border inside the sitting wall with a “soldier course” of pavers and accent stones and then fill the center with pavers “rotated” 45 degrees to the pattern already installed.

The last photo shows Andy’s patterned patio from above. I think it is very nicely done and will become a center point at the “L” Shaped House!

Heating & A/C…Day 5

The heating guys started to install the garage heater and basement fireplace this morning. The first photo shows the Hot Dawg unit heater mounted to the ceiling in the garage and the exhaust pipe through the wall behind. the second photo shows the Heatilator gas fireplace sitting in front of the corner framing Paul installed just this morning. We plan to mount the fireplace about 22” above the floor and have a flush front.

Natural Gas…Day 1

 

The Center Point energy folks connected the “L” Shaped House to natural gas this morning. The photos below show the new gas meter in the front corner of the house and the actual connection taking place as I showed at around noon today.

Landscaping…Day 11 (Trees)

Matt and Andy finished planting all of the new trees this morning. Each tree has its own TreeGator watering bag installed around the base. The first photo shows the view from the corner of the garage. If you look closely there are at least 8 new trees visible.

The next photo shows the three arborvitae trees strategically placed to (eventually) shield the utility pole from view out the windows on the back of the house.