Backyard Makeover

Our backyard has undergone a major makeover in the last month.  When we initially sodded, we only did half of the backyard.  It's been a couple years now and we were ready to finish the job.  Another big project was to add landscaping along the fence.  We didn't want to look out at a fence, but would rather see green leaves and pretty flowers.

Here are some before pictures, taken the day before we started.

First, we came up with a landscaping plan with our favorite plants and I drew it up in CAD.

We rented a skid steer on March 9th to dig up the weeds and prep the ground for sod.  We had to go back after to fine grade with a rake.  We also used it to help move the fire wood and brick stacks.  This made for more room in the yard.

Then, we got help from Adam's Aunt Virginia & Uncle Allen to get the plants at wholesale prices.  This was a huge money saver - thank you!!  The plants arrived March 19th and we spent the next week planting and mulching.

 Adam and I planted the 100+ plants over the next week.  We got a trailer full of mulch and put that in place.

 We got four pallets of sod on March 26th.  Adam's Dad and brother helped lay the sod quickly.

Here's our yard as of this morning.  The sun is just rising, so the lighting isn't the best.

Now, we still need about two more pallets of sod, which should happen on Monday.  Then, we'll be all done.  We left a path for the trailer to add more mulch.  We'll fill this in and then throw seed in the very back corner.

I love how it turned out, makes me want to have a picnic!

Playing in the dirt

We have spent the last week preparing our yard for the driveway, sidewalk and sod! Let me show you some before and after pictures.

Here is our house with overgrown weeds. You can see the orange stakes that mark out the driveway and sidewalk. This is what the concrete guys used to give us a price for their work.


We rented a tiller to break up existing grass/weeds. You can see the front yard is about halfway done.

This is what the ground looks like after it’s tilled – very soft.


This is the tiller.


We brought in three loads of dirt on Friday and we were able to barrow a Bobcat from Adam’s cousin Rusty (thanks, Rusty!). Adam moved dirt around Friday and Saturday to get the grading right for our lawn (make water run away from the foundation).


Adam was inspired by his baseball days and hooked us this contraption to smooth out the dirt. It worked pretty well.


The concrete guys put up the form boards on Monday. It’s really great to be able to define the yard and see what the finished product is going to look like.


The form boards up close. We had hoped to get concrete today, but ran into some problems with permitting, bonds, etc with the county. We are getting everything worked out and should have concrete (and sod for that matter) this week. We’re very excited!


As for the inside of the house, we got the baseboards in the areas with carpet the weekend before last. Here is the guest room.


This is what our window sills look like with the base.


We also received the rest of our kitchen appliances. Here is the refrigerator. We love it – much more high-tech than what we would typically buy, but we got it on sale – yay!


The microwave and range. Just so you know, I did everything to install the microwave myself (while Adam was moving dirt). I did have to get Adam’s assistance to lift it in place, but the rest was all me.

We passed our electrical and plumbing finals. Like I said before, we should get concrete and sod this week and hope to get the landscaping plants/trees in this weekend. Then, we just need to finish up flooring and trim. We are getting SO CLOSE!!

Formwork and Plumbing

Wow . . . I'm almost glad to come back to work after such a tiring weekend. Adam and I spent 12 hours working on our site Saturday, 8 hours on Sunday, and about 7 hours Monday. We're sore and tired - but made a lot of progress.

We stopped by to look at the formwork on Friday night - it looks great and we're very excited to have some wood in place on our lot.


We got out to the land at 7:30 am on Saturday. We checked the dimensions on the form boards to make sure it was right. We found one mistake - but it should be easy to fix. Then, we checked all our interior footings and pads. We had to adjust these a bit in some places, but they were overall in the right place. Then, we began to scrap the grass/weeds off our dirt. In our inactivity and rain the last few weeks, the green stuff crept up on us. So, we sprayed Round-Up everywhere, then dug it up with a shovel and removed it with a rake. Not too fun - but it worked. We also picked up trash and some tree debris and put it in the dumpster. This was Clint's job and he did great! He moved a whole tree by himself, and didn't want any breaks. We checked the elevations and moved more dirt. Then, we compacted the whole foundation again. Thus, Saturday ends with blisters and dirt everywhere.

Clint moving the tree.

Our dumpster and portolet.

Our Doc Box.

Formwork from the master bedroom corner.

Formwork from the front porch and hall bath.

Compacting the dirt.

Adam and I stopped by before church for a little bit to start marking wet-walls for the underground plumbing. After church, we researched our plumbing fixtures and marked dimensions on the plumbing drawing. Then, we got to the land and started digging plumbing trenches through the house. We started with the sanitary line. This has to have a slope of 1/4" for every 1 foot. This makes the line about 30" deep by the time it exits the house. So, we measured, ran string lines, and dug some more.

Trench for the Sanitary line.

The hired help (Adam and his dad) hard at work. I dug some too - but, admittedly, they did most of the grunt work.

I take a peak at the sanitary pipe.

Adam came out there Monday morning to do some more digging by himself. We had a family get together for Memorial day with Adam's mom's side. It was a very nice break and a fun time. But, afterword, it was time to get back to work. We picked up a couple things from Lowe's and started digging some more - checking to make sure we had the right slope. Finally, about 7 pm, we started laying out plumbing fittings and cutting pipe. We laid out the main line and the y's that branch off - for about 40 feet. We packed up about 9:30 last night.

A much deeper trench at the right slope - ready for pipe!

Adam used his truck as a work bench to cut the pipe.

The plumbing fittings laid out.

Starting to set the pipe in place. We did more - but it got too dark for photos.

It's been a long weekend, but the work's not done yet. We plan on getting out there after work every day this week. We hope to finish the sanitary lines tonight and do the supply lines later this week. Then, Adam will need to run the electrical conduit - he will be our electrician as well. Then, we need an inspection. The concrete guy will place the rebar, visqueen, and wire mesh - and then we'll place the concrete. We hope to place it next week. Yay!

Busy, Busy

We have been keeping pretty busy lately. Adam has been out to the land here and there, getting the foundation level and trying to recapture his thoughts on what needs to happen next - apparently, the cruise has left his mind blank. The big discovery of the week: Adam found our Sanitary line! This is late in coming, but at least we know where to look now.

We may of found a renter for our condo. I have been posting adds to sell it on craigslist.com, and someone called asking if we'd be interested in renting it out! So, we made her an offer and we'll see what comes of it. There is a chance we'd be moving out at the end of this month!

I have been preparing for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam - which I take tomorrow. It is an 8-hour exam covering everything I learned in college. I graduated three years ago, so relearning all this stuff hasn't been too fun, but I feel prepared. This is a preliminary test to becoming a Professional Engineer - I still need a couple more years of experience, recommendations, and take another exam.

Adam is having a reunion with some of his college buddies and their families this weekend, so I'll meet up with him in Gainesville Saturday night. The point of all of this is we're gone another weekend and won't be getting much work done on our land. Hopefully we'll kick it into gear soon and make some good progress. Until, then . . . I leave you with another picture from the cruise.

We Have Our PERMIT!!

Adam met the the Plans Reviewer for Duval County for a couple of hours yesterday. We had to make the changes he noted last week and get a new set together to submit - and we GOT OUR PERMIT! I'm a little excited, in case you can't tell. There are still a couple of things we need to change, but it wasn't big enough to reject us. He was also able to submit our Notice of Commencement - which we officially need to do to begin construction. He also got the Plumbing permit. They didn't even need to see the drawings for that - so, that process was a lot easier. Now we don't have the county holding us back - ONWARD!

Adam and his dad spent most of Saturday working on the footings. They still need to be cleaned up a little and compacted, but they're coming along. We also spent a good amount of time searching for the sewer conection. There is an "s" marked in the curb, and we dug all around that "s" to try and find the connection - but, it wasn't there. So, Adam's been in touch with everyone you can think of to try and get that information. We used the excavator to help dig some, but we turned it back in on Monday. Now, we just have shovels and a wheelbarrow.

After we finish the footings, we'll do the form boards and underground plumbing. However, Adam and I will be out of town this weekend and then we leave on a 4-night cruise on Sunday . . . so, it'll be a week before we do any more work on the house. We're going to enjoy our break and relax on the beach. Then, we'll get back to it next Thursday. That's all for now. Sorry I don't have pictures - I left the camera at home. I hope you had a nice Easter.

More Site Work

We have certainly been working hard this week! Adam spent most of the day on Monday putting our new load of dirt in the right places. Then, I compacted it. The equipment renters gave us a break a let us keep the Track Skid an extra day, so they picked it up early Tuesday morning.


We tested the elevations of our slab using this laser level. It spins around and puts out an invisible laser in every direction. Then, you put a sensor on a large ruler and it beeps when the laser hits at the correct elevation. It's pretty handy!


Like I said earlier, it was my job to compact the ground. This is what I used - it vibrates and makes the ground pretty dense. By code, we have to have 95% compaction.


Adam was out their with his dad, Brian, and Clint on Tuesday. They made quite the team and dug over half of the footers. We got out their again on Thursday and dug the rest of them. In our house, almost every wall is structural - so now the foundation looks like a maze with all the trenches running through it. A couple of them need to shift over slightly, but other than that, they're in the right place. I realize this isn't the best picture, but it's the only one I had of the footers.


Clint was enjoying his seat in the excavator again . . . but this time, Adam got up there with him and showed him which buttons/levers to push so he could pick up dirt! Clint had a blast.


We are back to it this weekend. We need to finish the footers, compact the dirt again, then we're starting on the form boards. These are the peices of wood that outline the house to keep the concrete in. Then, it's time to do the underground plumbing.

We finally heard back from the county today . . . they gave us a list of comments that they want us to fix on our drawings. We are making the changes and should meet with them on Monday to give them everything they requested and get our permit. Then, we have to immeadiately submit for a plumbing permit and Notice of Commencement. Then, we can legally do the plumbing work and continue on our house. Fun and exciting stuff!

I hope you have a wonderful Easter, Praise Jesus for all he has given us!

Site Work

We spent the entire weekend doing site work for our house. Friday afternoon, Adam had two pieces of equipment delivered to our lot - a mini excavator and track skid. He scraped off the grass and topsoil from the house foot print with track skid, so we wouldn't be building on organics.


Then, he had four loads of dirt delivered. One of these loads was rather wet, which caused some issues later on.


Adam then began to spread out the dirt from the piles to raise up and even out the elevation.





Clint (Adam's brother) picked his seat - the mini excavator. He sat up in there for just about the entire weekend. He'd come down when we asked him to do something, but he would always return back to his seat.


We worked until just after dark - around 8:00 pm. Adam and I work up early Saturday morning, made a quick trip to Lowe's and started back to work by 8:30 am. Adam continued to move the dirt evenly across the house footprint.


We had a couple visitors - The Weinstein's stopped by to see the progress. Here, Daryl and Logan take a spin on the track skid.


We spent Saturday leveling the dirt, borrowing dirt, measuring the elevation with the laser level, and compacting the dirt. Our neighbors two doors down had some dirt in their side yard that they wanted us to take - we did so, gladly. This, however, was a messy process. We had to drive across the road to get the dirt and left a nice trail of dirt about two inches deep for one hundred feet. So, we spent awhile Sunday sweeping up our mess.


Actually, this wasn't quite enough dirt and we plan on getting another truck load today. We also started digging some footings and will use that dirt as well. Here is Adam digging with the mini excavator and then dumping the dirt in the track skid.



We spend just about every bit of daylight working. We are tired, sore, and sunburned. But, we made a lot of progress. The elevation is just about complete. We have compacted most of the soil down and have begun digging the footings. We will continue to work quickly - as we are paying by the day for our rented equipment. We hope to start putting in the underground plumbing soon as well. We have not heard about our permit yet, hopefully it will be soon.