Breaking ground on the deck

We have finally started the deck. It has been planned for years. This is one of those things I have been planning on doing since I was a kid. We finally have our own house that we can add on junk as we see fit.

This is the morning of the first digging day.














We got a lot more done than I though we would.

Val was a champ with the post hole digger. She will have shoulders of steel when this is all done.

By the end of the day we had four post set in concrete for the upper part of the deck. All the holes were dug for the fence posts.

Tomorrow we will hopefully get the rest of the holes dug and everything set in concrete.

Landscaping

We starting filling in the space where the yews were. Interloc bricks sort of follow the sidewalk and then go around the house. We put lava rocks up against the house. The rest is full of mulch from the champaign county recycling center. The rocks were found around the other side of the house. Some of the plants were then and some are being moved around.

Making the grade

This window well was way too low. The ground actually had to slope back to the house around this well. I added some forms and poured some concrete to raise it up. Now I have everything graded away from the house.

Drainage

Now everything drains way away from the house. The new gutter and the old gutter both go into this pipe that leads out down the hill.

Getting rid of the yews

These guys were impressive. The yews that took us two days and an entire chain saw blade took them about 15 minutes to eat up in their wood chipper.

Details

Fonda (Val's sis) has and eye for fine details. These pulls, outlet covers, and fan are all her. Thanks Fonda!

Gutter

On the north side of the house there is no gutter. It's not a big part of roof that drains there but it's the only part of the basement where moisture collects. I found out that my ladder is actually not very tall.