Monday, July 18, 2011

Dirt Flies

We are finally to the point of actually finishing projects! One of the downfalls of working on projects yourself is the slow laborious progress.


This week the final brick was placed. Ed gathered the children around and they shrieked and yelled loud enough to wake the neighborhood.


Ed used some of the leftover mortar to cover the cement blocks under the porch with a random pattern.


Then it was clean up time. The piles of brick, wood and various junk that has been in our yard for the past months was cleaned up. The children have had so much fun playing with all this "stuff". But I'm slightly relieved to have an end to all the mud, sand, and brick dust that has been tracked into our house. Not that my children will ever stay clean in the summer. But at least it won't be right at the door and they will have a few feet to shake off before entering the house.


On Friday, Ed's brother, Terry, helped with landscaping. The ground around the addition and particularly under one of the trees was packed down hard from all the heavy machinery that has been in the yard this spring. According to Terry, our tree expert, the tree was showing signs of stress and needed to get air to it's roots. They rented a big air compressor and used the high powered air to break up the dirt. The dust was amazing!


But the soil by one of the trees was like concrete and no dent was able to be made. We put the soaker hose on it all night. By morning, they were able to break up the hard soil. They then worked in mushroom mulch. By the time they finished, the soil was light and fluffy. I had decided to only have some small planting beds because of the tree root competition, but I was tempted to plant in the whole area after their work. Seemed a shame to cover it with bark. But it was all in an effort to save the tree.


They coiled two soaker hoses in the tree's drip line and covered it with a good layer of playground chips.


The finished result.


Such a relief to have this part of the project finished!

18 comments :

  1. I looks wonderful, Gina!

    When we bought our home, the soil was badly compacted. We used mushroom mulch as well, and the soil is now beautiful! I highly recommend it!

    Deanna

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gina,

    Your home and yard is looking so beautiful! It must be such a blessing to have so many areas of expertise as your disposal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow and wonderful. I love it when people consider the environment that was there already. Nothing upsets me more then seeing trees destroyed to build a new home. Lovely to see the care you have given your property.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gina, it looks absolutely beautiful, I have been enjoying following the progress of your addition, it reminds me of when we built our home.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very pretty. I know you and your family will enjoy this for many years to come!
    Regina

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looks very nice Gina!! So happy for you and excited as you are seeing the end to a long, but worthwhile project.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful! What a sense of accomplishment you must feel - and gratitude to those helping. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. All the hard work is paying off in an absolutely beautiful way! It's been interesting to watch the progress, and to cheer everyone on, from afar. May God bless you and keep you in your newly renovated home.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love the cedar posts!
    Looks great and very inviting!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your addition is lovely. I have enjoyed watching the progress! I'm sure you will enjoy it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I have really enjoyed reading and seeing the progress of your home addition. Although I will miss reading all the updates I’m sure you’re glad to have it over with.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It looks so good! I bet it feels good to get rid of the dirt and dust!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Congratulations. After all that work. Looks like a great outdoor area for the children.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a wonderful new addition!! Everything is so nice!! I love the walkway and parkbench, the porch...beautiful!! OH..and those darling children!!! Thanks for sharing the journey!

    ReplyDelete
  15. It looks amazing!! Can't wait to see how you decorated inside.

    I do have a question though...
    How did you clean up the sand in the yard?? My husband bought our children a pool this summer, and we have just put it up and we had to have stone and sand brought in to level out the pool now I have lots of sand outside the pool area. How did you get it cleaned up out of your yard??

    Thanks so much for posting!!
    Dana

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wha-hoo! Isn't that a nice feeling? It looks terrific. I certainly can relate to DIY taking a long time. I was just realizing that we have two projects left that has been on the "to-do" list since we moved into our current house- 7 years ago this August! Glad you can take a breather now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks so much to all you! I'm so behind at catching up with emails but I read and enjoy each of your comments.

    Dana -
    I'm not sure how to get all the sand out. We scooped up most of it and put it in the children's sand box. But there is still a lot left in what used to be grass. We decided to wait to reseed the grass in the fall. I guess we'll rake up more sand then, or cover with top soil. Any ideas?
    Gina

    ReplyDelete
  18. Close family and friends are a true blessing! God provides for us abundantly. I am new to your blog but am grateful for your steadfast encouragement. Thank you for sharing and blessing me.

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails