Fall is for planting!

Alas, before planting we have a bit more work to do. The front courtyard area is where gravel for the foundation was dumped and then compacted by construction vehicles. On top of that, the guys that did our stucco mixed all of their concrete and sand in this area... So, shovel by shovelful, Mike spent an entire Saturday digging up a bed about 2.5 feet wide by 6 feet long and running it over a steel grate to filter out the gravel and concrete pieces... Flowers by Spring!

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Disaster averted....One step closer

Yesterday the City Utilities Dept. sent out the guy that is Mr. Sewer for all of East Sac....He had an old map of our part of town that showed the water and sewer lines running diagonally across our lot!!! After one quick look at the manhole in the front of the lot and the manhole in the alley, it was easy to see that the sewer line ran parallel and well within the 20 foot easement....excellent, but what about water? Today the Utilities Department sent out the guy that is Mr. Water for all of East Sac...he had one of those retro 1970's-esq Fu Man Chu mustaches, not that I noticed.... Anyway, he brought all sorts of fancy pipe detection equipment and in no time at all he found the water pipe....It was also well within the easement and does not run under house site....phew... Pat at the City Utilities Department just called, she had that perky and cheerful voice that most people get when they can tell you that a problem has been averted, she used that voice when she told me ...

Walk on by....

At long last our front steps and sidewalk are done... We also replaced half of the sidewalk in front of our old house next door. The city had flagged it for replacement due to tree root damage(at our expense of course - thanks to Proposition 13) six months ago. We worked with the new homeowners to repair their landscape and now we both have great looking sidewalks.

Stepping Out!

This picture shows the guys from Excel Concrete(highly recommended for both foundations and flat work) smoothing the concrete at our front door stoop....Down the side of the house you can see three of the other four additional sets of forms that they filled with concrete today..The house has a total of 5 exterior doors and one roll up garage door...All of them now have concrete steps with salt textured finish....We have a front entrance garden planned that will incorporate a concrete wall and more concrete work.....If the city makes us put in a sidewalk to pass final inspection I guess Mike will be laying down temporary pavers next weekend....

Mike and Jeff's New House

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