The Wall Saga: Addendum
The Wall Saga, addendum: Giggles the skid steer and a few last details. The end of the Great Wall of Purgatory.
Category: Projects
The Wall Saga: Finishing Touches
The Wall Saga: the finishing touches go on, just in time for the winter rains.
The Wall Saga: Putting it Together
The Wall Saga: the blocks go in, one by one, while I’m stuck in bed with a cold.
The Wall Saga: Drainage
The Wall Saga: building proper drainage behind the new wall.
The Wall Saga: Block Unloading
The Wall Saga: unloading 96 concrete blocks, eight truckloads’ worth.
The Wall Saga: Left Turn to Albuquerque
The Wall Saga: why getting our addresses fixed in Apple and Google Maps mattered so much for the big trucks.
The Wall Saga: Footer In Place
The Wall Saga: the footer is in, and the concrete cures.
The Wall Saga: Concrete Pumping Video
The Wall Saga: an annotated video of the epic concrete pumping.
The Wall Saga: Pumping Day
The Wall Saga: pumping day, with four trucks of concrete to fill the forms.
The Wall Saga: Form Work
The Wall Saga: building the forms for the footer, while block deliveries trickle in.
The Wall Saga: Unexpected Moment
The Wall Saga: video of the messy block unloading.
The Wall Saga: 18-Wheelers and Inclines
The Wall Saga: 6’x6’x2′ blocks from Granite Rock, 18-wheelers on our inclines and a contractor whose project management was lacking.
The Wall Saga: Deliveries!
The Wall Saga: four excavators, telehandlers and the first block deliveries.
The Wall Saga: Trench Warfare
The Wall Saga: trench warfare against the pocket gophers, plus a walk through the great trench.
Aerial Excavation Video
Aerial video showing just how much excavation the wall needed.
The Wall Saga: The Trench
The Wall Saga: the trench is open.
The Wall Saga: Cutting Progress
The Wall Saga: trimming, ramping and cutting into the hillside, and an engineering firm that falls behind.
The Wall Saga: Archeology
The Wall Saga: old fill pipes, pilings and other finds once the deck and concrete were gone.
The Wall Saga: Flagpole Displacement
The Wall Saga: taking down the Doc’s flagpole, which, he assured us, had always been crooked.
The Wall Saga: 900 Railroad Ties
The Wall Saga: what to do with the Doc’s railroad ties, a buck apiece, 900 of them.
The Wall Saga: Concrete Removal Video
The Wall Saga: Agent Smith Sr. at the helm of the excavator, removing pavers from the pool deck.
The Wall Saga: Concrete Demolition
The Wall Saga: breaking out concrete slabs and shifting a couple of tons of river rock.
Again with the kitchen sink
Making better use of the small space next to the kitchen sink with a wall-mounted dish rack and some new tile.
What Lies Beneath
Getting the debris and fallen insulation cleared out of the crawlspace under the house.
The Wall Saga: Deck Demolition
The Wall Saga: demolishing the rotting wooden deck and wall along the south edge of the pool.
The Wall Saga: Excavation and Trees
The Wall Saga begins: removing the old railroad-tie wall and the trees in its way.
All fenced in!
Our entire perimeter is now properly fenced, thanks to a fencing guy our nearest neighbor recommended.
Ketchup cleans up!
Cleaning the tarnished brass treasures from the stables with a bath of ketchup. The results are pretty awesome.
Paving Snags
A driveway repaving project becomes a replace-the-main-water-line project, and I’m on day two without water.
The End of Dry Rot
The dry rot is fixed, and we’re no longer in danger of a large section of the house falling down.
The Kitchen Table
My grandmother’s old kitchen table and chairs, finally refinished and in our kitchen.
South Wall Videos Now Up
Time-lapse videos of the south wall from the great wall project.