The handmade clay brick paver work is complete, and I would now like to bore you with the technical design details of brick laying. It all started with a series of books written and illustrated by Peter Joel Harrison, who was the first to research and illustrate the historic details of fences, gates, gazebos, trellises, brick pavement, and garden walls. I won’t tell you why and how he came to do this, because you can easily find this out by visiting his website.
Day 14. Preparation for the lace fence installation. The fence contractor, Bryan Warrick of Allen Fence Company, is a full time firefighter who does this on his days off. On Tuesday, he had installed all but 3 fence posts when the University Park’s code enforcement swung by and shut us down because no permit had been issued. DRAT! I had warned all of them that a permit was needed, but they chose to fly under the radar. My landscape contractor thought that since we were replacing an old chin link with a newer one that the city’s approval wouldn’t be needed. Who would think that UP would be desperate for the cash? After all the Park Cities has some of the wealthiest folks living here who pay hefty property taxes. Go figure. Bryan then drove to the code enforcement offices, filed the drawings, requested a permit, and then called it a day. Thursday, his next day off, he would continue after picking up the permit.
What survived in one of the hottest summers on record. Take one last look at the current setup of my front shade garden, because this fall or early next spring it will be expanded. Due to climate change and the growing tree canopies, what worked ten years ago has either died back or outgrown its location. I will be extending the beds, replacing most of the grass lawn, transplanting a few perennials, and adding perennials that will survive Dallas’ more frequent climate extremes. Once complete, I hope not to depend on seasonal annuals to fill in the voids as much as I have these past ten years.
If you’re wondering how often I run the sprinkler system, the answer would be twice a week. Instead, I hand water every evening, which is a real pain and has not been fun, but this is — hands down — the most efficient way to water annuals. Next year, once the re-design has been completed, a soaker hose system will be implemented, because I want my life back.
The continuing saga of the lace fence. After arriving last week, the package was too long and heavy for one man and a dolly to maneuver from the truck, through the gates and into my garage. So it’s just been lying on my driveway ever since. From looking at the package, it appeared that they had shipped the fabric in separate panels and not in the continuous roll that I expected. This worried me, but after opening it up, we discovered that it was indeed one continuous piece of fabric. Yes! Yes! Yes! On closer inspection we realized that the woven lace designs were small and tight and would have never been able to conform to a compact rolling technique.
Handmade clay brick pavers don’t seem to be popular anymore, and until a close match can be found, the backyard job is on hold. For at least a week anyway. The pavers on my front steps that you see in the above photo were installed seven years ago, and I failed to make a note of their name and color at that time. Ideally, the pavers for the new back steps and extended paths should match what I already have. Since they aren’t stocking many paver choices, the dealer has been kind enough to offer to walk their Denton yard to see if he can come up with enough pavers to match from the overage pallets left over from previous years.
Tomorrow, Thursday, the lace fence fabric will be delivered sometime between one and five, and once it’s physically here, I will ask Hadden Landscaping to schedule the fence’s installation. I don’t expect this to happen this week. Knowing my luck, the fence and pavers will be installed at the same time on the same day causing mass confusion.
Dirt has moved. A four inch layer of finished compost and expanded shale have been added and tilled to a six inch depth in all planting beds. Then in the areas where clay pavers and stone paths will be laid down, the dirt has been tamped down. Next Wednesday is the planned day for the stone and brick installation. Only after this has been done, can we proceed with the final phase of regrading and steel edging placements.
I have received word that my lace chain link fabric is slated to arrive at my house on Monday. Maybe, just maybe, the landscape crew will be able to install it next week.
Are you as bored as I am from looking at these backyard update photos? For a change of venue expect a post that has nothing to do with hardscaping, landscaping, and gardening. Hopefully I’ll have it posted by late tomorrow, but first some staging and photography must occur.
A brief update. Yesterday, Monday, they poured the garage concrete pad for the second time. The forms will stay on until Wednesday morning, and hopefully, this will give the concrete ample time to cure and not stick to the forms during removal.
note: If you notice a little square of exposed dirt between the garage and the greenhouse, this was deliberately designed to help absorb the runoff during a rain storm and to avoid water draining into the greenhouse.
A tragedy unfolds. Not a real tragedy in terms of the world and humanity, but a tragedy that turned into a pain in the derrière for everyone involved. Especially me. It’s all been downright intrusive and isn’t over yet. There’s more to come tomorrow, day 11.
Day 8. The concrete was poured only after waiting for the mixer truck for three hours. Three hours AFTER the scheduled time. First was the pad in front of the garage and greenhouse, and the second and longest pour was the complicated tiered back steps which now look like some kind of wedding cake. I was instructed to not allow my dogs on them until later that night. We coped very well and went to bed thinking that progress had been made and all was right. WRONG!
Bertha, the fraidy cat. She’s the smart one peeping out. Bubba is not bright enough to consider the spring board action of the temporary ramp as dangerous. It looks like I will have to bring Bertha around to the backyard the long way for one last visit tonight before we call it a night. I don’t want either of them to go out on that ramp at night, so I’ll be sliding down the temporary door to keep them in.
Please excuse the wonky-wall syndrome in this photo. I had better shots, but this is the only one showing Bertha’s cute mug looking out.
The framing is finished, and the concrete will be poured tomorrow morning. Even though it’s a small job, the complexity required four men to work ten hours with an additional three men for the last three hours.
Bubba and Bertha miss their old smelly deck, which was ripped out this morning and carted off. After anticipating a nasty surprise, what had been hidden all these years turned out to be nothing. No rat skeletons, no nests, no toys, no holes in the foundation, nothing. My contractor came by and coated the newly exposed wood siding with some sticky blue gunk, let it dry, and then applied the water proofing material that you see in the above photo. Earlier the demo crew made a temporary ramp for my dogs. Of course Bertha knew instantly how to use it, but that wasn’t the case with Bubba who required coaxing — placing treats at the top near their door. Tomorrow the concrete crew will be building the forms for the new back steps and the entrance to the garage. At least that’s what we have been told to expect, but I’m not going to hold my breath.