Knock knock

Added a door to the crawl space today. Not too much to say about that, but hey, it's nice to have a door on the crawl space.

Down in the trenches

The sound of a Bobcat rumbling into the backyard was cause enough to join in. Today, the crew was scheduled to bury the utilities, including the electrical and cable. A large digger, that looks a bit like a chainsaw, was attached to the front of the loader. Hydraulic hoses were fastened and buttons were pushed. Seconds later a perfect four-foot deep trench appeared. These two photos show the machine carving through the black Missouri soil.

Along the way, we used shovels to scoop out dirt that slipped back into the hole. The electrician was busy getting the conduit ready to drop in the ditch. In this photo, you can see the trencher working backwards toward the rear of the yard.

Navigating the churning steel teeth around the sewer and gas lines was a concern. So, that portion of the trench had to be hand dug. This photo shows Larry and Kent working up a sweat, while Rod enjoys the comfort of the Bobcat.

The back part of our yard used to have a large pond. After it was drained, the old liner was exposed. I thought that we could just dig through it and then cover it up. Unfortunately, under the liner was a huge piece of ancient shag carpet we removed from the house a few years ago. It made a soft underlayment for the pond liner. Well, the carpet posed a real risk to the trencher. Piles of stringy gold carpet waited to gum up the rotating blades. So, we had to dig out the smelly carpet and remove the liner. This photo shows the bucket on the loader filling the pond with dirt.

Flexible gas lines? What?

The guys are putting the finishing touches on the new furnace unit. The unit sits in the new attic space (see first photo). It looks like a complicated piece of machinery. But this behemoth doesn't just sit unattached. The workers cut a brand new hole in the brand new roof to vent the unit. Also, the gas line had to be extended though the crawl space and up to the attic. The bottom photo shows the flexible yellow hose that snakes up the wall. Here's hoping this warms our house in the coming cold months.

Balcony railing: Part 1

I have spent some time in the shop making the new railings that will frame the balcony deck on the second floor. The design follows the existing look of the fence that surrounds the yard. The rails are made from 1.5 inch steel tube and half-inch round bar, all welded into one 70 pound section. Check out the high-tech paint center! The first photo shows the railing tacked together. The welds need to be completed and the piece brushed to clean it. The second photo is during the painting stage. I use a enamel black spray paint, perfect for steel. I'll post a photo of the railing mounted in a couple of days.

Searching for gas

Most of the work this week is not very photogenic. Also, it has rained pretty much everyday. Lot and lots of rain. The crew did have time to search out the buried gas line in the backyard. This is important because a giant trencher will be along in a few days to put the electric and cable underground. Definitely do no want to cut through the gas line. So, hand digging is the solution. This hole has filled with water and drained several times this week. Yep, that is a walnut at the bottom. The yard is covered with a bounty crop of these ankle twisters.