July 2003

 

July 1, 2003: Well, we thought we might be able to squeeze in our last journal entry for June, but time got away from us, so welcome to July everyone! It was a beautiful weekend, but as luck would have it, other commitments occupied most of our time, so we weren't able to get much done around the house. We just can't seem to win when it comes to scheduling and weather lately!

We managed to get the last of the preparations done for the pool deck: replacing our leaky hose bib so we could hook up an automatic fill valve for the pool, laying conduit under the deck for the eventual addition of fiber optic lights in the pool, acid washing the diving board mounting platform to prepare it for grey concrete stain to match the flagstone, driving in the anchors for the winter safety cover, and pouring the cement pad to set the new ladder anchors, which had rusted away. Almost as much work to prep for the deck as it is to lay it! But we're hopeful that with all the work we've done to the pool systems this year, it is now almost fully automated, and, outside of next season's liner replacement, should be in need of absolutely nothing but routine opening and closing for many years.

Of course, no major project is without its share of dithering... or at least we're constitutionally incapable of doing a major project without dithering about something. First, we went back and forth about installing edging along the flagstones. We weren't sure whether we wanted a smooth edge, with the gaps at the edges of the flagstone filled with mortar, or whether we wanted the more jagged edge of free laid flagstone, using topsoil to fill the lawn level with the stone. After we started to lay the stone, we decided we liked the more jagged, natural look, so no edging. But it's never that simple, is it?

Now, the issue to dither over for the day is the pool's coping. The coping is currently bright white aluminum, and needs to be repainted. It's worn down to the metal in spots, and needs a good sanding, repriming, and a finish coat of enamel. Originally, we'd planned immediately to do it in grey, to blend with the flagstone. Now we're not sure whether we like the crisp contrast of the bright white against the stone, or whether we still want to go ahead and try to blend it. We can't come to a decision, so it looks like we'll have to play with one of the color painting programs to try to visualize our options.

We were able to squeeze in a last few hours to start laying the flagstone on the pool deck itself:

And we're very pleased with the way it looks, at least in this very preliminary stage. Hey, one pallet of stone down, eleven more to go:

We've got a long holiday weekend coming up, and the weather forecast is looking good. Looks like three days of take-out and full-bore renovation! Check in with us after the Fourth...

And by the way, for those of you who don't check out the Gallery regularly, we forgot to tell you we added new, complete photos of the grounds. They're really spectacular in the spring and early summer. Check them out by clicking here...

 

July 8, 2003: Flagstone. is. HEAVY. Very, very heavy. In fact, twelve tons o'heavy.

On the plus side, the weather this weekend was mercifully cooperative. It was beastly hot and humid, but other than the brief late-afternoon thunderstorms that rolled in each day, it was dry. And if you're into jigsaw puzzles, laying flagstone is a lot of fun. We avoided almost all cuts, because we wanted a real rough and rustic, been-there-forever look. Which means irregular stones and irregular joints, but careful fitting so that the joints aren't so wide they look sloppy, and more importantly, so they don't crack under the weight of your average six year old or Lara Flynn Boyle, whichever comes first.

We managed to sort and fit the entire pool deck and all but about 75 sq. ft of the patio, and we think it looks great:

  

We're still jammed up on the timeframe to complete the deck and patio, though. We had committed to having it done for the third weekend in July for a large social function, and back in April, our response was, "Noooooo problem! We've got tons of time to bang it out!" That was, of course, before two solid months of unprecedented levels of rain...

Now that we've got the flagstone mostly sorted and fitted, we've got to get the last small bit fitted, then we have to level them and set them in the sand bed, get a couple truckloads of topsoil installed around them to prevent shifting, spread straw on the topsoil to prevent it from being washed and trod away, and get the entire thing mortared... this coming weekend, so that the entire thing's ready for next weekend's party. Ahhh, the best laid plans of mice and men... wish us luck, good weather, and an ample supply of Advil for this coming Sunday night!

 

July 22, 2003: Flagstone. is. HEAVY. Very, very heavy... Sorry we missed you all last week, but as between frantically finishing the pool deck before the first of the houseguests arrived, and writing a journal entry, well, the pool deck just plain won out. And the flagstone? In case you hadn't heard, she was heavy.

What absolutely amazed us about this project was not the skill level required (we'd done a much smaller flagstone patio in our last backyard, and knew that, from our experience, few stonelayers would be submitting resumes to NASA), or even that the flagstone was so heavy that throwing it around for three weeks solid yielded us the biceps of WWF wrestlers. What amazed us was the sheer amount of time it took to fit, place, and seat the flagstones.

When last we left you all, we'd fitted and placed most of the flagstones, with only a small area left to go. Well, we decided rather than cramming the rest of the project into two days, we'd take Friday off, and finish it up in a leisurely three day weekend. Leisurely? Hardly. Delusional? Most definitely. We did, actually, manage with minimal effort to complete fitting and placing the small area bare area left in about an hour and a half. But then we started seating and leveling the stones...

The process went something like this: Squish the stone in the sand, look at it squinty-eyed from the side, see where it needs to be raised or lowered to meet all four sides of the surrounding stones, and whether it's properly sloped for the overall slope of the entire deck and patio (away from the pool, and away from Willard's quarters, a.k.a. outbuilding and future pool house). Add sand to sides that need raising, remove sand from sides that need lowering. Squish stone back into sand. Look at it squinty eyed from the side, and see how close we got. Pull it back up, add and subtract more sand, squish it back in, and resume squinty-eyed scrutiny. Lather, rinse, repeat... for 1400 square feet of stone.

It took us the rest of Friday, all day Saturday, and most of Sunday to get it done. That only left Sunday afternoon to get the topsoil spread around the edges of the deck and patio, and get it mortared in. The topsoil did, indeed, get spread, and the patio got mortared. Dry brushing the mortar into the cracks with a large push broom went quickly and easily. It was an enjoyable, and actually rather Zen process, shoveling the mortar onto the stones, and then steadily and quietly swish, swish, swishing the fine powder into the cracks in the dappled shade of late afternoon. Life was good, and we were quite proud of ourselves.

Until we ran out of mortar.

#@$%&#$! What fool estimated the amount of mortar we'd need to get this project done?

Oh... right. Never mind.

So Monday morning found us at the local brickyard for more mortar and sand, and Monday evening found us at the pool deck after work, trying to finish the mortar for the pool deck itself while we still had daylight. Miracle of miracles, we managed to get the mortar swept in, and wet down.

Finishing the whole thing, which essentially consisted of waiting until the mortar cured, then smoothing the joints and brushing the residue off the stones, was a sort of mixed bag. The areas that were only lightly sprayed with water brushed off and smoothed easily. The lower areas, at the bottom of the slopes we'd created, were more problematic. Water had run off and pooled briefly in those areas before soaking into the surrounding soil. This was good, because it meant the slopes worked as intended to shuttle water away from the outbuilding foundation and pool itself, but it made for a, ummm, challenging mortar removal process, as some of the mortar itself had washed down, and hardened into rock solid... mortar. No permanent harm done, though. A wire brush and some elbow grease took care of it, and the few layers of skin on our hands that we lost in the process will eventually grow back.

We couldn't be happier with the end result. It turned out exactly like we'd pictured:

  

Once we finish, this fall, some final regrading with topsoil, and get some grass growing, it will be done. We can't wait to see it next year surrounded by a sea of green!

By the way, for those of you who've asked in the past week, it held up perfectly for our family event. 70 people out and around the pool, only a couple of minor cracks around the edge stones, and only a bit of sand residue in the pool itself. We'll see how it weathers over the winter and through next pool season, but so far, we have to give a huge thumbs-up to the flagstone and dry-brush mortar method!

Alas, the euphoria was short-lived...

Yes, that is the Kilted One, perched atop the refrigerator in the kitchen, fixing a leak in the main supply line that furnishes every fixture in both upstairs bathrooms with cold water. The leak sprung with all the enthusiasm of a Baroque fountain in a public park. We can't really complain though-- aside from the fact that it was certainly impressive both in its spray pattern and reach, it had the good manners to reveal itself only on the very morning the last of our six houseguests were scheduled to depart. Hey, there's only so much old homeowners are entitled to expect, right?

 

July 28, 2003: Well, we know y'all were hoping for tales of some serious old house destruction/reconstruction this weekend, seeing as how the weather was great and all, but we flaked. Flaked like a High School Senior the night before his last final exam when he's already been accepted to the college of his choice...

We'd killed ourselves to get the pool deck done, and done it we had, with at least seconds to spare. The weekend o'revelry, during which we calculated that we'd prepared for, fed, hosted and entertained over 100 people at a variety of events in 48 hours, was done. D-U-N, DUN. We were tired and burnt-out, so we decided to escape the grit and grime, 160-year old sawdust, and sea of empty beer and wine bottles, and used paper napkins, plates, and bottle caps flitting across the lawn... and went to the beach.

We packed bathing suits and towels, tons of water bottles, lunch, snacks, and all manner of junky reading material-- old People magazines, trashy paperbacks, Fine Homebuilding (with apologies to Taunton Press, but hey, we take the opportunities to read whenever and wherever we can), and set off for the sun and sand.

It was nice. We set up beach chairs at the edge of the surf, knocked out some reading while the waves were lapping about our feet as we watched all the children frolic about in the surf, and life was guuuuuuuuuuuud...

At the end of the day, we packed everything up, and headed back. Then we had to shower everyone to get the sand out of every nook, cranny and crevice covered by an anatomy textbook, and then had to shower and scrub again to get what was left. Then we had to rinse out the sand out of the bathing suits, and then rinse them again, and again, and again... and then we could finally throw them in the washer, along with the towels we'd spent half an hour beating the sand out of.

We emptied the beach bags, rinsed the sand out of the buckets, shovels and beach balls, rinsed and loaded the water bottles into the dishwasher, threw away the half-finished sand-filled chip bags, and vacuumed up all the sand that had gotten strewn about the entire ground floor of the house in the process.

We had fun, to be sure, but hey... if we ever decide to take a break from the dust and grime of home renovation again, someone please smack us, really, really hard, if we ever propose the beach?

 

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