August Decks

Posted on 08/24/2025 by Andrew Reynolds

The kitchen project is 99.9% done. Just waiting for one part that is still on backorder. We’ve been enjoying our new kitchen space. We decided to take a little day trip and drove down to see trees in the Sierra:

This is from a trail in Grover Hot Springs State Park. The hot springs were close for some maintenance work so we didn’t get to see that, but we had a nice picnic and a short walk along the creek.

We had weird weather all week with afternoon thunderstorms and flash flood watches from the weather service. So far nothing bad has happened but we’re keeping a close eye on the clouds these days. Just yesterday the Burners started moving through town on their way to Blackrock where they got a taste of what desert wind can do to a campsite.

When I’m not watching the weather or driving around the state I’ve been working on my deck. Here’s today’s progress picture:

I got a stack of lumber for the deck structure. I’ve finished the three support beams and next I’ll start putting the joists in position. Then I can do the final decking surface. I ended up having to buy 20 foot long boards to span the distance for the deck and this is all pressure treated lumber because it is so close to the ground. Altogether there were about 25 boards that I cut down to make the beams and the joists you see on the right. Yes, they are heavy and I had to carry them one at a time.

Here’s the other feature I completed:

It is a pile of gravel — actually it’s technically a dry well. I dug a two foot wide and two foot deep hole, lined it with landscape fabric and filled it with rocks and gravel. There will be more landscape fabric over this area to prevent weeds. The idea behind a dry well is to deal with the occasional water flooding in this part of the yard. It’s not uncommon to get a pool of water here during a rain or snow melt. The dry well lets this water soak into the ground preventing a standing pool. We’ll see if it actually works.

And the little thing with wheels a thing we bought for gardening. It’s a small seat and storage for tools and lets you get close to the ground without having to get on your knees. My old knees don’t like being in the dirt anymore so this little thing has been handy to have while I was install all the screws for the beams.

That’s it for this week. If you need me, I’m in the shed looking for those joist hangers I bought.

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Kitchen Remodel — Done, Mostly

Posted on 08/10/2025 by Andrew Reynolds

This last week we had the last of the major work done on the kitchen and we’ve moved back into it:

There’s a little bit of work left on our new fireplace:

The logs and remote control needs to be setup and tested. The service guy is scheduled to come by this week to do that. We are going to get a mantle over the fireplace and are just waiting to that to be delivered. Other than those two details, the kitchen is 100% done. It nice to have a real stove and a real kitchen sink to use. The project only took six weeks longer than I was expecting. Now I have time to move on to other projects. Like:

It’s a little hard to see in this picture, but I have all the concrete posts set for the deck project. Here’s a close up:

There are six of these. Each is 8 inches in diameter and is sunk down about 18 inches. It took a long time to dig the holes but pouring the concrete only took a day. Now I have to wait a week for the concrete to cure before I can start the next phase which is installing the main beams.

This next week is supposed to be hot here, many in the low 100’s so I don’t know how much I’ll be working on the project, but I want to make some progress even if it’s just buying the materials. That’s it for this week and if you need me, I’m drinking ice water and watching the thermometer.

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Does it Ever End?

Posted on 08/03/2025 by Andrew Reynolds

Tolkien said something like that in Lord of the Rings. I’m not on that kind of adventure, but I do wonder if kitchen remodels ever end. No pictures this time, but as of last Thursday we officially started using the kitchen again. All the appliances are connected and working. I even moved some furniture into the living room end of the space. It’s so nice to wash dishes in a real sink and cook on a real stove. Camp stoves are fun, but only for a weekend, not 12 weeks. Yesterday I made a batch of spaghetti sauce and Heather cooked a wonderful quiche today. It’s nice getting back to normal.

There are a dozen small details left like moving a heater vent, some final trim to set and setting tile around our new gas fireplace. Hopefully that all happens this week. As you can imagine the biggest problem we’ve had is scheduling all the different trades to come out and do things. You know, the plumber can’t work until the counter guys finish drilling the holes, and the counter guys can’t work until the electrician has finished … and … and …

It does seem to get worse at the end of the project when you don’t have a full day’s work for someone. They just don’t like have lots of little jobs they have to drive around town for. I get it, I wouldn’t like that either.

I had a minor setback on my deck project. I had finished digging all the post holes to set the concrete posts when starting last Sunday we had two afternoons of heavy thunderstorms (flash flood heavy, lots of damage around town). My whole work area got flooded and party filled in my post holes. There have been threats of more storms all week so I just had to wait for better weather and for my holes to dry out. It looks like the weather is improving for next week and tomorrow I’ll be able to back to work. If my plan works out, I’ll have six concrete posts in by Friday and will be ready to order the wood I need.

Hopefully. That’s it for this week. Hopefully I’ll have some nice pictures next week and not to sore a back. Until then, if need me, I’m out checking for thunderstorms.

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Kitchen Remodel — Week Whatever

Posted on 07/20/2025 by Andrew Reynolds

First, progress on the deck continues. Not as fast as I’d like, but afternoon temps have been in the upper 90s so I’ve only been able to work a couple of hours a day in the morning. I have removed most of the old pavers that need to go and have started placing the forms for the concrete blocks that need to go in:

The wood thing is just a jig I used to visualize where the gazebo will go.

The tubes are eight inches in diameter and about 16 inches long. They’ll be filled with concrete and the deck will sit on top of these. The final deck will be about a foot above the pavers. The soil in this area isn’t just dirt, it’s mostly rock and in a couple of places chunks of concrete. I suspect that at some point in the past this area of the yard may have been used for a dumping area of unneeded concrete. I’m not so much digging post holes as I am hard rock mining. It’s taken a couple of hours to dig out each hole and I’ve got six in total to put in. I’m figuring at least another week of digging and moving rocks before I can get the concrete in.

Last Friday they installed the appliances for our kitchen!!! Here’s a quick look at a few of them:

And we’re starting to put things in these cabinets. There is still a long list of things left to do, but it’s getting closer. The good news for this week is that with the appliances in we can start some limited use of the kitchen and might be able to move one of the cars back into the garage. It’s been a long road, but we’re almost done.

That’s it for this week. If you need me, I’m digging rocks out of the back yard.

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