Patio Progress!

While our old home in Maryland received six inches of snow today, here in Boulder we had beautiful sunny weather, perfect for sitting out on the patio.

Oh, but we don't have a patio right now.  The old deck and patio are gone and a crew of really nice guys are getting ready to pour concrete foundations for the new patio.

Well, how about sitting out on the balconies?  Oh, we don't have railings up there right now.  The first set is scheduled to be installed on Friday.

Well, how about just going for a hike?  Okay, but first we have to sit down with our new best friends from EcoScape and solve a few design problems so work on the patio can proceed.

There are a lot of decisions that have to be made on the spot for a job like ours where you have to tear out something old before you can build something new.  As the old comes out, there are often surprises that have to be dealt with.   Like what to do about the posts that run from the deck up to the balconies.  Once they were uncovered it was found that one of them had some rot in one section.  EcoScape got advice from a structural engineer and a construction expert before determining that the post didn't need to be replaced but could be reinforced and wrapped with a moisture barrier.
  

Today's problem was that as more grading was done the crew realized that it wasn't going to work to just have two levels on this sloping area as originally planned.  The third level would be required.   

Well, okay, but where to put it?  Where would be the best place to add another step down?  Two designers at EcoScape put their heads together to come up with a design that Ben and I felt we could live with.   

It's not all problem solving.  There's a lot of pleasure in seeing the work unfold and the end result begin to be revealed.  For instance, these lovely "strip stones" were delivered this week.  Aren't they beautiful? 

And then there's the vision of the new irrigation system and lighting for the patio that's very exciting!  We've had no sprinklers back there and had to hand water, which is a big pain here in the west.  And speaking as the person who fell down the steps from the upper deck to the lower patio, I'm really happy that the new steps will have lights built into them.   

The foundations did get poured today and we could start to visualize what we had seen on the plan.  (The first step down, consisting of just two steps, will go to the right of the post you see in this photo.)

And Fetcher is certainly enjoying supervising the work! 

We believe that the big decisions have been made now and the crew can work full steam ahead for a few days.  That's good because Ben and I both have "decision fatigue" and when Paul leaves for a band trip to Disney tomorrow we are heading out for a few days in Moab, Utah for some R&R.  It'll be fun to see how the balconies and patio look when we return. 

Joining my friend LeeAnna's "I Like" Thursday, at Not Afraid of Color.