Progress Report 1: 1.5 Days in!

It's lunchtime on day 2 of 'The D's Outdoor Living Makeover' and we've got some progress for you!

For those of you who missed yesterday's post, here's a quick recap:

Our clients, 'The D's' want to transform their back deck area into an all-inclusive outdoor living area, and after weeks of planning for the project we broke ground yesterday! Over the next 2 weeks we'll be keeping you posted on all of the exciting progress!

So at the start of the project, the space looked like this:

Right now it's looking like this:

Different, huh? As for the progress of what we've done so far, we like lists over here, so we'll show you in list form what we've crossed off thus far:

Day 1:
-Excavate patio/kitchen/pergola area to prepare for patio base
-Compact excavated area with plate compactor and hand tamper to leave a smooth, hard base
-Lay and pin geotextile fabric over compacted area
-Measure out rough grading for patio to include slope that allows for proper drainage
-Measure and mark locations for 4 trellis posts
-Dig 4 footings for trellis posts in patio area
-Insert form for trellis footings into holes

Day 2:
-Perfect the rough grade to be guide for patio construction
-Plan out location for electrical lines (so that the outdoor kitchen will have power!)
-Trench and lay sleeve for electric line
-Pour concrete around trellis footing forms
-Pour concrete into trellis footing forms and set re-bar
-Roughly lay crushed stone base for patio


So, as you can see, we're making some progress! Day 1 went pretty smoothly! We accomplished what we had planned and left the site at a good stopping point to pick up again this morning.
Day 2 (today) has been a little bit slow-going...

Tom, Dionicio, Jesus and Jose M. spent most of the morning working on perfecting the grade. 'All morning' was a bit longer than we had planned to spend on grade-measuring, but in all honesty, folks, this is one of the most important steps! If the foundation of the project isn't just right, the whole project will be off. So we gladly spent extra time measuring, re-measuring, adjusting strings (by quarter inches, literally!) and re-measuring again until the guide strings for the grade were just right.
Here's proof:

Once the string lines for the grade were set, the guys were able to really gauge where the posts for the pergola are going to be set.
Because the pergola will sit on the patio, above the kitchen, designing the footings for the structure took some thought. This is a preliminary visual of the idea Tom came up with:

For a brief synopsis: these cylinders will be cemented (concreted, really) into the holes in which they rest. They will then be filled with concrete to a pre-determined height and a piece of re-bar will be set into the concrete. After some fancy carpentry, the re-bar will drive into the pergola post and, viola!(More on that once we start the pergola construction!)

So, to prepare for the concrete pouring, Dionicio and Tom used the guide strings to determine the exact location for the placement of the re-bar, and Jose M. and Jesus poured the concrete (making sure, of course, not to ruin the string lines!)

*Side Note: We did have to move the cylinders a little, too. Again, by just inches, but the foundation must be right!

Then it was time to rough out the area for the kitchen so we could plan for the electricity:

The orange lines are the future grill/kitchen area! You can see it right?

Next comes the roughing of the electricity lines:

Tom and Dionicio did some hands-on figuring here but did get a plan laid out.
Which brings us to lunch!
Let's see what we can get done this afternoon?
We'll be back tomorrow with more updates- stay tuned!