McHugh/Gant Hangar House

Day 433 - Landscaping Starts

Thursday , August 3 -- One of the next steps in finishing construction is to grade the property to plan. And since we are starting grading on the south side of the house, we have to construct the plant beds between the "wings" -- we need to move in rocks for the bed walls with the skid loader as we work our way from east to west.

Phil got a load of bark compost...

...and Ken and Kelli worked on the topsoil/silt/compost recipe for the beds. Landscaping fabric was laid out in two layers and some of the mixture set into place...

While waiting for Phil to arrive, Ken used the skid loader to remove the last remnants of the old house -- a short concrete/rock transition to the adjoining walkway...

Pete is almost done with stone on the hangar face. John grouted the north face...

Dave and Rick finished installing the diagonal deck planks!

Tomorrow morning, when the temps are cool, Dave will trim the north and south edges (maybe all the edges) of the deck planks. He is using a very stiff piece of steel as the saw guide. Then he can start the deck "picture frame."

Before adding the final boards this morning, Dave wired and lead out power for receptacles, deck lighting, and step lighting...

Kelli got her van back from the mechanic yesterday after a new power steering pump and reservoir. The headlights now work, thanks to a new floor light dimmer switch. So with one vehicle back, the truck went in to get the air conditioning fixed. Thank goodness, this problem was just the valve where the refrigerant is added. We still need to figure out what is causing the loud squeaking when the truck travels down rough surfaces.