Holiday Makeover - Demolition

While the well was being drilled we also began work on the yard and pool.  The pool was drained...

The coping and tile was chipped away...

We have a crack in the pool  To repair it, a 3.5" grinder was used to cut the mortar alongside the crack.  Every foot or so a perpendicular cut was made.  A rotohammer drill was used to drill a 1/2" hole on either side of the crack, and a square "U" shaped piece of rebar was hammered into the holes to keep the crack from spreading.

Meanwhile, the landscaping crew demo'd the front walk, which will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

And the landscape crew had some local help...

Next week we'll be working on the stone patios, pool, and yard.  Merry Christmas!

Holiday Makeover

Now that rains have returned to central Texas we are finally tackling the exterior of the house.  We hired a landscape architect to help us come up with an overall plan.  We're going to be working on:

 - landscaping (irrigation, new plants, rocks)
 - new front walk
 - new hillside seating with firepit
 - new coping, tile, and pebble finish in the pool
 - new deck with cabana around pool
 - natural stone to cover concrete patios

But first we need to address our lack of water.  Our 480' well went dry in August.  Luckily we had just installed a 2500 gallon external water tank.

We've been having water delivered by truck every couple of weeks since August.  Water is a precious resource - this experience has been an eye opener.

We finally drilled a new well yesterday.

We began reaching really good water flow around 720'.  In the picture below you can see the water spraying up as the pipe is drilled down.  In the background between the trucks is a large square silt bag.  The water coming out of the well flows into the silt bag where the particulate matter is trapped.

 

Here's another view of the silt bag and a silt fence to catch the silt while drilling.

Once we reached ~720' we were in the Trinity aquifer.  It is recognizable by the red, sandy drilling waste that comes out of the hole while drilling.  As we drilled further and neared the bottom of the aquifer, we began encountering a more yellowish limestone mixed with black gravel.  This was the indication to stop drilling so as to not reach the shale level.  Here's some of the limestone and gravel that came up at the 800' level.

Our completed well is 820' deep and flows over 60 gallons per minute.  We'll be putting in a pump and connecting it to the 2500 gallon storage tank next week.

Playhouse Part II

After a few more weeks of work the playhouse is ready for kids.  It is painted to match the house; the fascia and siding are the same paint.  The light brown color is the house soffit color and the dark brown matches the exterior of the house windows and doors.

The swingset, pullup bar, and fireman's pole are schedule 40 galvanized pipe, which I found wholesale in town in 21 foot lengths (2" inside diameter for swingset).  For the swingset I used a commercial fitting (green piece on the end) to connect them, plus a floor flange on the other side.  One more swing coming.  The ends are sunk into concrete which has rebar drilled into the underlying stone, like the playhouse itself.

I found some great rock climbing holds online that included the T bracket, 30 for $30.  The back wall has 1" plywood under the Hardie board so it is plenty sturdy.  The pull-up bar is 1" inside diameter pipe.

The inside black areas are primed, sanded plywood with chalkboard paint applied.

The fireman's pole is also 1" inside diameter pipe.  I spent a lot of time looking at the BarbaraButler.com website for ideas.  One thing they do is leave 1/2" around closing doors so that if the door slams on little fingers there is no injury.  I installed my doors with the same type of spacing around them and spring loaded hinges to keep them shut.

Upstairs there is a bench across one wall and a moveable work bench for building projects.

To access the upstairs, rather than putting in a tall ladder I put a platform a few feet below the scuttle hole.  That way if anyone falls through the hole it will not be a long drop.

A few more small touches to add but overall it is ready for the kids.