Forms Away

It was very exciting to see the inside forms off of the pool. The concrete is still curing. In probably a day or so it will all be one color again. One thing that is very apparent is how DIRTY our pool is. I wonder what that is from? Maybe a month of dirt and sand sitting right at the edge of it, or maybe the concrete pour on Monday? Either way the dark color at the bottom of the pool can only mean one thing. Time to call the pool boy. Oh, wait, that's me. Laura....the pool boy is here. Cheers!

Pulling Down the Forms

By around 4 pm they were pulling down the forms. It is just amazing to see it all come together. It wasn't that long ago that we were spray painting lines on the ground and now they have really come to life. It really feels like things are coming together. I can practically feel myself floating in the pool. We need to go buy some plastic cups. Cheers!

Smooth It Out Now

It is just crazy to see how this all comes out of the hose and then what it looks like when they re finished smoothing it out. They finished laying the concrete around 1pm. Now it's time to do some smoothing. Cheers!

Let the Pour Begin

It is pretty amazing to see these guys at work. This is one time that everyone has to be on the same page. They started by putting the the forms around the inside of the pool. That way when they poured the concrete it would actually go over the edge of the pool to make the lip and cover the steel that was tied into the pool. They started pouring the concrete around 11am. It won't be long now. I need to go find my Floaties. Cheers!

SCHWING

Common how could I pass that one up. That pretty much sums up the day. Cheers!

Final Prep

Some of the final prep work was done today. They put in the remaining steel and

laid in the pipes for the Tike Bar. The pipes are for future electric, water and drain for the bar itself. You got to have electricity at your bar to run the margarita machine. It looks like Monday will be the concrete time. Cheers!

Now the Roof is REALLY Raised

It was another big day here in Paradise. We officially have shingles on our new roof. Things will slow down a little on the addition now until our windows come in. That should be next week sometime. Today we had a big pow wow with everyone to make sure we were all on the same page. We had Mike Williams with Gary's Pool and Patio, Ed and James with PCR Construction and Fide with San Miguels Concrete. With this much concrete being poured, we all wanted to make sure all of the bases were covered. I was impressed with how well everyone covered all of the issues. We should see concrete being poured on Monday. That all sounds good to me. Once the concrete is down we can start working on our mountain of DIRT. But I really didn't want to have to worry about that this weekend, since we are going to a Jimmy Buffett concert. The last thing I am going to be thinking about is DIRT. It's only a matter of time and we will be hearing plenty of Buffett music in our backyard. Cheers!

All Hands on Deck

Today was another day of pool deck prep. You can really see how it is all going to lay out now. The forms were also put in for the hot tub. We will probably see the concrete poured on Monday. Not much longer after that...drinks on the deck. Cheers!

Open It Up

Today, while rockin to some heavy metal, Byron and Adam worked on getting the windows cut out of the sheeting, finishing the trim around the roof and cleaning up the section that ties in to the house. It's all coming together. Cheers!

The Lines Come to Life

What an exciting day. The lines have come to life. It is great to see the layout for the pool deck and tiki bar actually being formed out. If you are keeping score in the battle of the bands, the Heavy Metal music won out today. Laura was a little disappointed that there was no Tejano music playing. The week is not over yet. Cheers!

Tiki Time

Even though the Tiki Bar won't be put in until next year, planning it out now is of the utmost importance. After consulting with the Brian Lee and Mike Davis, Tiki Bar builders extraordinaire, I realized I needed to make a few changes. First off my slab was too large. I know hard to believe. The inside framing of the bar will be 16x16. In order to do that the posts have to be set outside of the concrete. I needed to have at least one foot to dig on each side with room for the posts. So I pulled the slab down to 13x13 to give just a little more room so when we do dig we don't upset the integrity of the slab. Now for the real important measurements, the actual bar. I laid out some wood in the shape of the future bar. The test here was to make sure that if someone sitting at the bar on the sides moved that their barstool wouldn't be too near the edge. Thus end up falling off their stool and spilling their coctail. That is the last thing we want happening is for someone to waste a good drink. I also had to figure out where we wanted lines run under the slab for future electric and water runs for the bar. Kelly came over and worked with me on the changes. Believe it or not, by the time it was all said and done, I spent a good 3 hours drawing and redrawing lines. You can never spend too much time planning out the bar. Cheers!

Poof

It's like magic. Suddenly there is a totally enclosed addition. Our framing crew, Byron and Adam, were hard at it again today. They are all ready for a framing inspection. That pile of wood next to the pool is the framing material for our pool deck. Late this afternoon, a crew started bringing in the wood. We could potentially have the battle of the bands over the next couple of days. We will have heavy metal on one side and there is a good chance some Tejano music on the other. Laura will probably advance to level two Spanish by the time this project is over. Cheers!