This week was all about the fence, which technically isn't a part of the backyard project, but an addition to. Like I mentioned earlier, our insurance was covering some additional outside repairs due to an earlier storm, so the roof & the fence probably slowed down our backyard project by 2 weeks, but it was worth it to do it while everything was still a mess.
They came on Monday to tear down our old fence:
At the time we built or house 5 1/2 years ago, city code only required wood poles & that's why our fence was not as sturdy. Now they require metal poles so they spent most of the day digging holes & cementing them into the ground:
The next day they started attaching the wooden boards. Our old fence was just a standard fence, so technically as the fence got older & the wood shrunk, you could see through out fence. Since we live on a corner lot & people can walk by & drive by our property, we wanted a board on board fence to allow additional privacy:
On Wednesday, they built the gates. We had 2 existing gates on either side of our house, but we had a 3rd one added. I wanted to have the backyard enclosed so kids couldn't run around to the front where the garages are, like Sadie does now. I also wanted the pool equipment & air conditioners blocked so children wouldn't mess with that either:
On Thursday, they came to finish the back portion, which is a shared fence with our neighbors behind us:
You can see how pretty the new fence is compared to the old one:
Late that afternoon, a nasty storm blew in so they had to quit working on the fence & during that storm we discovered that our new patio cover had a few leaks :(
I hate to admit that this really frustrated me. We paid a lot of money for this structure so I was a littler perturbed to find out that it wasn't secure. The good news is that I think they are only minor repairs so hopefully we should have them fixed quickly. I guess we have been lucky we really haven't had much rain to slow this process down, but I am glad it happened now so we can address the issue before we complete the project.
You might be able to tell in the picture above that the electricians came Thursday afternoon also & were hanging the ceiling fans when the storms blew in. They came back on Friday to finish the fans, electrical switches & outlets:
We had 2 fans added to the new structure & we replaced the old fan where the existing roof was. I bought these at Home Depot & think they turned out nice! The fan blades look like palm leaves - I am definitely trying to make the outdoors feel like a little piece of paradise :)
The fence guys also came back & completed their job. The new fence looks amazing & now I am thankful we had that storm earlier in the year :) We had to pay a little extra to have a nicer fence, but for the most part, insurance covered the roof & everything else.
Our side neighbors didn't want a new fence which was ok because it's on the side where we don't really go, mostly by the garages. It's not really seen from our backyard area. But the old fence was leaning heavily onto their property, so we had it power washed & they repaired it:
They have a few minor things to clean up, but mostly they are finished. They are coming on Monday to wrap up the project & stain the fence. After the fence is stained, we can plaster the pool! Our pool builder kept telling us that we needed to finish all of the messy projects before we put water in the pool, except for landscaping. He specifically asked that we wait & landscape after the pool is finished. I am hoping we will have a finished pool & patio furniture by the end of next week!
Oh-yeah, we also had one other visitor stop by late yesterday afternoon. It was regarding the kiddie fence. I absolutely love the ambiance of our back yard right now & I hate to block the view, but I also realize that I have an almost 1 & 3 year old & no matter how comfortable they are in the water, we need something to stop them from getting in the water by themselves. So we are having a kiddie gate installed around the pool. That way the girls can run around the patio & the play area, but not have access to the pool unless one of us open the gate. Like I said, it will definitely be an eye soar, but it will help bring piece of mind, especially when we have other children over. It is too much of a liability to not have one.
So that's it - day 60 complete & I hope to have a picture of a sparkling blue pool next week!
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