The BIG project

We have been soooooo busy working on the yard updates.  Way back at the end of August/beginning of September in 2013 I removed the first deck board.  From then on it has been slow, but steady progress.  Here is the before (the way before):

Long time ago before--closer to when we bought the house.

Here is a more recent before

Before of the front deck

Before of the side deck and kitchen door

 Then the work began.  First order of business was removing the existing decking.  A local high school wanted the wood to burn for the homecoming bonfire.  It was me, a crowbar and my tractor.

The main deck

More of the main deck.  The structure underneath was terribly rotted.

Once the deck was removed there was an incredible amount of dirt that needed to be moved.

 We had to leave the deck by the kitchen door until right before the concrete guys came (so that we could keep using that door).

Remaining deck by kitchen door.

Similarly, we had to keep the front deck . . .but I did not get a picture of that.  The front deck stayed until well into the construction project.  It was only removed once the new pathways went in up front.

Right before Thanksgiving they came to do the concrete.

Upper patio and retaining walls were framed and poured first

Lower patio

What started as a sidewalk behind the volleyball court soon grew to a small patio

First concrete truck, to do footings and walls

Once the concrete was in, it had to cure under plastic for about a week before they sealed it.

Next up, construction and progress on the landscaping.