Driveway Progress

We’ve had a beautiful week here in Virginia which resulted in the driveway crew getting a good bit of work accomplished this week.

The old steps were torn off of our front porch and the start of the new steps were constructed.  We discovered that our two front porch posts are starting to rot, so they’ll have to be replaced.

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The front yard is still a mess!

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The steps to the screened porch were removed and new steps were constructed.

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A huge shipment of pavers for the driveway was delivered yesterday.  The crew planned to start putting them down today, but we received a good bit of rain last night, so I’ll bet that they’ll have to wait until Monday to start.

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12 Comments

  1. That is a lot of pavers! 🙂 I really can see a lot of progress going on…it’s going to look amazing when it’s finished. We had a lot of rain last night too. I hope it helps some with the pollen problem.

  2. you and your Mom are very ambitious!! The driveway is coming together nicely. I remember reading when you just were in the planning stages. Looks like a bigger job than i imagined.

    As far a your Mom…Amazing! We had a small Victorian house in Ocean City we used as a rental about 20 yrs ago..and once we took off the old wallpaper…ugggg…all the work…

    did I mention before my kids went to Liberty U?…and we visited the home of Sheldon Vanauken, the yr he died & saw his sports car in the driveway (Author of A Severe Mercy) if you ever heard of him?

  3. Oh, it is going to be gorgeous when it is all finished. The pavers are stunning. Hugs, Marty

  4. Gosh it will be so pretty when all the work is done. We got a good bit of rain yesterday also but so glad it washed all this terrible pollen out for a day or so…cause it surely will be back quick.

    Have a great weekend!

  5. Wow – can I move in?! What a gorgeous place and what wonderful work y’all have done! We found a house – thank you LORD – and it’s the perfect little cottage like yours!!!!

    Are you on spring break?!

    Hope you’re having a great day!

    sHp

  6. Paula, your yard/driveway is gonna look like a magazine cover. It’s gonna be gorgeous! I adore the first half circle step! the pavers are gorgeous!!! Can’t wait to see it all done!

  7. Both you and your mom will be so excited when everything is finished. Construction just seems to take about double the time than when they are first planned. It won’t take that much time for the pavers to be set unless they have a lot of cutting to do. We had a serpentine paver walk put in several years back, and I absolutely love taking the “long way” into the house everyday that I can and avoid the short cut through the garage. When all is done, you can think about landscaping!

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Driveway Progress

Our yard has now been in disarray for over two months and we have very little to show for it.  In January our new driveway was cut out, graveled, and rolled.  It snowed multiple times, was cold, and then rained over and over.  Once the crew started back to work on the driveway, they realized that the gravel that had been applied was not deep enough.  More gravel has been added, rolled down, and we hope that the crew will start laying the pavers soon.

In the meantime the crew started building a retaining wall and patio that will extend off of our deck.

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Look carefully for the white paint outline and you’ll be able to picture our new patio.  The edges will be made of the pavers and the middle will be Greenstone.  Greenstone used to be mined in our area.  We saved a pile of it when we removed a patio that used to be located where our addition is now.  The wall is called a seating wall and should be perfect for you guessed it, sitting.

The concrete pad that you see in the picture below will be removed and will become a much larger landing constructed of pavers.  The pavers will be flush with the driveway.  The portion of driveway where my car is parked will become lawn.

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Sitting on this new patio should be quite pleasant once it is complete. (The pine tree that you see planted at an odd angle is temporarily planted here until the front yard construction is complete.)

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We plan to get a cocktail table and chairs that are somewhat like what a club at the beach has.  The middle part can either hold ice for drinks or it can be a fire pit.  I’m examining this one at the beach last fall to find the manufacturer’s name.

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I hope one of us doesn’t accidentally go out the screened porch door.  If we do, the fall won’t be pretty.  The guys removed the steps today and I’m guessing that they’ll work in this area the rest of the week.

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Now that things are rolling, it should be exciting to come home from work each day to see what has been accomplished.

11 Comments

  1. It’s going to be beautiful! I see lots of parties and just plain relaxing in your future!
    xoxo Pattie

  2. We have a very similar outdoor set as the one you pictured. Our was purchased at Home Depot about 3 yrs ago.

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Driveway Progress

There is no school today because my area of Virginia received 14” of snow on Saturday.  It is really beautiful but it will halt the progress on our driveway until probably next week. 

I’m spending most of the day studying for a new class that I have to teach next year.  I’ve taught life science for the last 18 years and next year I have to teach physical science.  I haven’t had any physical science since high school!!  I’ve been studying, reading, taking notes, and doing a lot of worrying about it.  The more work I do now, the more prepared I’ll be in August when the new year starts.  I’m hoping to get a lot accomplished today.

The crew started working on the driveway last Wednesday.  I was amazed at the amount of work that they accomplished in three days.  I tried to document the progress each day, but I got home late two of the days and had trouble taking pictures at dusk.

These shots are from Wednesday night.  They cut the curb and dug out where the new driveway will go.

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The sidewalks were removed and the new sidewalk area was marked.

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The sidewalk was also removed here.  The steps here will later be removed and rebuilt. 

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It was light when I got home on Thursday, so my second day progress pictures are much better.  The concrete for the new front entrance was poured.

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Extra dirt is piled on this landscape bed in our front yard.  The guys will contour this to make a berm later in the project.  I’m sure they won’t need all of this soil.

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The guys worked like crazy on Friday to prepare the driveway for the big snow in the forecast.  It looked pretty good when I got home.

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Now it is snow covered!

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I won’t have more progress to report until the snow melts.  It is really exciting to come home each day to see what has been accomplished.

Now back to studying potential and kinetic energy and energy transformations.  Blah!!!

8 Comments

  1. Wow — things are really coming along! We’re hoping to do a driveway “redo” sometime in the near future.

  2. Wow! What a construction zone. I bet that noise is fun during the day. I’m sure it will look beautiful once it’s complete. That darn snow….it’s always making things miserable. I’m not a fan of snow (even though I live in Colorado) and we get a lot of it. What age group do you teach or grade?

  3. Driveway looks great! I know it’s going to be fabulous 🙂 BTW: Your house is gorgeous! It’s EXACTLY, and I mean EXACTLY, what my hubby and I are looking for, when we start the task of real estate shopping 🙂

    I want to thank you for your kind words – they’ve meant a great deal to me!!!

  4. Paula, I LOVE your house. Not sure I’ve ever seen it…AND a screened in porch??? It is a perfect house.

    Good luck with your studying!
    Donna

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