Demolition in Earnest

WARNING: Photo intensive blog post ahead!

You undoubtedly know the song by B.B. King, "The Thrill is Gone" don't you? Well, it occurred to me when thinking about the title for today's post. I was going to go with "The Deck is Gone" which you'll soon see. But what really struck me is that we have had loads of thrills on our deck. Great family gatherings and dance parties. It's not just our deck that's gone, a little piece of our history is gone. Pretty soon it will be time to make new thrills!

Okay, here's what's happening. Yesterday morning Paul arrived with a wet saw on wheels. Fortunately I had my Polasek duty for some of the time he was working so I only had to hear it for about four hours. Actually around 5:00 I went over to Angela's house with Baxter for a little quiet time. He left soon thereafter.

 Here's a look at the prep stage:

 Notice the color of the pool water after three days of no filtration.

Off to the sides, around the palms is concrete sludge.

Bright and early this morning two of the workers arrived at 7AM. In the next half hour four more arrived and here's a look at what they did:

Starting on the small side of the deck, they began removing the cuts, putting the pieces in a wheelbarrow and loading it in a trailer for recycling.

 A little break in the action. Fortuitously Bruce had these bags of top soil there for a resting spot.

 Getting there:

 Now on to the large part:

 The deck is gone and time to tackle the tile:

At the same time this was going on a  plaster specialist was patching the inside walls where the nasty air conditioners were:

 He was very careful with using plastic to protect both the floor and the rest of the room when he was spraying the finish. The patches look great!

Finally, around 2:30 they were done. The concrete chunks were so big. I went out several times, thanking them for their hard work. Professional folks get lots of recognition but the world would stop without the building trades. I am so grateful for them.

Here's just one of the four trailer loads. The gentleman on the right has been a mason for more than fifty years. Can you even imagine doing such hard labor at 70 years old? He's the father of the man who did the cutting. He told me some of the chunks were 7" thick!

Here's what the yard looks like after they left:

Pretty ugly huh? One thing that's so interesting is the change in water color; that is the only bright spot in the landscape at the moment. Needless to say, Baxter is dazed and confused. Never fear those speakers are coming off the house. As well, hopefully the refrigeration lines from the air conditioner you see to the right of the speaker will be re-routed through our measly attic.

Coming soon to a blog near you--new windows!