Blocks Being Laid Down

Significant activities happened today. They seem to be able to make a lot of progress in one day. I assume that some of the edging might take longer than the main area.

I am anxious to see the patio again during daylight hours, but that will probably not happen till the weekend.

Special materials spread out that the blocks will rest on


Walls getting more defined


Blocks being put in place

Close up shot for those that enjoy extra details

Ryan trying to get face time on the blog

Ryan and Tyler both trying to get in on the action

Foundation is in Place and Walls are Started

Despite the recently cold temperatures, lots of progress has been made on the patio. They have laid the foundation material and started to build the walls. The block has arrived and they plan to start laying that on Wednesday.

The foundation materials have been laid:









Blocks arriving:





Wall starting to be built

Wall by the firepit area

Step between the main patio and the firepit area

Patio work has started

We have signed a contract to get a new patio (and do some other sundry stuff in the backyard). Work commenced last week with the removal of 3 large pine trees on the side of the house and a large locust tree from the back of the property as well. We are using techo bloc for the patio. There will be a main section outside the addition and then a smaller section with a fire pit behind the addition. There will also be two walls (one in each section of the patio). The fire pit area will be lower than the main area - requiring a step down into that section.

Tyler up in the Locust tree we took down. Leslie was not happy I was taking a picture of this. He is 15-20 feet in the air and there are no branches between him and the ground. He was higher in the tree when Leslie found him in it and called me to come get him down.

Before picture

Another before picture

One of the big pine trees coming down

Another big pine tree coming down

The side of the house without the three big pine trees. Its looks pretty bare at the moment.

Taking out the grass to form the shape of the patio

The outline of the other patio section

With the grass removed they used spray paint to indicate where the walls will be built. Is around the outside of the dirt area - a little hard to see

Spray paint marking where the new step will be built out of the addition

The second part of the patio - a step down into this section and a fire pit in the middle

The second part of the patio from the other side

The stove is Installed

The new stove arrived this week and was installed on Tuesday. Now we have an operational kitchen again. The ceiling fans were also installed in the new room and our new dining table arrived on Friday.

Next week the tile backsplash in the kitchen will be installed and the carpet for the basement may also get installed.

The new stove


The ceiling fans


The new dining table

The Flooring is In

The new bamboo flooring was installed this week in the whole downstairs of the house except for the old living room. They also installed the dishwasher and refrigerator. They installed most of the lighting in the kitchen and eating area - some of our lights are still on order and some we have yet to order. They also installed a custom made retaining wall around the double windows in the back of the basement.

Next week the stove will be installed and our kitchen will be fully operational again. They will be working on the molding around the edges of the floor. Our new table and chairs are also meant to be delivered late next week.

The new retaining wall around the basement windows in the back of the house.


The installation of the floor in progress


The installation of the floor in progress


The dishwasher getting ready to be installed


The installation of the floor in progress


The new floors (and the new refrigerator). They installed a paper path on the main walkway to prevent the constant foot traffic from our dirt backyard from damaging the new floors.


The new floors in the eating area.


The new floors in the kitchen


New floors in the new room



The new dishwasher is now installed.

The Counters are Installed

Hello Vandy Construction Blog faithful. Another week has passed and we are hopefully closer to getting a working kitchen again. Things are starting to take shape and you can now finally get a good feel for how everything looks.

The counters were delivered and installed this week and the kitchen is really starting to come together. They also painted the kitchen, the fireplace room, and the new room. The siding is nearly complete. They ran out of siding and needed to order more (that takes about a week to come in) so all but one side of the house is complete. The shutters are not on the house yet, but the new siding looks very good.

Next week they plan to install the new flooring in the kitchen, fireplace room, and the new room. They also plan to install the lighting fixtures (if Leslie and I can find ones we like). Enjoy the pictures!

Wide angle shot of the new counter tops in the kitchen.


You can see the new sink and faucet on the left side and the new bar area on the right side of the picture below.


The desk area


This is the living room wall - you can see our new microwave as well


The new siding on the house


A picture while they were putting it up


The new room is a blue color (I have no idea what the official name of the color is)


The new color of the fireplace room and kitchen. I think its meant to be tan in color, but it looks greenish to me. I think this color is called canvas sneaker (whatever that means).