The crew arrived at 7 a.m. Surprise! They’re working on getting the deck done today.
Biggest problem first thing in the morning was that they had managed to misplace / mangle / bury the sprinklers at the top of the yard. I lent a hand turning them on so they could see where things were bubbling up before they built the patio on parts of them …
As I poked outside a bit later, while half the crew was cleaning up bits from yesterday, others were getting the drains for the downspouts (three of ’em) that will run under the deck.
Later in they morning, they were doing some creative saw work on the front porch (extending one step, lowering it for the flagstone skin, etc.). Um … loud.
Actually, the whole front step was being demoed. Loud. Long and loud.
Over the course of the day, they dug out and lay the skirting strip stone walls for the new patio. This involved cutting pretty much every stone as they went along, which meant a continuous (except at lunch) droning whine from the front yard, as well as a fine cloud of rock dust scattered over everything and hanging in the air like fog.
By the time they were done for the day, they had all but about the top course of the patio foundation laid, and had brought up some fill dirt for tomorrow. The front step was completely gone as well.
The quiet was heavenly.