Out With Old In With The New

Last week was hectic with Bill and Ryan being gone two days; off to become certified paver installers after taking a two day course in Louisville, KY. They both enjoyed their training although they did not like paying $ 16.00 for a cheeseburger at the Hyatt Regency downtown, nor did they appreciate the crowded city streets and heavy semi-tractor traffic on the interstate. Guess they are both country men at heart.

I have been meaning to send a couple of people to paver certification courses but frankly we are just so busy it is difficult to afford to take off when they have the classes. Since I had promised Ryan a chance at certification once he met the criteria, (installation of over 10,000 square feet of pavers) I had to pony up. For Bill it was more of a reward and a chance to get away from work for a couple of days. They both came back excited about what they had learned and ready to apply their knowledge.

A customer we worked for this summer decided to go ahead with a project I bid in early September so we are hustling to get her pavers started as well. Gary and Bruce Pardue tore out the old concrete patio last Thursday, we have some dig out on Monday and should start laying pavers on Tuesday. I hope we will get the project completed before the weather gains control over business.

Out on Clear Lake our project has been hampered by the rain and the fact that we were waiting on custom cut snap cut stairs. Normally snap cuts are 3 or 4' wide with a 18" tread and 7 to 8" rise, Patty and I decided on 5' width, 18" tread and she requested a rise of 6 t0 61/2" that was the hitch in our get a long. Making the steps 5' is a custom order but the short rise was really difficult to get. The first nine steps they sent did not meet the rise requirement and the next 9 steps were pretty good but we have two that are rather pink in color and are only 5" tall. Fortunately Bill put the pink ones on top so we will be able to replace them. But the whole custom step issue sort of buggered us up as they were delayed because of the length and then we got bad ones. Our natural progression on the job changed because we had to work around not having the steps.

Now they are in and the concrete has been poured for the landing and stairs off the upper driveway so we should make faster progress if we don't have a lot of rain. Patty's soil is clay which is difficult to pack, slippery and generally a pain in the backside.