6-19, New Driveway!

Warning!  If you are not a homeowner, then this post will be of virtually no interest to you.  If you're not curious about the progression of a new project and the equipment involved, then again this post will not interest you.  If you think that savings is for vacations instead of home improvements, then you'll think we're idiots.  So, if you're still interested, here's a post about our new driveway.  If you think a new driveway is no big deal, then maybe you need to be in our shoes to think otherwise.  We've spent years hating our driveway and we finally 'pulled the trigger' and did something about it.  Talk about last minute jitters about dropping that kind of cash on something as boring as concrete.  But, now that it's all said and done (and our trailer is sitting in our driveway as we speak), I think we're going to be happy that we didn't waste any more years dealing with something we could change.  It took several years of conversations with our contractor neighbor and several weeks of prepping to pour.  It's done.  Whew.  It's done.  I'm thankful for no more 0700 mornings with 20 people already standing in our driveway.  I'm glad Nikolas has a nice, big, flat, crack-free basketball 'court'.  I'm so happy we can park our trailer in our driveway to load and unload from camping trips.  I'm glad Sven can park his truck on concrete without the fear of it sliding down the hill and endangering our neighbor's (brick) mailbox (not a hypothetical situation).  I'm also pleased that with the truck and trailer in the driveway, I can still get my car in and out of the garage.  I look forward to having company actually park in our driveway instead of on the street because the hill and the curve are too intimidating.  And, who knows, maybe we'll find some benefit with it once winter approaches as well.  Ah, yes, life's little pleasures........

BEFORE

Steep hill, sharp curve, not enough turning depth to use both garage bays, Sven parking on
dirt and cracks uneven enough to break your wrist when shoveling snow.

More tripping hazards.

View from our front deck.

Lots of scrub oak that will have to come down to accommodate more concrete.

Rotted retaining walls that are just plain ugly!

More uneven cracks, more ugly retaining walls.

DURING

The result of Sven and Dad's tree-cutting spree.

I didn't know we had to cut down that many to widen the curve.
Gulp......

Staked out in preparation for the demolition.

Here you can see the dip at the bottom of our driveway.
We always had a little pond or ice rink there during the wetter months.

No fooling around when it comes time to rip out the driveway....and part of our yard.

The deer here have no fear.

All sorts of toys to watch during this process!

We may have found Emalie's calling.....

Please don't tell me you hit the pipe......

.....great.....the sewer pipe at that......

"SH*$!!!!"  Yep, it was definitely the sewer pipe.

The forms are up for the retaining walls.

My OCD personality loved seeing all these squares.  Ha ha!

Dang!  Look at that pump truck!  Sven missed out on the action the day the concrete was
poured because he had to work.  Emalie and I quite enjoyed the entertainment.

AFTER.....

Look!  That big dip is gone!  Maybe we won't bottom out going in and out of the driveway anymore!

New sod around the perimeter of the new driveway.

Oh heck, let's just rip out the grass......

.....and add some rocks at the bottom, too.
(Now we finally match the rest of the neighbors on our street).

Finished product with colored stucco retaining walls
(good thing the concrete guys goofed on the walls-- nice little upgrade for us!).

Now it's ready for a little basketball and camping preparation.


Thank goodness this project is DONE!!!!!