Deck Progression

 Ledger board installed on Saturday.

 Beams constructed and mounted on the posts.

 Joists going in.

View from above.

Deck

Today, we began construction of the deck. The design phase has been ongoing for about the last month.

We located the piers and dug half of them today. As you can see the soil is basically 100% red clay. I don't know if this is natural or if it was hauled in years ago when the subdivision was built. I suspect it is natural though. Native species don't seem to have any trouble thriving in it. As you can see in the pic there is a basil plant that is doing fine

Earthcents Rebate

The Georgia Power rebate check arrived for the energy audit we had done in May. The energy audit cost $400. Georgia Power's rebate was for half the amount of the energy audit.

Kitchen Demo

 In the kitchen there were 5 layers of linoleum on the floor. This was the top layer.

 Here is the layer beneath the top layer.

 After the top layer was removed the other layers were all stuck together and had to be removed together. Over the top of the sub-floor was a layer of green paper-like stuff.

 It took about an hour and a half to tear up all of the old flooring. It was awful.

We put down some new indoor/outdoor carpet as a temporary measure until the new hardwood flooring arrives.

Rain Barrel

The rain barrel is now installed.

Dishwasher

 

Over the weekend we bought a new dishwasher and I picked it up today. I had a 25% off card that I got in the mail when I moved from the post office for Sears. This is a Kenmore and was originally around $830-something. We got it for $719 including the install kit which was $11.

This is the empty dishwasher space in the kitchen. It's obviously been wet before and there is a gaping hole where the electrical comes in. The floor has been patched at some point in the past. This will have to be replaced when we renovate the kitchen.

The new appliance is Energy Star rated and is suppose to be quiet around 51 decibels. I checked it tonight and it was reading well above that, but it is still exceptionally quiet.

Platform Bed

New platform bed base constructed over the weekend. I joined the pieces using half lap joints and dowels, no screws. I still have to rout a rabbet along the inside edge and stain it.