Renovation, Part 8

Last time we saw our new concrete whose release agent had been hosed off. It's a nice color but a bit dull. It needed one more technique applied to it. It got a sealant that makes it glossy and richer.

Before being washed and sealed:

After:

And what it looks like today with the stucco repaired, the paint touched up and the sun shining:

Next project: The fence!

As I've pointed out before, the oleanders are dying of oleander leaf scorch. There's a hedge of oleanders running between the neighbors' driveway and and our chain-link fence. When those oleanders are dead there is going to be nothing to block the world's view of our side yard. It's got our trash bins, a tool shed, gas and electric meters and other assorted stuff. We don't want those things to be what people see when they approach our house. Besides, we now have a vast area where we might want to have a nice, private, candle-lit dinner in the great outdoors.

So we had a fence put up as part of this project. You've seen the beginnings of it earlier. The day after they sealed the concrete they came back and put up most of the fence.

The huge gate came later and Jerry sealed the wood.

Matt, the foreman, gave us a cable to pull on to open the gate's latch.

We have a secluded place to relax and watch the hummingbirds.

The gate is wide enough to let their tractor back in if we need to have more work done!

The caps to the septic tank's two-way cleanout got stained to blend in with the walk.

Weeks and weeks after all this work was done Matt finally came back and installed some grates over the vents that let the house breathe. They're below the walk and we didn't want to have to keep cleaning leaves and other junk out of them.

We moved our compost bins out of the way before all this started. We got a new composter from Costco and put it on some of the pavers that were taken out of the front yard at the beginning of the project.

It seems to be doing a much better job composting our yard and kitchen waste than our old ones. I didn't get around to turning them. This one makes turning the pile so much easier!

We are still seeing a lot of bare dirt around this new walk. We have another project ahead of us.