Stairs and Dock Progress

I’ve continued building the stairs and railing at the lake house. This past weekend, I added roughly 25 additional feet of railing.

I’ve also added cross-pieces parallel to the top railing, which makes it look better aesthetically and also adds additional structural integrity.

It’s been really hot and humid the past several weeks in southern Wisconsin, which has made this pretty exhausting work. Each weekend I’ve hauled over a ton of wood and concrete (plus buckets of water for mixing the concrete) up and down the hill (often I have to carry wood down the hill, measure it, carry it back up, cut it, and then carry it back down to be installed). It’s definitely made cocktails on the beach at the end of the day on weekends taste even better!

More updates will follow as this project progresses over the next few weeks. Also, we have finalized the proposal for the dock with Deano Docks, and it has been submitted to the manufacturer, Hewitt, for fabrication, with the goal of having it installed by the second week of August. We are going with a floating dock that uses Hewitt’s Thru-Flow decking.

Lastly, because of all of these ongoing projects at the lake house, I’ve decided to call in the professional excavators to complete the Hardin Access Pipeline. I had started doing the excavation work myself, but in the end it was going to take such a huge amount of time this summer that I don’t have. I am still planning on doing all of the plumbing work in the guest house itself, but the outdoor plumbing component will be handled by the pros.