Category Construction

After clearing the damage and breaking up all of the rocks, I was left with a pretty usable beach area at the lake house. However, the last approach from the end of the concrete stairs to the water involved a fairly steep, sandy hill. One option was to build additional stairs, but that would have put be back at square one from the perspective of vulnerability to future damage. Instead, I opted to built a set of 4×4 treated lumber steps, held together by high-test rope connected to the concrete steps. This allows the steps to flex as sand is eroded or as more sand is dropped down from the bluffs above, and has a minimal impact on the usability of the beach area’s sand.

I’m very happy with how it all turned out, and am looking forward to being able to use the beach for swimming for the rest of the summer! Just need to make sure there’s enough Busch Light Peach to go around!

Over the winter, a series of large sandstone and limestone boulders were dislodged from the bluff above the beach at the lake house, and they crushed the dock deck and the stairs leading down to the dock. It was pretty shocking when I first discovered it, but it shows the power of Mother Nature.

Instead of rebuilding things exactly as they were, I decided to take a different, simpler approach. Now that I keep the boat on a slip at the Bayview Boat Club, there’s less of a need for an elaborate dock and boat setup. Rather, I wanted to have more beach space for swimming, and wanted to make it easy to access. The first task was to clear the boulders, which wasn’t going to be easy. I bought a 65 pound jackhammer / breaker, and got to work breaking up the boulders into smaller chunks that I could toss into the water, far enough out from the beach that they wouldn’t disrupt swimming:

Once the boulders were gone, I was able to shovel and rake the sand to make a beautiful beach area!

My next steps are to build some simple, lightweight stairs to make it easier to get to the bottom of the beach, but easy enough to remove or rebuild if a similarly destructive event happens in a future winter. I’m also going to do some repair and reconstruction of the railing down to the water from the house, which should keep me busy the rest of the summer.

Once the pool concrete pouring was done, the pool was fully usable but there was still more work to do. First, the fence had to be installed. I went with an aluminum fence in pre-fabricated sections, which made it easy to anchor into the concrete and install.

The end result looked really good, and fit with the aluminum railing style from the deck that went in last summer.

Once the fence was done, the pool cover was installed and I assembled some pool furniture. Given how far back ordered most higher end pool and patio furniture is, I went with what I was able to get from a local big box store, and it ended up looking pretty decent.

The current pool cover is a simple hand-cranked cover, but I wanted the option to install a powered cover in the future. To facilitate this, the electricians installed an outlet on the far side of the pool, that can power the cover as well as future lighting or other things that require electricity.

Lastly, I removed as many rocks from the dirt as I could, then hand tilled the dirt and planted some grass seed and threw down some hay over top of it. In the spring, we’ll do it properly and have top soil brought in and re-plant much of the grass, but I needed to get something growing before winter to help prevent erosion. It’s coming in fairly nicely, and will at least do the job until spring.

In the meantime, there are still three more weeks before we shut down the pool for winter, so my wife and I are trying to get as much use out of it as possible for as long as the weather cooperates!

While the pool was usable and very delightful after the initial installation, it obviously needed a concrete deck poured. I brought in Concrete Keith for the job, who had worked with me on the three season room and deck project last summer. He got to work pouring concrete, and the results were incredible. The first step was to pour a small ring of concrete around the pool, before pouring the rest of the deck and the stairs.

After that was done, he and his team poured and stamped the rest of the deck, along with a sloped walkway leading up to the pool from the hot tub area.

Now that the concrete is done, I have to wait a couple of weeks for it to fully cure on the inside before installing the railing and the pool cover, but until then there’s plenty of time to spend enjoying the pool!

Despite the pool excavation being a little more involved than anticipated, the project to install the pool managed to roll on mostly on schedule. The Patio Pleasures team arrived, and started installing the pool walls and setting up the pump, filter, and heater.

Next, the plumbing went in, along with the liner, and we could start filling the pool. For the initial filling, we used a vacuum system to keep the liner tight along the walls and floor before the weight of the water took over. The installers also had to wait to cut the liner for the stairs until enough water had filled at the bottom of the pool.

While the pool started to fill, the electricians got to work wiring the pump and heater, running circuits for the pool lighting, and installing a grounding ring around the pool that grounds all metal and prevents us from getting electrocuting, which is a good thing.

We still had to wait for the pool to fill with enough water before moving on to the next step. I installed a WiFi smart faucet that allowed me to control filling remotely, since the pool could only be filled during daylight (so the liner could properly stretch) and needed around five days to fully fill.

After the water levels got high enough, the installers came back to cut in the liner around the stairs:

With the stairs cut in, the pool could start filling again. While that happened, the gas installers from Consumers Coop came and ran LP lines from our primary propane tank to the pool’s heater.

As the pool finished filling, I took care of some ancillary tasks like installing outdoor security cameras from Arlo and buying furniture for the pool deck.

With the pool full, I added chemicals and for the first time, we were able to use the pool!

After the grading for the pool was done and the land was surveyed, the next step was for the excavators to actually dig the hole for the pool, which turned into a much larger challenge than expected, and also turned into a logistical mess since I was coordinating the various contractors from Vegas (in a pool at the Wynn, which was sort of ironic given that this project also involves a pool).

The excavators started digging, and quickly encountered a huge limestone shelf that their equipment was unable to break through.

They then brought in heavier artillery, which also broke on the limestone:

Ultimately, I had to call in the original excavator who had done the grading, since he had heavier equipment than the excavator the pool installers had hired.

He was able to break through, and then we could start the pool installation!

In a previous post I mentioned plans for a pool in the summer of 2022. Now that the summer of 2022 is here, I’ve been hard at work coordinating the pool project. In addition to working with the pool builders, electricians, gas company, and concrete company, I had to have the land where the pool is going to go graded, so that rainwater will run around the pool and down the hill, and not cause problems. This ended up being a pretty dramatic amount of earth movement. The first step was to carve an entrance through the trees onto the property from Range Trail, which allowed the backhoes and other equipment to get to the pool area.

Once that was done, the workers were able to quickly remove trees and brush, and create a level space for the pool.

After the land was leveled, I needed to have the area surveyed and the property lines marked, obviously to make sure that the concrete around the pool and the railing were all on my side of the property line.

Once that was done, I was able to finalize plans for the pool and get permits in place with Dane County and the Town of Verona.

I worked with my concrete contractor (the same person who did the concrete for the three season room project last summer), and also got railing ordered and delivered to be installed around the pool.

Excavation for the pool itself starts on July 1st, and the majority of the construction will be done by the end of the following week!

Once my spring landscaping tasks were done, there was a final bit of work I needed to do outside at the Verona house. Over time, a section of the wall had sagged a little bit, and needed to be fixed. To address this, I dug holes around the concrete footings for the posts, and then was able to tilt the posts forward back to a straight position. After this, I poured additional concrete around the footings to lock them into place.

It was a relatively simple fix, but it worked very well and, along with replacing a few post caps, brought the wall back into tip-top shape.

After the deck, three season room, and hot tub projects last summer, the next step in outdoor construction at the Verona house is going to be an in-ground pool. There will be concrete steps to walk up to where the pool will be from the hot tub area:

I’m working with Patio Pleasures, the same company that did the hot tub, and the pool itself is being built by Optimum Pools. It will be a 32×19 “free-form” pool (meaning kidney shaped), and will have a large concrete deck and fence around it. Here is a rendering of the structure:

And here are some photos of a (much smaller) version of the free-form pool from Optimum:

Construction is scheduled to start in June 2022! In the meantime, it’s still winter in Wisconsin so I’ll have to settle for enjoying the new hot tub.

After a short delay, the remaining finishing touches have been put on the three season room. The baseboard trim is done, as are the window and door casings. The last little bit of siding work is done, and the gutters and downspouts are in place along with the remaining fascia boards. With this final polish, the project is done, and I’m very proud of how it turned out!

In addition to the three season room itself, the grill and patio furniture are also in place.

There are a few remaining ancillary tasks to take care of (installing the hot tub and TVs, for example), but for now we’re enjoying spending time in the three season room and on the deck, as are the cats.

Now that the main construction is done, I’ve been able to reclaim the guest house garage for the truck and the Range Rover, and I’ve also been able to fully whip the lawn into shape.

Here’s to a great rest of the summer!