You may remember we were installing the sliding glass door that leads from the kitchen to the new deck.

Ok, well, I have it almost complete now. Just a little putty and paint left to do, but basically finished.

Here is a view of the deck with the doors installed…..

Its a long way from how it was when we got here - as you may remember…

One thing I didnt mention before. We got the door from Home Depot. Unbeknownst to us at the time it was delivered, they sent the wrong door. After we cut the hole in the house for the door to be installed, we realized the door was wrong. I have to hand it to the guys at Home Depot. Knowing it was too cold to not have the door in, they told us to go ahread and install the door we had. They came the next day with the correct door and compensated us $350.00 for the trouble. My hat is off to Home Depot.

I also installed some deck lighting. I gotta sa, these things are great. They are 8 low wattage lights (7 watts a piece) and run off a timer. So they are inexpensive to operate. but they give enough light that you can be on the deck (or use the deck stairs) any time during the night and see where your going. Installing them was easy enough, jst a little cramped being under the deck.

You can find these at HomeDepot.com - they cost about $70 for the entire set. I like these so much I am going to get a second set and install them down the privacy fence along the driveway.

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Ok, FINALLY the new asphalt driveway has been completed. As you may recall, the old driveway looked like this:

The most notable difference, besides new asphalt, is that the driveway has been widened on the left to extend all the way to the fence. I widened it for a few reasons. First, I wanted a little more driveway width so that I can now comfortably park 3 cars side by side. Second, the space on the left was a space I figured would never really look good and would be a gardening nightmare. (I hate pulling weeds).

Originally I was just going to widen the driveway, but after our little flooding incident (see this post) I figured resurfacing the driveway was a good move.

What they basically do when they resurface is to simply place a new layer of asphalt over the old. The driveway actually becomes stronger in the process (assuming the old driveway isnt all broken and potholed.

Ok, so this morning I the paving company (Fahey & Sons from Melrose Park 630-543-6323) was finally able to get a day of decent weather to do the job. They started by cutting a 8 inch wide section of the old driveway out where it meets the concrete garage apron and the front part of the driveway (which we did not replace) This is done so the new asphalt can be seamlessly mated to the old parts.

Then they cleaned up the edges with shovels and a bobcat and filled in the left side with gravel, using a roller to compress the gravel base.

Now they start laying asphalt.

They then roll the asphalt and its done. The whole operation took about 3 hours. The cats were mesmerized by the whole deal

Here is the completed driveway.

You can walk on it almost instantly. But you cant drive on it for 24 hours and you cant park on it for 3 days. It doesnt need to be sealcoated for the first year.

Many people think asphalt driveway is lessor to a concrete one. Im not sure I agree. Once concrete cracks, your stuck with it until you are willing to dig it up and replace it. Concrete also costs about 4 times as much. But asphalt has to be sealcoated every year or two or three. In the long run, the asphalt is still cheaper.

Either way, I think it looks pretty good. We are going to place some low voltage lights along the fence to light the driveway a little bit. Next week, the yard should be completed. Unfortunately, we were delayed too long to seed the grass now, so I either have to wait until spring or lay sod. I havent decided, but im leaning toward sod so it’s done and over with. I would hate to have to live with mud all winter.

The sliding glass door is in and almost completed.

Its more finished then the photo shows but I didnt take any pics as it was dark when it was completed. As soon as we have a decent day, I’ll get pics of the finished deck with the door and you can see how nice it looks.

So, my list is slowly getting shorter. I have a handful of projects that I am working on to some extent and need to finish. These include:

Finish insulating the garage and putting plywood on the walls as well as installing the other shop lights
Finish installing the microwave and rebuilding the kitchen cabinet
Finish stripping the oak trim in my office and getting it up
Paint the upstairs bedroom
Install the new washer and Dryer (arriving Monday) and finish the laundry room

This is just the stuff I have already started and have materials for. Looks like a busy winter.

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Well the deck is done. I took a few shots, but they were at night. I couldnt get daytime shots because its been raining again today. (whats with the friggin weather)

Like the litte fireplace? I thought it was a nice touch and Hobo had it on sale for $100. It runs on propane and give a nice atmospere.

Next, the sliding glass doors go in, the driveway gets done and the yard last. I decided to redo the entire driveway instead of just extending it to the fence. Reason being mostly the flooding we had a few weeks back. SO we are going to redo the driveway and make it 3″ higher to help with the water. Additionally, it’ll make the surface easier to define with the yar and should look pretty good overall.

Then we can finish the yard.

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More pics….

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