This past week has been full of adventure, which is part of the reason I didn’t get to my blog post last week. Aside from working on a chimney project I also took a road trip to Indiana and had my car broken in to, while parked in my driveway! Just wait till you hear the whole story…
 
I'll start with the chimney.
The homeowners contacted me because the chimney was leaking during heavy rain. While they knew they wanted the chimney to be leak-free they weren’t totally certain how they wanted the final product to look. I started by grinding out all the joints and repointing it. Then I removed the water shed and joined all of the flue cages to one large copper colored one. The overhang on the chimney cap was poured flush, with the ability to build it out. In the end though, the homeowners decided that they wanted it to be a little over 1”. They also decided they  wanted to go with a different flue cage too.  So I’m going back there to do some more work on it to get it just the way they want it. More pics soon. Sometimes it is hard to visualize what you want, but I’m happy to work with people so that they are satisfied with the end product.
 
On Thursday night someone rummaged through both my wife’s and my cars. We live in a quiet area, so it was quite a surprise to walk outside on Friday morning and see the car doors wide open! The burglar (s) went through our glove boxes and consoles, left things strewn about and the car doors open, but they didn’t take much at all. In fact, all that was missing was a flashlight and a book! It seems the people were just looking for untraceable items. God is good in everything and He definitely was watching over us and our safety!
 
We left Friday night for a great road trip! My wife and I survived two days of driving on only 3 hours of sleep, jellybeans, and coffee. On the way home, my brother decided to take a shortcut to save some time. Little did he realize he was taking us straight through scenic farm country- with roads full of Amish buggies. The highlight of the detour for us was seeing an buggy tied up to a pole outside Pizza Hut! It doesn't get much better than that! 
  
After this weekend I’m glad to be out of the car actually moving around, and I’ve decided to invest in a home security system. Thankful for Gods many mercies and hope you have a great week.
 
Check out the pictures of the job so far and let me know what you think.

This past week I installed Cambridge paving stones. It was a great job, with a couple of twists. I have to give major props to everybody involved who helped make the job what it is.

The homeowner and I had agreed that he would do the excavating and order a load of stone for our base material. His week, and the start of the project, began with a crash when his excavator called and canceled on him, leaving him no machine to dig with. Like I have said before, for a project like this to be done right it needs to be dug out about six inches in each direction, and nine inches  deep. (Writers note: Some poetic license is taken with the following) I imagine what happened next went a little like this: Red bull was purchased and a town/family meeting was called. Shovels were thrust, picks were swung, and names were called. However it played out, by the end of the day the homeowner and his wife were out in the rain working with determination to get the job done. I am amazed by the work they put in to get the prep work done!

When I arrived on the job site I came equipped with a small grading machine. Needless to say, the homeowners were a wee bit jealous of the mechanical help I had. I moved the stone around and filled the excavated area to nearly ground level with sub-base stone. Because the pavers were delivered late were were a bit behind schedule but by day two I was able to put up the front steps (massive and full body solid 6'x6"x16" steps), then the 4’ x12’ went in. Day three I started the back of the house with an identical set of steps that went well with the size of the house coming down to a 10'x10' patio.

Things had been going pretty well up till that point but about three quarters of the way through the patio the wind became so strong and began blowing sand all over the place! As much and I love sand storms I had to call it a day. Day four, the last and final day, I was able to finish laying the patio stones and get the fire pit completed.

Despite all the twists and turns this job involved it turned out great and the homeowner was very pleased with it. He said he doesn’t even think a picture can do it justice. Nevertheless, I’ve put a few pictures of the job up here. Check it out and let me know what you think.