You know how you can wait years for something, never see any progress towards it, and then when it finally happens, it feels like things are moving forward at lightning speed? Yeah, that’s how things have felt around here these last couple of weeks.
First, after planning and dreaming about a workshop for years and years, the moment finally came and it was built in a day (for the most part). And now, we’ve decided to have our driveway poured after eleven years of not having one, and once the ball started rolling, it seems to have gained speed very quickly.
All of the initial prep work is done. That work consisted of removing a whole lot of junk trees that had grown up over the last few years. (I know calling hackberry trees “junk trees” can be a bit controversial for some people, but most people around here call them junk or trash trees. But even if these trees had been oak or pecan or something really nice, they still would have had to be cut down, unfortunately. So I’m glad they were hackberry. I don’t feel as guilty cutting those down.)
So here’s what it looked like before they got here yesterday morning (although the 11-foot chain link gate had already been removed)…
And here’s what it looks like now after they cut all of the trees down yesterday, sent them through the wood chipper, and then came back early this morning and ground all of the stumps down.
I can’t believe how much better that looks already! It’s going to look so good with a concrete driveway!
I also had them do some trimming on the pecan tree in front to remove all of the low branches that were scraping the top of my van every time I’d pull to the back.
Then there were these two really big piles of limbs from the emergency limb removal that had to happen the morning the guys arrived to build my workshop. The picture is a bit deceiving. I don’t think it captures just how big these piles really were.
So all of that got picked up and sent through the wood chipper.
They also did quite a bit of trimming and clean up behind the workshop. There’s still so much that needs to be done, but right now, the driveway is the focus. I just needed the piles left behind from the workshop, and anything that will be in the way of the driveway to be removed.
As a funny sidenote, I have to laugh that every person who’s been to our property in the recent days (concrete guy, tree trimming guys, the guys who came out to remove the fence and gate) have all remarked about how we have an empty lot behind us. 😀 They’re always so shocked to find out that that’s part of our lot. I’m telling you, it’s very rare to have such a big lot inside the city. That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to buy this house.
And then they also cleaned up all of the big piles of brush that I had piled up from the limbs I cut down before my workshop was built, and they trimmed the trees back that were hanging low over where the driveway will extend behind my workshop.
And one final thing. They got rid of the junk tree that keeps growing in this area in front of the breakfast room. They cut it down, and then ground the stump. So now I need to put something on it so that it will never come back. That thing grows like a week. When I trimmed it to do the electrical outlets on the side of the studio, the thing had grown AGAIN to at least 20 feet high, if not higher. My mom has one at her back fence that grows about a foot a week, if not faster. It’s insane!
So everything is now all prepped and ready to go. Fence and gate removed. Trees removed. Stumps ground down well below ground level.
So what was the price for that prep work? $3,600.00. That seems like a completely fair price to me because all of that was some hard labor, and it would have taken me a month of solid work to get it all done had I tried to do it myself. This way, it all got done in two days, and now there’s no delay for the concrete guy to start his work.
Like I said, this has been a process of slow, slow, slow, slow, slow…..FAST! Hopefully we’ll see some driveway forms begin built on Monday! And I will definitely be asking him beforehand about a French drain where the workshop ramp meets the carport, as some of you suggested. I appreciate those tips, as I never would have thought about that myself.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.