Finishing the excavation of Zone 2

While we are trying to fill the backyard with dirt (and leaves), there is still a bit of digging that is needed for Zone 2.  Zone 2 is the area between the house and the new path, starting at the gate to the backyard, expanding out around the Chinese Pistache tree and then narrowing down to nothing where the path meets the back patio.

We've dug up all along the house, plus the area down by the patio, and out along the path up to where the irrigation water supply for the North Bed runs under the path.  That leaves just the point of the area North of the tree.

It takes several days to remove the dirt, sort out the rock and get down to the big slab of dirt at the bottom.  We want to try to avoid the roots.  We find a number of old Coke cans, beer cans, paint rags, and especially chunks of asphalt.

Finally we have the dirt removed from most of the area, and can clearly see the rock slab.

A couple of hours of using the jack hammer reduces this one big rock to a lot of smaller rocks.  We leave a section of the rock right next to the path, because part of it underlays the path wall.

Once we get all this rock out, we are able to get a couple of rocks out from under the tree itself.

 This creates a "cave" that goes right in under the tree, showing how much rock is still left. 

 Continuing the excavation, we get all the way around the tree to where we were in November 2011, finishing the excavation for Zone 2. 

The next step is to fill all this back in with dirt.  We want it to be about 4 inches below the final level.  After it settles, we will put in underground drip irrigation in this section, put 4 more inches of dirt over that, and be ready to plant.

After a couple more weeks, we have this area completely filled in.  Now we just need to wait to let it settle.

Filling in the Backyard Pit

Having excavated most of the rock out of the backyard, now it is time to fill it back in.

This takes lots of time, and seems to make little progress.  The dirt in the pile has to be loosened up, mixed with lots of leaves, and then dumped into the pit.

Eventually, making my way across the yard, the pile of compost and mulch gets in the way, so I have to move it to another area of the yard.

Since the area in the front, with the grass has not yet been dug up, I want to leave some room to be able to do that, so I try to stick close to the cement wall for the walkway.

As we go around the corner, it is obvious that some of this needs to be dug up and cleaned, to clear a path for filling in the pit.

These big rocks, by the base of the tree, should be removed, while I have the chance.

That leaves it much cleaner, with room for dirt to be moved from the pile into this newly cleared area.

And so, over time, we are working to fill this in with a mixture of leaves and dirt.

This is slow going.  Partly, it takes time to mix the dirt and leaves, and partly the dirt pile is in the middle of the yard and so is in direct sunlight most of the day, making it difficult to work on it for very long in the Texas summer heat.

Decomposed Granite for the path

With the path sides complete, I can now fill the area between.  Most of it has been filled with limestone rock rubble from the digging, but now for the top we put down a layer of decomposed granite.  We needed about half a cubic yard to finish it.  We got that from Whittlesey Landscape Supplies, for $17.11, putting it in plastic bags from the hardwood mulch and carrying it in the back of the Forester.

 This should finish off the pathway, at least to make it usable, while everything settles.  Eventually we will put flagstones down on it.

Laying down the limestone blocks on top of the cement walls

On both sides of the new path, and alone the fence, we have poured cement walls, down to bedrock, leaving enough room to put 4x4 inch limestone blocks on the top.  All of this will be underground except the top surface of the limestone blocks which will be the dividing line between the path and the beds on both sides.  For this last set of stones, it seems we want it to match the quality of the stones for the patio, so I figured I should hire a professional, rather than doing it myself.

I hired two guys, working as Saul's Masonry, 512-939-7656.  They came out and we talked over what I wanted, and agreed on a price of $400.  I figured there was about 100 linear feet of stones to be laid.

The most important part is of course the path. 

So they started there, putting down a bed of mortar and laying the stones on that, keeping everything level.

Going down the long side and then coming back and doing the shorter piece.

In addition, we have the cement wall under the fence.




This is easier, since it's just a straight line.  But still, doing a good job is important.  And apparently I should have made the wall slightly higher so they had to use more mortar to make up the difference.



The whole thing took about 6 hour, and looks good.  As they were finishing up, it starts to rain, but only enough to keep things wet.

Finishing the main backyard pit

Having dug out along the fence, and finished putting in a cement wall to outline the backyard along the fence, we then want to finish digging out the main pit and start filling it back in.  We had left a peninsula sticking out into the pit.

 It seems it would be easier to restart the digging if this edge of the part of the yard that has been processed if this was a straight line, so we began digging out that part.

 It took about 3 days to dig that out, separate out the rocks and mix the dirt that remains with leaves and spread it all out.

Burying the Cat (again)

Back in 2002, our cat, Pepper, died.  We buried her in the backyard, along the fence.  I'm now digging up along the fence.

I think I know where she is buried, and after some work, I found her.  Or at least parts of her.  Her skull was the most obvious part, and once that was located, other bones -- ribs, backbone, hip, legs -- were located.

I put her remaining bones into a nicely decorated clay pot

and reburied them at the bottom of zone 2.

 with a flat piece of flagstone on top.

This should be a quiet spot for her remains, out of the way, and unlikely to be further disturbed.

Digging along the fence, Part 3

Back to digging.  The goal is to get to the rock wall, so we can install the edge wall along the fence.

After another day, more progress.

 More days, more progress.


 


 And finally, we have it dug out all the way to the stone wall.

Once we have it dug out, we then go back and work on trimming it up so that it is straight down from the fence.  One day got us about 2/3 of the way to the end, but that's enough to start pouring cement.

Straight down the fence, all the way to bedrock.

Now we can frame it up with our standard pieces of Masonite sheets  using 1 x 4 wood pieces to separate it from the fence, and then using compost and mulch bags to hold it all in place.

 This first part took 15 bags of 60-pound Quik-crete and 2 and a half hours to mix and pour.

Now we can dig out the remainder while this sets up.  Then we can remove the framing and move it down to the remaining section.

Clearing rock from the backyard

It being Spring, it has been raining, and I can't work in the wet dirt.  But I can break up and remove rock that has been exposed.  Most of the rock is close to the fence, and that leaves little room for dirt on top of it.  Since I can't raise the lawn level, I'll lower the rock level.

 After a day of using the jackhammer, I have the worse of it broken up and removed.  This should leave much more room for dirt.

 The rock rubble from this area was taken over and put in between the cement walls that define the new pathway.  I filled about a third with the results of the digging.

New toilet for master bathroom

We have replaced the toilets in both the back bathroom and in the guest bathroom.  Part of this is that the older ones did not work all the time; they had a tendency to clog.  Plus they were from 1985, and current toilets take much less water.  The two other toilets are American-Standard Champion 4 models, and it seems time to replace our last Kohler with this newer model.

The existing toilet is blue, to match the tile in the bathroom, but Linda doesn't like blue and wants to transition to a new color scheme.  So the new toilet is "Linen", like the other two, an off-white.

We ordered the new toilet from Home Depot.  Special order for American Standard Champion 4 Right Height Elongated Toilet in Linen. 2002.014.222 for a 2 piece set -- bowl and tank.  This is supposed to be 1.6 gallons per flush. $441.66.

Less than two weeks later it arrives, and I pick it up from Home Depot.  Boxes in boxes.




 

I pick up some extra supplies for the job: a double height wax ring, a new water supply line and a new cut-off value.

The first problem is to remove the old toilet.

 

It comes apart fairly easily.  The tank is bolted to the bowl, and then the bowl is bolted down to the floor.  Turn off the water supply.  Flush to empty the tank, sponge out the bowl, and take it all outside.

That leaves us the water supply line and a hole in the floor.  Turn off the water at the street for the whole house, remove the old cut-off valve and water supply line, and install the new cut-off valve.  Then we can turn the water for the house back on.





We install the new bolts, put the wax ring on the bottom of the new toilet bowl and put the toilet bowl in place.



Then we can put the tank in place on the bowl and bolt it together.



Now we can attach the new water supply line to the bowl.  It just barely fit.  The old tank was 8 inches from the cut-off valve, so I got a 12 inch supply line.  But the new tank is higher off the floor ("Right Height"), so a 12 inch supply line leaves absolutely nothing to spare.  But it is (just) enough.  No leaks anywhere.

Turn the water on.  Adjust the level in the tank.  Flush a couple of times to get things working correctly.

But to keep things from being abnormally easy, the seat that I ordered (have to special order a seat to get it in Linen), is a wooden seat.  I don't understand why anyone would want a wooden toilet seat anymore; I prefer the plastic ones.  So take the wooden seat back to Home Depot to order the plastic one.  I want one that matches the other two we have.

Home Depot doesn't have this seat, in stock, in the right color, so it has to be ordered.  For some reason, it can't be a "special order" -- I have to order it "on-line".  But the pictures on the web don't show enough detail, at the right angle, to really be able to distinguish one from another.  And, for Home Depot, it turns out they are "out of stock" on all Linen colored toilet seats.  And their system will not allow an order that is not available.  So no seat.

I take the old blue one off the previous toilet and put it on the new one, at least until we can get something else.

 

Searching the web, the American-Standard site lists lots of toilet sets, in Linen, but doesn't sell any of them.  They think Home Depot will order and sell them.  But they also think Lowe's is a supplier.  So I go to the Lowe's web site, find what I think is the seat I want -- again the pictures don't really show anything distinctive about it.  I order that, and they say it will be at least two weeks (closer to 3 weeks) before delivery.  And it costs twice as much.  But it is ordered.  They took my money and promise to ship me the new seat

And the new toilet seat was shipped, FedEx, to my place in just days.  I took off the blue seat and put on the new "linen" colored one.

But a different problem came up.  The toilet started to rock when you sat on it.  Checking, I found one of the bolts had come loose.  To fix this, I had to take everything apart, and re-install the toilet (again).  The bolts that hold the toilet down to the floor have heads that are wider in one direction than in the other.  The wider parts should be under the ring that is attached to the floor.  I drew a line on the other end of the bolt to indicate which way the bolt should be oriented, and have re-installed it keeping that line so that the largest part of the bolt head is under the ring.  In addition I have some plastic shims from Home Depot that I can use to try to level the toilet seat on the tile floor.

May 7

The problems with the toilet rocking have continued.  It seemed to be okay after it was re-installed, but over time, it got worse.  Again it seems that one bolt (on the left) has come loose.

Doing it twice and still not doing it right (apparently) suggests that I am not getting any better at this.  So it's time to call in the professionals.  I made an appointment with Allstate Plumbing, found thru Angie's List.  I called on Monday and got an appointment for Tuesday morning.  Before they showed up, I turned off the water, and emptied and removed the tank, so they could concentrate on the bowl.

B.J. Cook showed up promptly and removed the nuts on the bowl and then the bowl.  Surprisingly, not only the bowl, but also the flange came off!
 
The structure, as I understand it, is that the waste pipe is PVC.  There is an insert of a lead cylinder that lines the first 15 inches or so of the waste pipe.  At the top of the lead cylinder is a brass flange.  The bolts that hold the toilet bowl down fit into this brass flange.  The brass flange itself had come off.

 

So the plumber removed the old flange, cleaned everything up, and put down a new flange.  He soldered the new brass flange onto the existing lead lining.

 

Then he put in the bolts, positioned the wax ring in place, and re-installed the toilet bowl.  He used metal washers (and a nickel) as shims to level the bowl.  Then he re-installed the tank, hooked the water up and turned it on.  As a final step, he caulked under the rim of the toilet bowl, all the way around, to seal the bowl to the floor.  All done quickly, professionally, and for only $153.12.  A deal.  Took about an hour and half.

 

Update:  28 Jan 2019.  We had been hearing noises of the toilet flushing when no one was near it, and a dye test showed that the water in the water closet was leaking into the bowl  (and then the lower level in the water closet caused it to refill automatically).  So the assumption is that the "washer" on the flushing mechanism was leaking.  I got a replacement "American Standard Chapion 4 Replacement Seal" from Home Depot (about $6), and in about 20 minutes had it replaced.