The Patio is Done (almost)

It's been a long journey, but we are finally nearing completion. Three weeks ago today construction began. Frank's uncle Randy did most of the legwork for us. He found a great local contractor to do the framing and brickwork for a great price, and we were responsible for all the details. Those details include lining the inside of the roof, spackling, caulking, painting, and running electrical wires. We've had quite a few setbacks, so it's nice to really see the work coming to an end. It seems like every day we say "This is it! We're almost done!" - but then we run out of, time, patience, daylight, or tolerance for bugs! I could tell a lot of stories about the setbacks, but let's focus on the positive: We have a covered patio! Not only that but it WILL be ready in time for us to enjoy it for Labor Day weekend. All we have left now is to do some touch-up painting and clean up. Surely we can handle that tonight! Take a look at the progression and transformation of our backyard. I will post again once I'm happy with a final "after" picture.


Here is one of our "before" pictures.
Frank emailed me this picture at work. It's scary to see this kind of thing when you know nothing about construction. Notice the "scaffolding" they built. OSHA would not approve.

Notice the brick they ripped out of my house to attach the frame. Again, this was scary to me.
Another view of stage one.
Here is the first picture of the frame. I think Frank took this picture from our bedroom window.
Day 1: The frame is complete!
They also finished covering the frame on the first day. Day 2 they put the shingles down. We were looking very official at that point.
More scary scaffolding and a pile of trash in my backyard after day 1. This is actually the best our yard would look for the next two weeks.
More pictures after Day 1
...and some more...
Last one - inside view.
Day 2 Frank and Randy got to work putting up the concrete board. This was probably the hardest part of the job. It took 2 days to custom cut and hang all of the pieces since the workers framed the ceiling joists at 90 degree angles (mas o menos - more or less)!
Here is Randy measuring yet another custom cut. That was a very frustrating day for the boys.
At the end of Day 3, Randy, Frank and Johnny all spackled and painted the inside of the roof.
It took another 10 days for a bricker to come finish the job, so we couldn't do much work. Once it was completed we were able to start caulking. Every night for a week we came home from work and caulked until the sun went down. I never imagined it would take so long or so MUCH caulk to finish the job. I think we used 10+ tubes of caulk. However, I am now a pro. I can even load the caulk gun myself!
Last weekend we finally hung our ceiling fans and the new outside light! Frank had one brief run-in with the electricity, but no one fell off the ladder so we are grateful.
I took these pictures last night while Frank was painting. We are SO CLOSE!
We are almost done! Sorry it took so long to post pictures. I'm sure some of you were starting to think we just made the whole thing up. I'll post the official before and after shots this weekend! I will also be able to show you the A&M windchime that my Aunt Susan got us for Christmas last year. I'm SO excited to hang it. It will feel like the perfect finishing touch. Stay tuned!