The next two phases of the garage sidewalk project have been completed. The first of these was relatively easy, just a flat section in an alcove between the house and garage. A channel drain was added at the roof drip line and conduit added for future utilities to access the area (hopefully fiber eventually).  The second phase was not as simple since there were heat pump units in the way. To get around this I installed a ledger board to the wall framing then made a frame out of old landscape timbers, with the frame legs outside the concrete area. The units were then carefully lifted onto the frames with ratchet straps, making sure not to stress any of the electrical/refrigerant connections. Concrete was then poured the same as before.

Next phase is one more small section from the heat pumps to the end of the wall, this will catch the rest of the rain run-off and direct all of it into a pipe that will run under the grass.

The next phase of the garage sidewalk project has been completed. Same process here, but a larger section was made possible by the addition of a concrete mixer. At the same time the old railroad timber steps to the back door were replaced with concrete. Next phase will be filling in an alcove between the garage & house (along with adding a channel drain to finally catch water from that area) and then last a section under the heat pump units.

Quick project this weekend to create an area for trash/recycling can storage. I used some odd 1×4 composite trim type boards left by the previous owner for most of the forms, for the tighter inside bend I cut a few strips of 1/8″ masonite panel and glued them together in-place. I also setup a length of drainage pipe to direct the gutter downspout under the sidewalk. Wire grid was set in place, then concrete hand-mixed in a wheelbarrow and poured. A few hours later I finished with a broom finish.

Eventually I may add a small fence/wall, but just getting the cans out of the driveway is a big improvement on its own. This yard in this area was holding a pile of landscaping rock until recently, now that it’s been moved the area will be planted with grass.

The sidewalk will eventually be extended around the garage, I’ll likely get a small cement mixer to make the process go faster – mixing a pour this size by hand it becomes difficult to mix and place the concrete fast enough that the beginning isn’t curing differently than the end, which makes finishing tricky.