The new dock arrives - Renovation Week #4

Saturday morning cleared up and out came the sunshine. While I went to Duncan to the Farmer's Market and Superstore, Ray walked with Freya and took some pictures. While we don't have an RC Airfield close by there obviously is a RC Boat Club.

What a beauty.

 Ray passes by this old stump every day walking Freya. You can see the old springboard holes.

Here is a couple of pictures of our yard that is finished and the grass is growing. lol

Sunday was cloudy but at least the rain stopped. Not much happening today. I'd put together a baked spinach and artichoke dip and on the spur of the moment phoned our neighbours to see if they were up to coming over to help us eat it. Pat and Darryl were able to break off their chores and come over for happy hour. We had been trying to get together with them since June, but with both of us having such a busy summer with guests and Darryl still working, that get together never happened. Today we had a great visit, although short. Darryl had helped the previous owner somewhat with a few projects on the build so he had not seen the house finished. He was the one that procurred our stairs that came from a chip barge as Darryl works for the Navy in Victoria as an Engineer. (Sorry no picture.)

Monday the crew showed up at 7:30 am and started constructing the scaffolding to support the gazebo while they build the deck around it. The new dock won't arrive until tomorrow now. Just as well as Ray and I had to make a run into Nanaimo for doctor's appointments and we did not want to miss it's arrival. It was supposed to be sunny today but at 1:30 pm the sun still had not broken through the clouds. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

One of the posts holding up the gazebo!

Taking down the rest of the deck happens tomorrow. It took all day to put up the support and properly anchor the roof so they can safely work underneath it. The sun finally came out at 4:30 pm.

Tuesday morning the crew started taking down the rest of the timbers that were supporting the deck. First they beefed up the support for the gazebo and took off the remaining decking. Then they worked on the timbers. That was quite the job as they were super heavy. The ones not stained from underneath we are keeping for firewood.

They crank the timbers down with a support and cut it up shorter with a chain saw.

At 8:30 am, out of the fog came the boat towing our new dock!

Three ducks swiming thinking they were out of range.

Oh oh, Retreat it's coming this way. lol

 Cliff tying a rope to the float for the gangway.

This picture shows the log that has kept our float level all summer as the water went down.

Okay, the float is under the gangway so we can push it off after we tie the float to the gangway.

Cliff yanking out the log that has been holding up a corner of our dock all summer.

Success ... I think he got a little wet!

 Meanwhile ... the timbers are coming down slowly, one at a time.

Towing the old dock out and dragging the new dock in.

Timbers all down ... look I can hold it up with one finger! 

Yeah! The new dock is here!

The next couple of days the guys will permanently hook the dock to these two existing pilings.  We are now adding 2 more as we found out that the previous owner cut the pilings too short.  He almost lost the dock from floating off the top of the pilings in 2012 with high water. We are going to add two more that are much taller to eliminate the threat. No point paying for an expensive dock to have it float away in the winter when we are not home! We also need the gazebo installed, boat cleats, ladders etc. so definitely a few more days.

The wood for the new deck arrives tomorrow so that will be started. A great sunny day with lots of stuff accomplished.

Wednesday morning the boat came back early to tow the old dock back to their yard. 

And there goes the old dock off into the fog!

The 2 man crew came back later to start securing the new dock and erecting the aluminium gazebo. It will be great to have shade out there.

Ray went for a walk to take some pictures. Fall Colours. The lake was very calm and the colours were fabulous.

The building crew had a late start here as they were prepping joists at their shop for the start of today's build of the deck. Ray and I were gone most of the day for appointments in Duncan so will have to see the progress when we get back.

We arrived back home and this is the progress.

The gazebo is partially erected.

Beams have been cut into the house for support of the new deck and gazebo.

The leveling of the supporting posts takes a lot of time. Once everything is up they tell me the stringers and rest of the deck will go up much faster. While they were cutting into the ledger board for the beams they set off our smoke detector. lol

Thursday morning the crew were back at 7:30 to work with the deck and the boys for the dock arrived about 9am. Today the two posts were installed and they were working on sistering up the laminated beams and bolting them together to be able to support the weight of the gazebo.

Tomorrow they should be able to let down the gazebo and start on the decking on that side. They need to remove the scaffolding to finish this side. It has seemed forever to get to this point.

The dock now has the gazebo installed and the dock cleats. We also had some permanent fenders installed. Now we wait for the 2 new pilings and then they can finish the piling hoops as well as the transition pieces to the ramp and from the ramp to the dock. Looks awesome.

They also installed the boat whips. Our boat is back snug at the dock.

I was able to sit back down on the dock in the sun for an hour watching the comings and goings. It was 23 C. out, absolutely gorgeous. I also moved to the dock as it was much quieter down there from all the sawing and drilling. At least the jackhammering was done. lol

Another positive thing that occurred today is we got our car back. Yeah.

Friday morning was beautiful. As the sun rose there was a slight mist on the water and with the fall colours, spectacular.

The crew arrived at 7:30 and by 7:35 the house was shuttering with the drilling into the concrete to bolt in lintel. Very noisy. Nice to see the deck framing mostly done before I left.

By the end of the day the gazebo was landed and the scaffolding was taken down.

I left around 10am heading to Nanaimo to spend some time with Kristi and Jason. We are going out for dinner and then to a show at the Port Theatre. I did a little shopping first ... a Christmas Tree may have been purchased from Costco. :) Excited about Christmas in our new home this year.

As I was done shopping I stopped in at Ricki's Grill for an Express Lunch. Wow have they every gone somewhat upscale for a $13 lunch special.

I did a little more poking around and arrived at Kristi's about 2:30 pm, an hour early before she got home so sat outside on her front porch enjoying the last of the warm temperatures until next Spring.

Jason, Kristi and I went out for an early dinner at "The Nest" and managed to snag a table on their patio as the inside seating was full.

On to the show at the Port Theatre which is an acrobatic/comedy play, a take on the Cirque Du Soleil. It was quite enjoyable. A great 90 minutes of entertainment. We got home about 9:30 and Jason headed off to Victoria as his friend had come home from Japan for a visit. Kristi and I had an early night as she was on call Saturday at the hospital.

A great visit. Saturday I was back home by noon. It's lovely that she only lives less than an hour away.