Concrete! (and completed spa coping)

The masons showed up with a concrete truck today to finish (hopefully) all of their pool work.  Matt has asked the boss to hire his guys to help re-dig the cistern hole and install it because he's just run out of time, but that will be in a few days when we have a good weather window.

At last, the ground is stable enough for the south-end curb to be poured (left). And wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow-full, the the side-yard steps are poured.

I'm not sure why he's wearing a button-down shirt and nice khaki shorts for work like this, but who am I to judge?

Also, a few lengths of rebar and concrete fill the retaining wall for reinforcement, as can be seen in the bottom of the picture to the right. The equipment pad is poured by noon and we're pretty much done with concrete work now.

Overall, we're probably about two weeks behind with the weather and related cistern wash-out, and the extra concrete work that had to be done before the paver guys start work.

The spa coping is done and the air valves are installed.  Still missing the three or four waterline tiles.  Rick looked at the extra tiles that we fished out of the pool, but he couldn't use them because they were the same tile, and I hadn't noticed.  I think there are four different patterns in the tile, and he won't put the same pattern next to one another.  Details.



Details are a good thing, because the detail work that Rick has done on the spa is excellent, as can be seen by these close-ups.

That's a lot of measuring and cutting to get all those angles and corners symmetrical like that.