DRIVEWAY PROJECT

A project that we have been planning to do for quite a while now has been to do some landscaping along the length of our driveway.  It has always been an untidy and uneven area of mixed grass and weeds that was dry and dusty in the summer, a challenge for mowing and weed whacking.

Back in August, we contacted a contractor to remove the sod, level the ground and spread bark mulch on the whole area.  He was willing to do the work almost any time but first, we needed to get a huge (45 cubic yards) delivery of bark mulch.  We were able to order it from Kalesnikoff Lumber north of Castlegar, but we had to wait until they were cutting fir at the mill as that is what makes the best bark mulch.  That didn’t happen until September, so the bark mulch was delivered and dumped in our driveway on September 23.

We went ahead and spread some of it at the top of the driveway opposite the house to see what it would look like.  Nice, but a lot of work with a wheel barrow.

Our contractor was able to work on the project in the middle of last week and spent 2 half days doing the job.  He removed the sod, hauled it away and back bladed along the sides to level and pack them down.  He had 2 helpers with shovels and rakes who worked on the edges.

Then it was time to dump and spread the bark mulch.  That went quickly with the 2 guy plus Stuart raking out the piles that were dumped by the machine.  We put 4 inches of mulch over the area as that is supposed to be the right depth to block weeds from growing up.  Hopefully, that works—we don’t want to see weeds or grass in the mulch.

After the sides of the driveway were finished, we pressure washed the whole thing to clean off all the debris in preparation for seal coating.  We had to connect every hose we owned to reach the end of the driveway (300 feet) and even then, the last few feet were just at the edge of the spray.  It cleaned up well, though.

The next day, the two of us started rolling on the asphalt sealer and that was a big job.  We started at the house and shop and worked our way down the driveway.  We spent about 7.5 hours at it and were exhausted by the end of the day.  It was important to get it all completed as the weather was good (cloudy but dry) and you can’t drive on it until the next day.

We did some touch ups the next morning and then took a well-deserved rest.  We used eleven 5 gallon buckets for the job which was about 8,000 square feet.

So now we’re all done with our home projects for the year and can do a little more recreating before getting ready to winterize everything.  We went out in the boat on Christina Lake a week ago and have been grouse hunting a few times.  Stuart got 3 grouse one day and 1 another day.  He used a shotgun the first time and then used the .22 rifle after that.  We plan to go out turkey hunting later this week.  The weather is still warm and sunny—an amazing autumn so far.