DAY 1 - Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Here is a photo of the excavated patio, looking into the courtyard area, before the crew arrived.
The crew arrives and begins staking and painting the outline of the courtyard onto the grass to start cutting the sod.
The sod removal and digging process begins.
The definition of the courtyard begins to take shape! The pathways are defined, and the grassy "quandrants" are clearly visible.
Once the sod is removed, now the back-breaking task of digging the eight inches down throughout the
entire non-sodded area begins.
DAY 2 - Wednesday, May 21, 2008
First thing this morning, Barbara jumped in to help in the effort, offering to drive the Bobcat.
Barbara said the work was so easy, she could do it with her eyes closed!
Day 2 was spent continuing the arduous digging process. The entire area has to be dug
by hand to a depth of eight inches. Nothing exciting or quick about this process, but its gotta be done.
Almost done! By the end of day two, the digging process was complete. Tomorrow we get to see some
real action. Stay tuned!
DAY 3 - Thursday, May 22, 2008
As the morning sun peeked through the trees and evaporated the dew, the courtyard awaited "Day 3". This is what it looked like first thing in the morning, and by early afternoon it looked like....
...
this! OK, so not much change. Day 3 ended up being a clean up day to haul away most of the excess dirt, etc. But...
...the brick for the patio portion arrived and awaits installation on Tuesday. Tomorrow (Friday) we expect to have the gravel and sand base laid in the courtyard and patio. The last thing before we start laying brick!
DAY 4 - Friday, May 23, 2008
Friday began with marking off the patio area and preparing to lay gravel and prepare the base, both here and in the courtyard.
The gravel for the base arrives.
The laying of the gravel begins...
Unfortunately, right after this photo was taken, rain delayed the project, so that was it for the day. We had to wait over the long three-day weekend to see what progress gets made on Tuesday...
DAY 5 - Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The crew started early this morning by preparing the base and spreading gravel, using an
ingeniuous way of getting the gravel into the wheelbarrows.
From the wheelbarrows, the gravel was then dumped into piles throughout the entire courtyard...
Within a couple of hours, the gravel base had been completely dumped and spread out.
Next come the readjustment, smoothing and flattening to the desired height.
By end of day, the base was
ready for the next step....sand.....and bricks.
DAY 6 - Wednesday, May 28, 2008
First thing that had to be done this morning was to dump piles of sand over the gravel base.
Next, the piles of sand were spread out and them smoothed to a level top.
In no time, the sand was all smoothed out and ready for........bricklaying.
The engraved brick arrived today, and sorted out according to sections.
First section being installed, working from the bottom right corner of the courtyard. Each brick is placed and then "tamped" in with a rubber mallet until it is level and straight.
End of the day, the entire south edge and south center spoke of the courtyard is layed out. In general, blank bricks are put in place first, then engraved bricks will be "substituted" by removing blanks and inserting engraved bricks in their particular place.
Tomorrow we begin "substituting" and hopefully, placement of the centerpiece and chapter bricks, in addition to the rest of the courtyard.
DAY 7 - Thursday, May 29, 2008
Bricklaying continued today, highlighted by beginning work on the center section. In the center section one would find the Fraternity Seal, and a brick for each chapter with their founding date and chapter rank number.
Here's what a chapter brick looks like...
The center tablet, featuring the Great Seal of the Fraternity, is laid into place. Placing it would normally require four men, because the tablet itself weighs 270 pounds, but Barbara has the strength of two men, so she, Felipe and Juan took care of business.
The center section turned out
really well in the end. Every one of DU's 151 chapters are represented in the center.
By the end of day, the courtyard was almost complete. The only thing lacking is the entire eastern edge. Those final sections will be completed tomorrow, and the finishing touches will be applied before moving on the patio section.
DAY 7 - Thursday, May 29, 2008
Today the last side of the courtyard was completed and the engraved bricks dropped in. Then began the process of installing the hard plastic edging.
The edging is put all around the inside and outside perimeter of the courtyard to prevent shifting and hold the bricks securely into place.
By the end of day, all of the bricks were down, the edging installed and the first layer of sand was swept into the cracks to tighten things up. After a weekend break, another layer of fine sand will be swept between the cracks to finish it off.
Check back on Wednesday, June 11th for photos of the completed patio section!Landscaping for the courtyard will begin during the week of June 23rd. Hopefully by June 30th, phase one will be complete!Thanks for visiting and checking out the progress.
Keep checkig back, because there's still more to come in the weeks ahead!