From the Ground Up

Adventures in new construction - Franklin Hills, CA

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Who wants to come over and play in the club house?

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2.5 trucks worth of concrete, and 3 days cure-time later - framing begins! This is only day two of this step and the casita is already taking shape. Surprising how large 120 sq. ft. looks.

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Talking shop before the concrete arrives.

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Forms for the garden wall extension, and “casita” pad. Very exciting to get all of this poured and move on to framing.

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The plunge pool is warmed up and ready for an afternoon BBQ with the Intaktics, Inc. crew. We owe them a huge thanks for their hard work, and attention to detail. Looking forward to floating on our giant slice, too.

The Moon Valley plantings from from Saturday are looking really great and will serve as nice anchors for the rest of the landscaping. Our six specimens are: 

Giant Bird Of Paradise, Strelitzia nicolai

Aloe 'Hercules', a hybrid between Aloe barberae (A. bainesii) and the Quiver Tree, Aloe dichotoma.

King Palm (2), Archontophoenix Cunninghamiana

Giant Yucca (2), Yucca guatemalensis

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Three down, three to go.

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Our first major landscaping is going in! The amazing team from Moon Valley Nursery, North Hollywood hustled these 24″ boxed / 30gal. plants into the back and planted for us (thankfully). Wags and I got to play supervisors, and adjust placement.

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Making a little more progress on the decking, stairs, and final grade. Planning to run electrical for the tub at the end of the week and fire it up for a test run. Landscaping coming after that!

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Grading and footings for the stairs from the upper deck to the lower, water in the tub to flatten out the liner, and primer on the deck framing! Our KAYU® Batu  lumber from Hardwood Decking Deals in Chatsworth came in and will get installed shortly. Starting on the cuts for the jets and plumbing in the tub as well.

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The Intaktics crew discussing the layout of the stairs, final grade, and other details. Our Alphonse Karr Bamboo in the foreground is starting to fill in pretty nicely. 

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There’s something uniquely calming and satisfying about sanding cedar. Smells nice too.

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Working on the floor insulation panels...

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Day two, after much sweating and some swearing, it’s time to sand the staves and finish the insulation.

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Tub stave assembly. It got steadily more difficult from here.

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Alex, owner of Intaktics, was kind enough to sacrifice a Saturday and come help me assemble the cedar plunge pool / hot tub kit we sourced from Great Northern Hot Tubs. Quite the undertaking...

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Picking up momentum now... deck framing coming along, garden wall done, small reclaimed railroad tie wall going in next to the Timber Bamboo.

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Slab and grade beams poured!