Growing Memories
The brick layer wrapped up today. We are really pleased with how the brick came out. The brick has a lot of character and the keystones above the windows and doors added a nice touch. We really struggled with picking a brick, mostly due to its cost and permanence, but it has turned out great. This was an expensive upgrade, but it fit in perfectly with our target of low maintenance and energy efficient.
Mudding is in full swing. Frank the Tank has completed his signature ceiling texture on the main floor and will be moving to the basement next.
The driveway was poured today. This will be a two-part pour, with the largest pour happening today. We got a half inch of rain last night, but it soaked in pretty quick so it was still a go. The concrete is 6″ thick with 47B aggregate and rebar reinforced. This is the same high-strength concrete used on roadways and is rated at 4000 psi.
The plumbers came today and hooked up the water softener. We went with a Fleck 5600 SXT 48,000 grain softener. Fleck is not a well-known brand, but they are a fraction of the cost of a Culligan or Kinetico system.
We knew that the water in this area was hard, so before we settled on this softener we got a water test from Servi-Tech Laboratories out of Hastings. The hardness test came back at 16 grains per gallon. We used this calculator to determine that a 40,000-48,000 grain softener would be optimal for our conditions.
