THE UGLY BEFORE

I know I've mentioned several times that we had some work done 

on our backyard and backporch this summer. 

On Monday, I'll finally show you the after pictures.

But first, I wanted to show you the ugly before pictures.

The first step of the process was having this massive sweet gum tree removed.

It was huge, messy and mostly dead inside.

That was done back in the Spring.

Next, our contractor brought in a bobcat to tear up all the old concrete 

that was practically covering the entire upper portion of the backyard. 

It took a few short hours for the backyard to start looking like this...

And this.....

During the bobcat adventures, there was a little run in with that basketball goal over there.

The backboard got shattered.  Oops.  Fortunately, our contractor replaced it. 

Next up on the demolition plan was to tear out these brick walls that surrounded the back porch.

That was no easy feat.  Apparently, this porch was built like a fortress.

Once the demo was finished, they started to put the porch back together. 

The old floor was concrete.  

A subfloor of 2x6s was put in place to hold the Timbertech that would be added later.  

The porch was also extended about four feet. 

The porch was extended out over the old stairs. 

New stairs were eventually added to lead to the patio.

The backyard was prepped for a paver patio.

See the shattered backboard?

What a mess!

 You know it has to get worse before it gets better, right?

Let me tell you, it was pretty bad for a while.

We all avoided the backyard like the plague. 

After a few months of dirt, dust and gravel, the backyard was finally finished.

Just like most of the other projects we have tackled around here, it was well worth the wait. 

I am excited to finally show you the "After" on Monday.

Hope you all have a great weekend. 

Thanks for stopping by this week and being so kind to leave comments. 

They really do make my day.