SoapZone Community Message Board

My contractor sent me an e-mail asking when my landscaper would be working on the patio. (I decided not to have them pour the concrete for the wrap around patio and hired my landscaper.) The e-mail went on to say that he was going to have his electrician do the work on the light switch replacements after the patio was installed.

I wrote back that the original plan was for the light switches to be done regardless of the timeline for the patio work. I told him to do the electrical work now so we can move along with the project. There is still more work to be done with their part of the remodel (replacement outlet/light switch covers, removing the wrong door that was installed and had to be replaced and is now leaning against a wall in the room, and the removal of debris from the remodel) and they need to get their work done sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, the landscaper had his concrete guy come over and look over the job and walk through the plan...then the concrete guy said that he'd like to get started sooner rather than later, even though the actual work doesn't start until Monday.

So, Wednesday, the electrician came to the house to change the switches, but he didn't know how to program the pico remote. Pico remotes are flat remotes that last about ten years and work with the new Lutron Caseta switches. One switch controls the lights on one half of the room and one switch controls the lights on the other half of the room. When I programmed the remotes (Thanks, YouTube.), I set the remote to control both switches so I can turn on/off/dim all the lights in the room at the same time! I have three remotes set up right now. We just haven't decided where to place them.

The landscaper and crew left around 4pm on Thursday and the landscaper said that they wouldn't be back until next Monday. When I checked the yard, I saw that there were HUGE gaps under the gates (about a foot or more) after the initial prep work. That won't work with the dogs, so I bought some twine, cut off a leftover piece of the webbing we used to block the dogs into the side yard (the piece was just wide enough to stretch all the way across the double wide gate), and started prying up 12" pavers to hold down the webbing, then tying the top of the webbing to the hinges on the double wide gate or to the decorative tops on the gates. That should keep the dogs in the yard on that side. I just leaned about five pavers against the walk through gate to keep the dogs from crawling under it if I have to lock them in the side yard. I'll have to undo all those blocking efforts when I open the double wide gate on Monday for the concrete work. I may move the dog kennel back into the side yard and use that to block the gate because that area is going to have some concrete work done, too.

This should get very interesting next week. The concrete has to set for 48 hours before the dogs can get near it.

Wish us luck.