A productive weekend!

We didn't get our Certificate of Completion for our septic, as it failed the final inspection because "Mantle must be extended to 15m, 0.25m thick at 15m". Personally I do not understand how we could have failed the final for this reason when we got a temporary use permit almost a year ago. Anyway, enough whinging...

A load of sand was delivered on Thursday and spread out on Friday. That should take care of the missing mantle. (And I thought it was Mr. Peacock in the Library with the Rope....)

Hopefully we will be able to get the septic completion certificate now. I hope the septic inspector doesn't want topsoil on top of this sand! He seems to be a real stickler for details so I guess it is a possibility.
Today, Jason came and fixed up the grading on the north side of the house. The inspector didn't like the grading on that side, by the window wells and a few hollows by the side of the garage and beside the air conditioner.

Once I get those other hollows taken care of, we can finally get our final inspection!

Deck is now complete! Yaayyyy!!!
Our goal this weekend was to complete the big deck. The only outstanding item was the stairs since we put the wire mesh (hardware cloth) and lattice on last weekend.

Last weekend, I had cut out the stringers. This weekend, I dug out the dirt and placed some clear stone under the stringers for better drainage. Then I installed the stringers, the treads, and some skirting to dress it up.

The stairs are about 13 feet wide. The building code requires stringers every 3 feet, but I put in 7 stringers, which is just over 2' between each stringer. Yes, the entire deck is somewhat overbuilt, but it is very sturdy!
This photo shows the final finishing details of the skirting at the end of the stairs. This was a bit of finicky work, but it makes it look "Pro-Fesh-un-ul".

Not just sturdy, but very nice to look at too!