On May 10, 1869 a truly remarkable feat was
completed. The Central Pacific Railroad
from the West met with the Union Pacific Railroad from the east at Promontory
Point, Utah. And it was here that The
Last Spike was driven to complete the transcontinental railroad. It was a project that spanned 1,912
miles and took 6 years to complete.
Without the benefit of a computer, iPhone, GPS or even a calculator, they
managed to start on opposite sides of the country and align their respective
rails up perfectly to form a continuous railway across this country. Nice job, Old Timey America.
 |
| Driving of The Last Spike (show offs). |
As pointed out in the previous post, my home builder and the pool builder could not align the pool surface with the patio surface despite access to every modern technology – including plain ol’ eyeballs.
 |
| Coping (left) is 3/4" proud of the patio. |
The pool contract we signed states the pool would be flush with the patio
so I wasted no time getting the builders together to see how they might come up
with their own version of The Last Spike.
And I am glad to say the solution was a fine one, indeed.
Both party's were at fault:
1) The pool was too high. The pool
builder was quick to point out the patio foundation was not level, but at no
point along the entire span was the pool coping even with the patio. 2) The
patio was crowned (like a road). Even
if the pool was perfectly flush with the patio in the center as you moved
outward toward the ends of the pool there would be a growing ledge at the
pool. The proposed solution was to cap
the outdoor patio with tile. This would
allow the stone workers to use grout to build up the surface and make it flush
with the pool coping.
At first, we were
not crazy about tiling the patio since we really like the polished concrete
look, but Bert was able to locate some large slate-colored tiles that matched the style of the house.
The tiles are 2 ft by 4 ft and work great in the space. The crew got to work right away levelling the
concrete and then placing the tile the full length of the house. They also tiled the step risers and the lower
patio that is away from the pool. It turned
out great - see for yourself:
 |
| Here is the 2' x 4' tile we chose to cover the patio. |
 |
| Work in Progress... |
 |
| We're happy with the tile wrapping down the steps. |
 |
| The final result. |
Thanks for reading.
