Now that the area is cleared and the other projects have been completed, I can go back to the original project of making a flat, clean surface on my patio. If you’ve read my previous blog (Phase 1), then you know I started off with demolition of a brick fixture that took up space in our patio. Over the weeks, I would chip away at it to make it easier to pour new concrete.
Every time I looked out and saw the project, I thought to myself “I can do it… there’s not much left…I just need to do a couple more swings…”. When I would actually go out there and start swinging the sledge hammer I found that after 30 minutes or so I was covered in sweat and dirt with only a few pieces that have broken off from what remains. It was pretty discouraging especially since I was able to complete other projects in 1 or 2 days (see Phase 2 and 3). With that said, I bit the bullet and decided to hire out a contractor to complete this job for me. I did some searching through craigslist and found a few people that could do it. After getting a few quotes we decided to go with JTEX Construction. They’re a small mom and pop shop that seem to do really good work and the price was fair. The first day, they completed the demo and prepped the area. Joe said that the cement block the demo’d was 14 inches thick! No wonder I wasn’t making any progress!
The second day, they came in and laid the re-bar and poured out the cement. So in a matter of 2 days, the entire project was done! I don’t get the benefit of saying that it was my handy work, but I do get to finally enjoy the fact that the project is completed (and done right).
Lesson: Don’t be scared to take on a home project yourself but don’t be prideful if it’s over your head. Hire a pro to complete it. If I remained stubborn, I probably would still be working on this project till we moved out of the house and if it did get completed, it would definitely not look as nice.
Sajan Abraham 
nice.
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