all this started about two years ago... i had a 50' wide 135' deep lot beside me i'd been trying to buy for years- but the owner wanted it to be attached to the lot behind me, so to provide the square footage required for septic of a 5 bedroom house (which no fool would build such a thing in my neighborhood). she finally sold it to a client of my wife's, and i immediately offered him... there is a utility easement between my lot and the lots behind, isolating the lot in question- making it useless for anyone other than me or the people adjacent me on the other side of the lot. Got it cheap ($10k) when the tax assessed value is $40k.
clearing it cost a small fortune.
grading it was tricky- too much for a power rake, too small a lot for heavy equipment... finally got it taken care of though... slapped a 30x28 steel building on it, that has a 12' steel awning running the 30' length of the back... on the corner of the awning covered section i'm building the bar, and just off of it (under what will have something akin to a pergola covering it) the cooking pit will be built.
right now i'm waiting for three things (i hate waiting)- one, the power company has to run their trench for the underground service that will go through the pass between the bar and the pit... no sense doing anything until that's done.. second, sodding... I put down 12 pallets over the weekend, and there are at least 7 more to go (selected bermuda due to the dog traffic- fairly tough stuff, and St. Augustine or zoisia isn't available right now- back to that june 9th thing again)... third: inspection.
at any rate, more in response to your comment @bwarbiany , the pit will be L shaped- the side parallel to the bar will have 2 (maybe 3) 4x4's fashioned the same as the bar's, and for serving. the lower counter between the server and the served will also be concrete (matching the bar)... the longer L will have a griddle (28" already landed still boxed) then the ecoque gen2, then a small stainless (3 burner) grill, then a sink, and then a propane burner for the massive ss pots used in low country boils or Brunswick stews. in the apex of the L will be an island with the same surface as the bar and serving area, but used like a butchers block. I plan on decorative/functional pebble ground with wooden walkways, which should allow for better drainage of the inevitable spills. the ground is a sandy loam to begin with and swallows water quickly.
between this and the two head kegorator i just landed, the beverage cooler i've yet to select (got it down to three choices, though), a full size fridge the neighbor gave me and a 55" 4k i plan on connecting via information gleaned from the 'cut the chord' conversation- i should have, after all the work is completed- a nice hang out...
i was going to do a built in grill, griddle, ect, until i saw the price of those things. i'm happy making it modular and able to be separated/swapped as needed- though tied together nicely.
Heh, this reminds me-- I will say that my tendency to procrastinate has finally paid off (in a small way, but paid off nonetheless, darnit!).
In our backyard we have a nice pool and spa (the kind where the waterfall goes over the spa ledge into the pool), a built-in natural gas fire pit adjacent to the pool, and a pretty large 30x12 covered patio with a built-in outdoor kitchen including a propane grill and refrigerator. We also have a dining set and a conversation set on the back patio.
We've lived in this house for 6 years, and I've always wanted to put in a TV on the back patio, but never wanted to run cable out there to do it. I have power from the ceiling in the perfect place to do it, but just never got around to overcoming the hassle of getting the television source worked out.
And now, 6 years later, wireless TVs are so ubiquitous that the solution has presented itself. I now have a 55" Samsung 4K smart wireless TV that I've attached to a wireless remote-controlled drop-down TV ceiling mount. Samsung supports the Spectrum TV app and it also has WatchESPN and pretty much anything else I need.
So yeah, take THAT, doers!
