We enter the final stage of our Tiki bar sandbox / boardwalk renovation project, and I’m pleased to say things are right on schedule. Yesterday I finished trying to get the 2 X 4 frame flush with the patio and slightly lower than the brick surroundings. I succeeded in getting the frame nearly flush – or as flush as I could get it – with the patio, but couldn’t get the structure much lower than the bricks on the west (opposite) side. (In the end, after all is said and done, I think I might just rip up the surrounding bricks and re-mortar them after I’ve added a few inches of sand underneath to raise them above the deck, but that’s a consideration for another time.

After getting the frame laid exactly how I wanted it, I took the sand pile and shoveled in the areas between the frame and the brick, and around the Tiki bar frame so all the areas not covered by plank will have beach sand. Having the sand jammed in around the perimeter also serves as a great stabilizing force for the underlying frame.

In short, that sucka ain’t goin’ anywhere. 🙂

With the real heat scheduled to pour into the region next week we’ll be trying to get all the staining and weatherproofing of the planks completed this weekend. There’s a lot of wood, but with my sister-in-law Tam’s help I think we can do it. After that it’s just a matter of layin’ ’em down and screwing ’em to the frame. Throughout this effort Tam will be serving as my able-bodied assistant, providing not just another set of eyes and hands, but a continuous flow of club soda and grapefruit juice with a twist of lime.

The goal is to have everything ready by the 2nd of July, since I’m playing my next-to-last round of Arizona golf prior to Goodboys Invitational weekend on the 3rd, and then there’s the official ribbon-cutting and champagne toast ceremony scheduled for the 4th of July.