Home Improvement

“Gonna have some immigrant workers lay me a nice brick patio in a couple of weeks. Hollandstone, color granite. Size 30'x10' with a corner wall 5'x5' long, 32inches high so I have a place to set my beer down when I am grillin'.”

“Sounds nice. A nice brick/stone patio is on our long-range list. Do you have a nice big stainless steel grill yet?

We're getting a bunch of work done on our place in June. Patching the roof, securing the chimney, new gutters and related covering on the facia/soffit, converting our two single doors on the garage to one big door. I can't get our popup into the garage easily with the small doors. Next year we're getting new siding.”

“....so I have a place to set my beer down when I am grillin'.”
Wolfeyes
11:20:32 AM
5/02/06

Wolfie is just so dreamy!
What a woman! ;-)
One of these days I'm going to meet her.”

“No grill yet, no. No patio furniture yet, either. Unfortunately, all that will have to wait awhile since the cost of the patio was a couple grand plus. In the meantime, I have Crazy Creek chairs and my MSR pocket rocket that will have to do.”

“Perfect for a backpacker! (grin) Does your partner backpack?”

“No, she doesn't. I haven't lately, either. Between work and a couple of injuries, I am not sure when I can get back out. I have been doing dayhikes, though. Me and the dog.
last edited: 5/02/06 12:43:04 PM”

“Gonna have some immigrant workers lay me a nice brick patio in a couple of weeks.


But, are they illegal immigrant workers? That's the real story here!”

“LOL! I guess I am not concerned with that since I have no way of knowing for sure...as long as they do a fine job of laying brick and making a wall, I guess I don't care one way or another. (from what the estimator told me, there are only 2 people that fall into the category of "immigrant"; the rest are full blooded "honey-dos".”

“It's finally in, and I am really enjoying it. They did a great job.

Before - http://community.webshots.com/photo/107430503/2596918690039423521ACseeC

After - http://community.webshots.com/photo/107430503/2550515290039423521kOQbQG

After again - http://community.webshots.com/photo/107430503/2818899110039423521kSJLIK”

“WOW..that is cool.”

“That looks awesome! Now, when is the patio warming party?”

“Well, the patio warming party won't be for awhile since I will be sans family for a week while they play at the lake and I work...since it was all my idea, I got selected to pay for it.”

“lol, poor you. Holler if you need to have a beer after work this weekend.”

“LOL! Will do, however, need to do "light" beer since my weight has sky rocketed.”

“Very nice. When can you come do that at my place? Enjoy!”

“was that brand new sod they ripped up to put that in? i felt so guilty ripping mine up to put in landscaping right after they laid it

looks great...i love the tumbled pavers”

“Techntrek, I did not put that patio in. LOL! I hired a brick company to do it. Only one guy spoke English. I thought about doing it myself but there is clay underneath that sod. The first thing they did was take 7 inches of sod/clay out. When they did that, I just said to myself, "I am pretty sure I would not have done that." Then they hauled gravel to put in the space, and I was pretty sure I would not have done that, either. They used one of those camera looking things to take measurements, and again, I would not have done that. SO, it was a good thing I hired someone to do it so it was done right and with a lifetime warranty at that. I would have taken up some sod, got pissed off, and just laid the brick on top of the sod, sprayed Roundup all over the place, and called it a day.”

“No, it was not brand new sod. It looked nice but it was so low there it was a swamp all the time. I hated it. I love being outside and I am not a "sit in the driveway" kinda person so a patio was in order...much cheaper than a deck, too, I might add. Less maintenance also.”

“LOL, interesting building method. Lay brick. Spray Roundup. Definitely a good time to call in a pro. Can't wait to do the same for us, but there are other things higher on my to-do list, like new siding/gutters/facia/etc etc etc.”

“I need to post to this thread this weekend. I forgot to take pictures before we started, but I am totally re-landscaping my front yard. Old evergreen bushes are all gone and I have removed all the old sod. This weekend I will be renting first a tiller to chop up all the soil, then the sprinkler system will go in.”

“That looks awesome, we.

Building a small deck and stone path in my backyard is one of the best things I did. I just wish I would have done it sooner cause I won't be here to enjoy it this summer (fingers crossed...).”

“and where are "we" going this summer?”

“WOW! It looked great before you did it! Looks excellent now; where did you get the idea?”

“Hey, Graska! Howzit over there?

I drew up the idea several different ways, and since no fences allowed, I cheated and came up with the corner wall that gives the view from the street not much view at all, and us a sense of privacy. It is also where the firepit is going, right in the corner. The corner will help to prevent ambers on the grass. Unfortunately, there are no HGTV specials or monthly magazines on manufactured homes, that I know of. Kinda gotta wing ideas around yourself and hope for the best.”

“sweeeeeet set up wolfie! Cant wait to break in with some beers with ya. How bout you come do mine.

as an aside how do I post pics from my webshots album, i tried in the kids thread and couldnt.”

“nice work wolfeyes! I'm stripping wallpaper on my day off here.... fun stuff, but it's the last wallpaper left in my house.

Wallpaper-free, finally!”

“very nice. I want to redo our patio. It's old and all jacked up.”

“bear, Congrats...I HATE WALLPAPER (LOL)....what ya puting up in its place?”

“i thought you just paint over it and forget it was there”

“LOL....we stripped the wallpaper off the 1/2 bath in the hallway when we moved in ...that was 1993.....”

“currahee - old and jacked up?

”

“Last weekend I put in a 10'x20' subfloor over concrete at Jennifer's place. The best part was getting to shoot nails into the concrete with a .27 cal. hand gun : )”

“And just a note if you ever do this, you probably won't need the heavy loads. I shot a nail through the board and about an inch into the concrete. Yikes!”

“Is it legal to hunt deer with?”

“You could probably kill a deer with it but since it has a pressure trigger on the muzzle, you'd have to press the damn thing against the deer to get it to go off lol.”

“NOW THATS WHAT I CALL STEALTH!”

“...you'd have to press the damn thing against the deer to get it to go off lol.

or just hold your finger over the end ;)”

“I got so bored after switching to the midnight shift that I've built a bunch of things. First was a garden tractor shed built out of fieldstone. Then a 10' (my 3rd) long workbench. An pine armoire for my hiking gear. A pine (roll/around) microwave cart with double cab & drawer. Pine paneled my porch. A few bookshelves. Now I'm building a 15x15' patio pavilion pyramid roof. (pyramid roofs are a pain-lot of compound cuts)Hope to add an outdoor fireplace/BBQ to one wall if I can get the fieldstone off my daughters property before her husband's uncle begins excavating their property.”

“Been working on my house if anyone has noticed I have not been posting as much.
Making somereal progress.
Got a new basement wall, completely redid the living room wall, added a new backdoor, two big new windows, tore the damaged chimney down, fixed the big hole in the roof where the chimney was.
The sheetrock is up but still needs to be floated out and painted.
My deck is next on the list. I'm going to turn it into a screened porch.
Lots of water stains still to be fixed and no floor coverings yet.
My Dad and I did most of the work.
No outside contractors yet.”

“Keep it up Stovester!

Saw on the news last night that the Gulf Coast got a bit chilled over night.”

“Thanks Roam!

Let's see if I can get webshots to work.....


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“Very nice. I have put off all the basement work I need to do until after the holidays. I hate starting projects, then leaving them for weeks, then starting them back up.

I will get some of the prep work done before, then start after the New Year.”

“Looks nice!”

“Very cool, looking good.
I'm glad you are on your way back to normal.”

“Thank you all so much! Lot's of hard work went into those repairs.

I'll have lots of 9' wide Tyvek left over if anyone needs a bit later. ;-)”

“

"I'm glad you are on your way back to normal."

Hmm. His house, maybe, but has he ever been normal?

LOL.”

“Well...um...never.

I was wondering if anyone would comment on the Tyvek. lol!

Looking at the photos reminded me of when my dad retired from the Navy. Dad wanted to build his own house but when he retired the house wasn't done yet. The roof was on the the outside had siding but the interior was raw studs. So mom and dad stayed in the small travel trailer out back and my brother and I slept in the half finished house. I remember climbing up an extension ladder to go to bed. Mom made up pull the ladder upstairs with us at night.
last edited: 11/20/06 12:08:00 PM”

“Hey Babelicious, did you notice the Maine Maple Syrup containers on the kitchen window sill that some very sweet person sent me? :-)”

“Any plans on replacing the chimney eventually so you can use your fireplace again?”

“Kick butt! and now which government program bailed you out? (LOL) looks fantastic dude.”