Backyard Patio

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by ElKabong

My last post reminded me of something. We used a GC to redo our kitchen last summer. We needed him to do some work in a hall bathroom but he was in poor health, suggested his daughter do the job and guaranteed the Quality of work

The work his daughter did was top flight. Couldn't be better. She works oddly enough at home depot in the paint section. Talk about a waste of talent. I'd guess she makes more on the side, on her own. Like my wife learned diy from her dad, so did that young gal.

I will post some more pictures of the shit hole I am slowly fixing up. My house was built in 1981. I challenge anyone to show a house that has an example of ineptness in all the construction trades with not a thing done right. When I tore up the laundry room floor I thought "Holy crap the foundation is good."
As usual I spoke too soon. They used cinder block for the foundation footings, but they did not seal them. The cores were either left open or full of soil. Moisture wicked up, weeds invaded the bedroom, carpet molded, drywall molded and when the plumbing to the well failed so much moisture came in a corner section of the bdroom the sill board rotted out. The house is also below grade on one side with a negative grade angle away from the house helping more moisture get in.


My point is the various people that worked on this house probably have children and grand children in the construction trades around here, most all the construction trade bloodlines in this area are bad. I did call a plumber once as my old battered fat ass does not belong crawling down a well to pull up the line to change the pump. He sent a young helper down in the hole. Unfortunately when I was thinking of hiring out the job to re-plumb and rewire the well and run PEX through the attic he never returned my messages. I think he must have had been going through a divorce as his wife ran the office. I still see his truck around town and was more than nice to him and his helper as I tipped them lunch money.

[Inner Dirt]

Since this is the home improvement, golf and chess thread, I will ask a golf question. There aren't enough of any interest here in those 3 things to make separate threads. I can't even remember what my handicap was under the old rules. Or what the old rules were. Because of a good long game and terrible short one I was going to shoot high 70's low 80's no matter how hard, short or long the course was.


I rarely watch golf cause who wants to watch something you still wish you could play but can't and I never watch women's golf. The question is what tees do the professional ladies play from? Every place I played had only a lady's tee and up to 3 men's plus kid's tees. I would assume the pro men played off the back no matter how many there were, Where do the ladies play? What is the gap in average men's and lady's course lengths? I would figure pro woman don't play from regular lady's tees. I am sure a pro golf fan would know the answers.



Seeing an article from a crybaby man who wants to put on a skirt and play in pro women's tourneys had me thinking if there was a tee box advantage for a woman to make things fair? They appear to be kicking men out of women's golf tournaments. I never played in a foursome with a decent female golfer.

Most of them hit divots further than the balls.

[mountainman]

Looked at neighbor's stamped concrete patio and am now less decided on pavers. It looked great and according to him came some 40% cheaper than the estimate for paving stones.

But the contractor did tell him that all concrete surfaces eventually crack.

[JustRalph]

I have a guy coming tomorrow to give me a quote on putting an awning or maybe extending the roof line out in front of my covered patio.

This should be interesting.

I spent about 17k on new flooring this month. Got rid of all the carpet (upstairs and my master) about 15-1800 sq feet. Went with some imitation tough stuff flooring that looks like wood. Wife likes the grey/gray wood look. It’s a laminate vinyl kind of thing. Dogs can’t scratch it, they say.

Wood look tile downstairs. The heavy stuff. It’s not done yet….they will be back next week.

Spent about 5k to finish off a half ass attic space (200 sq feet) with drywall n paint. Another 2k for extra electrical run to it and a mini split. It’s now a 5th bedroom. Plus we have the complete mother in law suite. Total of 6 beds-5.5 baths

Been some year so far……

[xtb]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

I have a guy coming tomorrow to give me a quote on putting an awning or maybe extending the roof line out in front of my covered patio.

This should be interesting.

I spent about 17k on new flooring this month. Got rid of all the carpet (upstairs and my master) about 15-1800 sq feet. Went with some imitation tough stuff flooring that looks like wood. Wife likes the grey/gray wood look. It’s a laminate vinyl kind of thing. Dogs can’t scratch it, they say.

Wood look tile downstairs. The heavy stuff. It’s not done yet….they will be back next week.

Spent about 5k to finish off a half ass attic space (200 sq feet) with drywall n paint. Another 2k for extra electrical run to it and a mini split. It’s now a 5th bedroom. Plus we have the complete mother in law suite. Total of 6 beds-5.5 baths

Been some year so far……

That looks nice! Is it the interlocking or stick together vinyl planking? We want something scratch resistant with that look which would be good in a kitchen.

[mountainman]

I've got luxury vinyl in both the laundry room and finished basement. I watched some youtubes and learned that the better suff has thick padding, sturdy interlocking connectors, and an extremely scratch resistant surface.

The planks we put down literally CAN'T be scratched. Before purchasing, I tried to with knives, scissors, etc..and it remained impervious to marring.

It's the best flooring I have in the new house, better than my hardwood and better than my bathroom tile. We should have installed it throughout the entire place. For real.

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by xtb

That looks nice! Is it the interlocking or stick together vinyl planking? We want something scratch resistant with that look which would be good in a kitchen.

Interlocking. Tight as hell. Clicks together with a short whack of a rubber mallet. Amazing engineering.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

I have a guy coming tomorrow to give me a quote on putting an awning or maybe extending the roof line out in front of my covered patio.

This should be interesting.

I spent about 17k on new flooring this month. Got rid of all the carpet (upstairs and my master) about 15-1800 sq feet. Went with some imitation tough stuff flooring that looks like wood. Wife likes the grey/gray wood look. It’s a laminate vinyl kind of thing. Dogs can’t scratch it, they say.

Wood look tile downstairs. The heavy stuff. It’s not done yet….they will be back next week.

Spent about 5k to finish off a half ass attic space (200 sq feet) with drywall n paint. Another 2k for extra electrical run to it and a mini split. It’s now a 5th bedroom. Plus we have the complete mother in law suite. Total of 6 beds-5.5 baths

Been some year so far……

Originally Posted by JustRalph

Interlocking. Tight as hell. Clicks together with a short whack of a rubber mallet. Amazing engineering.

Got a brand name or any other info so I can look those up. Do the pieces come in varied lengths or are they making a bunch of cuts?

[JustRalph]

Back to the original thread …..

My patio cover was finished today. Took 2 days to build. Trimmed it out exactly like the rest of our house. 2 different color paints. Hardie board etc…for the interior ceiling that matches the rest of the patio interior. 6x6 posts and very nice metal roof with matching metal trim.

Good contractor great team of 2 guys working. They created a very nice truss style frame that was covered by the Hardie board on the underside and sank the posts deep.

Turned out much better than I thought. Already 5 deg difference on my patio…..which will come in handy this summer.

3rd of 3 big projects on our house in the last 30 days.

Built a bedroom out of a bonus attic room (16x12) added mini split to the new bedroom too.

Installed new flooring to replace carpet (no carpet left in the entire 4K sq feet house)

High quality vinyl composite upstairs (1200 sq feet) and very nice porcelain wood look tile downstairs (900 sq feet or so) in the bedroom and wardrobe/walk in closet.

Patio cover was phase 3. So glad it’s all over.