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Garage door was installed 12/16 and have seen a huge improvement already. The color of the door doesn't look bad in this picture, but definitely not a fan in person. I am going to look into new window inserts and what type of paint I need for next year. Let it snow!!
It's just too close to the tone of the blue on the house to compliment it...I like the color of the house AND the door, just not together.
A wood faux finish could look awesome. That's what I had done at my old place and you couldn't tell it wasn't real wood.
Quick little update with more too come in the next couple weeks.
Patio finally got poured after a few delays! Found out my backyard was worse than I had expected before having the slab poured. It is flush on the east side of the yard and about 4-6 inches high on the west side. Patio size is about 17x34. Lots of room for entertaining and activities. Main thing I wanted was a small pool that wasn't on the grass, for the kiddo. We should have plenty of room for that plus our patio furniture and planters. Now the crappy part about the yard being so uneven, I might look into a landscaping crew to come spread dirt to try and make it so there isn't too much of a step if any without creating a significant slope right off the edges. I want to minimize tripping hazards as much as possible while enjoying it after dark. I am up for suggestions as well. (Thought about rope lighting) Not sure how well that would last with trimming and winters.
Tonight my metal shed will be removed from the property. Next week the back of the house and front porch will be finished and the home repairs will be complete. And the Monday after Mother's Day, my new shed will be built. All this just in time for Summer and warm weather to enjoy it all.
Once the concrete sets up, they will brush it and picture frame the edges. Once it hardens overnight, someone will come back and cut the joints.
You can always get the cheap solar lights on a stick you can put around the edges to illuminate after dark. Other option is to put a nice landscape border of mulch/rock, lights in that border to aid in issues with trimming. Not really going to be able to add steps if the drop is only 6".
Turned out great. Here it was last night after it was brushed and picture framed. Lines were cut this morning at 6:30. Will wash it off this afternoon and have finished photos tomorrow. Won't be able to set out furniture until Sunday due to colder temps here and cure time.
Siding will be taken care of next week
Was suppose to have the shed out last night. Was heavier than we had pictured it to be, so we removed the roof and will try to move it tonight. Was a lot lighter and should be able to lift up and over my 4' fence onto a trailer. After removing the plywood floor, they had written on the underside was 5/1/01, so I would assume the shed to be 22 years old. Explains why the tree roots jacked up the floor so bad! I am hoping the new shed can be placed where this one was, otherwise I may have to rotate it 90° which isn't ideal but would work out just fine. Can't wait for the new one!
Old shed went to its new home last night. Yard looks like trailer trash for the moment. Will get that cleaned up this evening after work. I may get some dirt delivered to fill in the hole that was under the shed or send a few pics to the new builder and see if I should leave it so they can put it as close to the ground as possible. Only thing that may prevent that is the tree roots that are exposed. Can't wait to get the landscaping done, it looks so bad!
Concrete guy came back to spray off the concrete dust from cutting the lines and left the hose on top afterwards. I got home work, saw that and went to roll it back up and noticed these marks that were left. I sure hope they disappear. I know there will be marks eventually but if these don't, I will be a little pissed off. I have a message out to him to let me know what can be done. Fingers crossed he will tell me they will be gone eventually.
Next project before the siding guys come back will be repairing a rotted rim joist that was under the patio door. It is in pretty rough shape and I am hoping that is the only thing that needs replacing but I think the sill plate may need to be done too.
Took advantage of the nice weather and tackled the rotted rim joist yesterday. Took about 4 hours between a couple breaks and lunch to finish it up. Hardest part was getting the new piece back in. Had to use the floor jack with a piece of wood to lift the new 8ft piece in place then hammer it home. Ended up cutting 45° angles on the corners to help lead it into place. A couple good wacks and it fell into place. I knew it was bad but them started poking and picking out the rot, it was a lot worse than expected.
This partly explains why they basement was kind of drafty and always super cold in the winter.
Tear out was pretty easy and straight forward.
Added a couple pieces to help support the old joists. Some of the bottoms started to rot and were soft so adding a few new pieces wouldn't hurt.
Looks a lot better!! Just needs some weather proofing and siding and you will never know it was replaced!
I may take off the siding to the left of the door, tomorrow, and inspect that portion of the rim joist just to see the condition of that. If it needs to be replaced I will do it one night this week. I hope where the deck was on the house doesn't need to be replaced.
Did you add more insulation behind that? Would have been a good opportunity to add some more fiberglass and/or spray foam back there to help with the drafts. Make sure you caulk the seams too if you like having a dry basement.
Well after one heck of a week dealing with the builders, the house is done and I hope to never have to deal with them again. My daily stops home for lunch have saved me a ton when it came to inspecting the shitty craftsmanship that was going on. I was being optimistic that maybe a new year led to better work.... Boy was I wrong, if anything it got worse. I don't know if I got the "D" squad and they were practicing their skills but damn, I could have done better with my eyes closed. I will let the pictures do the talking.
The siding was originally left short so I could have a new patio door installed then they would cut a straight line and put a piece of 6" trim around the door. The crew didn't even bother to trim it wider and tossed a 3" piece in and caulked the massive gaps. When I saw that I immediately called the owner and asked if he showed the crew what we had discussed and said they should have known what was going on, said someone will be there to talk to and hung up. I couldn't believe we are doing this again with the screw ups and piss poor customer service.
Look at this quality finish nailing!!! I asked the guy if I should go get my hammer to finish pounding those in.
The amount of caulk used was ridiculous and the lines aren't even smooth. To add to the excessive amount of caulk used, they dripped it all over my new patio. Now I have a few marks to clean up.
Went back to work for the afternoon and was told it would be fixed by the end of the day. Wasn't expecting much but this is what I came back to. Something acceptable and should have been done in the first place.
Just need to clean up the insulation that is hanging below the siding and paint the foundation wall. I will wait another couple weeks before I pressure wash the wall so the concrete can finish setting up. They say about 30 days is a complete cure time.
Finishing the front porch soffits this was uncovered. Explains the bees we had in the front when I would work in the flower beds. Thankfully nothing was in there but boy that could have been entertaining to watch!
Another day another fuck up... I wanted the beams wrapped to go from 4x4 to 6x6. Well I got 6x8 posts now. I can't make this shit up. Worst part is they caulk everything before I can even say it is ok. They just go ahead and do it. They said the posts were warped and the corners would line up. So instead of cutting one side 1/4" longer to cover up the "warp" they made them 2" longer. Seems like a good idea... On top of it the owner said he would have 3 new 8' 4x4's incase my old ones were warped.
Reason I wanted 6x6 was to put a railing back up. I had them put 2 white 6" pieces on the house where the railing would go but now with these larger rectangular posts I don't think I will put a railing up anymore. Still up in the air on it but if I don't I will need to paint the white pieces on the house to blend them in or rip them off and redo 12 pieces of siding. Posts don't look bad but not what I had originally planned for. Just creates more work for me now.
All finished and waiting for my plants to come in fully. Damn deer made it to a few before I could spray some deterrent on them.
The shed went up Friday, 5/19 and was hoping it was going to be problem free. It went up fine but luckily I was able to catch them before they put the roof on. They had it angled towards my neighbors house so I had them rotate it a little bit, about 15°, so it was parallel to the side of my house and re-level it. I asked why they had it placed like that, maybe due to the tree above, but one kid kind of laughed and said "oops, I guess we never paid attention to that" and moved it right away for me.
I had filled in the hole that was under the old shed so the roots to the tree were covered and helped try to level out the ground.
I will give my wife credit for telling me to rotate the shed so it opened towards the driveway instead of towards the backyard like the old one. The flow in and out is much gooder.
Paint will match the house, Cavern Steel sides with White trim.
The fence will be getting a new coat of paint hopefully this summer, because it looks like shit!
Will need to come up with some ideas to cover up void underneath to keep critters out and make it look nice.
Any ideas are welcome.
So far I have thought about:
-Retaining wall bricks
-Flower box
-Plywood with decorative stone
-Lattice fencing with chicken wire behind it.
Do I insulate and put up plywood walls?
Working out details for ramp into the shed. As of now the doors would need to be modified for a flush fitting ramp. I could put a ramp in just below the door and have a second piece hinged up when the doors are closed and flip it down when I need to get in so it is flush with the floor. Hopefully that makes sense.
Still need to hang yard tools on the walls and build some shelving up top. Would also like to cut in some vents. I thought about putting down a rubber mat/floor or caulk the floor seams to close up gaps. Plenty of room left over for an ATV in the future.
Needed some new hand tools, so I had to fill the tool box up with some more quality pieces. Next on my radar is the trimmer with all the attachments. My gas powered Stihl has been great but I will make the switch to battery and keep the Stihl for big jobs out at the hunting land. Walking into my buddies garage is like a showroom for Milwaukee Tools. Makes me want more and more.
Currently working on spreading 5yds of dirt to clean up the back yard construction. Hoping to have that done this week and seed planted to get grass growing. Next year will be nice when it grows in twice as thick.
Finally it is all coming together and the weather is warming up to enjoy all the hard work and frustration to get here. Baby #2 is a little over 2 months out so time to focus on another nursery, pink this time!
My vote is for chicken wire (buried a few inches below grade) to keep the critters out, wrap with retaining wall bricks to make it look level, backfill with dirt, plant some cool shit.
Thanks guys, been really trying to make it better and better every year. Drive my wife crazy
I'd like to roll, de-thatch, aerate and overseed this year but I may not get to that. I don't get to crazy into what type of grass I grow because that would require to much to full burn and start over. Just making this the best it can for what it is.
Mainly just cut twice a week, keep it around 3" long, bag clippings 90% of the time, always change the direction I mow each time and try to keep sharp blades so I don't tear the grass. Then I have it treated it 4 times a year thru my buddies company. Water in the evenings when we have dry streaks. Right now we haven't had rain, besides yesterday for a quick 2 hours, for about 10 days and nothing in the forecast for the next week. Water bill will take a hit to keep it from getting too crunchy.
I filled in and graded the yard as best I could around the patio, put seed down and covered to hold in moisture as much as possible. I will have to go back and fill low spots later. The rain we had yesterday compacted some areas more than others and I spread all the dirt I had. I will get more next month or see how it comes in and revisit it next year.
I need to thin the silver maple out to allow more sunlight to reach the ground. After spending some time doing that it looks really nice. If you stand under it and look up, the canopy is just a shell and the interior of the tree is hollow. It's pretty cool when cleaned out. Pretty time consuming but worth it in the end.
I do enjoy a nice looking lawn. Neighbor across the street from me tries to compete for the nicer yard. These were from last year.
It amazing what sharp blades do. I never would have though before 2 years ago. Mowing twice a week I end up doing mine 5-6 times a year now. I used to do them maybe once a season. You can tell you waited to long just cause the lawn gets a slight brown haze over it from the tearing vs cutting.
In ground irrigation ftw. If you could rent a trencher, you can install it yourself. It's not hard at all.
But if money is no object, the Irrigreen system is pretty cool. It only puts water where you want it (it adjusts the flow during the entire sweep to avoid obstacles, even stopping the flow entirely). But like I mentioned, money would have to be no object. The controller, wiring and a single head is $2k. Each additional head is $330.
The upside is you don't need as many heads. My entire system has 6 zones and ~20 heads. I would only need 6 heads with their system, and it would actually cover more ground.
In ground irrigation ftw. If you could rent a trencher, you can install it yourself. It's not hard at all.
But if money is no object, the Irrigreen system is pretty cool. It only puts water where you want it (it adjusts the flow during the entire sweep to avoid obstacles, even stopping the flow entirely). But like I mentioned, money would have to be no object. The controller, wiring and a single head is $2k. Each additional head is $330.
The upside is you don't need as many heads. My entire system has 6 zones and ~20 heads. I would only need 6 heads with their system, and it would actually cover more ground.
Would definitely like to do this on a budget, so DIY might be the way to go. I will look into it for next year to give me time to research and see what is out there. It would probably be a big wish item but who knows.
Does your water supplier charge sewage fees? If so, I'd strongly suggest a companion meter to avoid sewage charges for water that isn't going into the sewer. Not sure what the costs are there, but the county would be the one to install the meter itself, then it's up to you to run a supply from there to your backflow.
MN only charges sewer fees in the winter time because irrigation isn't running. I'm guessing WI is the same deal but check into it, you shouldn't need a second meter.
Water isn't too expensive here and I would have to look at the bill. My wife pays all the bills so I have no clue what is even listed on it.
The drought is winning. Running the sprinkler for a hour or two every evening doesn't seem to be doing much. Still looks better than some of the surrounding homes. Shaded areas are obviously holding up better than full sun spots.
Also did a thing this weekend. Picked up a ride for the hunting land. 05 Polaris Sportsman 500 H.O. w/ 1700 Miles. With having access to the whole area now since the others were kicked out, I needed something to drag deer out by myself. This should also make work out there a little easier this summer getting things built by hauling materials.
The wife wasn't too happy to see me roll up with it (left before she woke up to go pick it up and never told her about it) but slowly coming up with ways to use it around the house. We had talked about eventually getting one but not this soon. Saw this one for a good price, low miles, seemed maintained and doesn't really need anything other than a new headlight housing (mounting tab is broken). Also have the new shed that need something in it!
Not looking to do a ton to it. Maybe upgrade the lights to LED, add a Light bar and maybe put a pipe on it. The current exhaust looks pretty rusty and may need to be changed soon.
Next project is to get the Shed painted ASAP. I currently have a Carpenter Bee boring holes in the soffit to make a home. Hopefully the wasp spray into the holes last night took care of him. From what I have read about them is they bore into fresh wood that is unpainted and cause lots of structural issues. Thankfully its not something too damaging at this point but I will fill the hole, sand it and paint this week hopefully. Never even knew about these bees until this. They are huge and loud!
Haha the wife will come around. I once brought home a sport bike without giving her a heads-up. Years later we are still happily married, you will be fine!
and thats a great looking quad
I've toyed with the idea a side-by-side, but not having somewhere to store it, and rarely having a need for it rules it out for now.
Here in TX, we can get plates for them to be semi-street legal, only a few requirements & you'd go on roads with higher than 35mph limit (IIRC), but you can cross them. My dad uses his Mule to make runs to the dump & has to cross a 70mph road [very low traffic out there].
Yeah, we get issued a motorcycle sized license plate. I think it varies by county. My dad has had one on both of his Mules. He had to walk the clerk through it, as they'd never done one on his first one.
luckily communication and trust are not really big things in a lasting relationship.
I run my finances, she runs hers. I let her know what I'm doing but I definitely never ask for permission.
Water isn't too expensive here and I would have to look at the bill. My wife pays all the bills so I have no clue what is even listed on it.
The drought is winning. Running the sprinkler for a hour or two every evening doesn't seem to be doing much. Still looks better than some of the surrounding homes. Shaded areas are obviously holding up better than full sun spots.
Also did a thing this weekend. Picked up a ride for the hunting land. 05 Polaris Sportsman 500 H.O. w/ 1700 Miles. With having access to the whole area now since the others were kicked out, I needed something to drag deer out by myself. This should also make work out there a little easier this summer getting things built by hauling materials.
The wife wasn't too happy to see me roll up with it (left before she woke up to go pick it up and never told her about it) but slowly coming up with ways to use it around the house. We had talked about eventually getting one but not this soon. Saw this one for a good price, low miles, seemed maintained and doesn't really need anything other than a new headlight housing (mounting tab is broken). Also have the new shed that need something in it!
Not looking to do a ton to it. Maybe upgrade the lights to LED, add a Light bar and maybe put a pipe on it. The current exhaust looks pretty rusty and may need to be changed soon.
Next project is to get the Shed painted ASAP. I currently have a Carpenter Bee boring holes in the soffit to make a home. Hopefully the wasp spray into the holes last night took care of him. From what I have read about them is they bore into fresh wood that is unpainted and cause lots of structural issues. Thankfully its not something too damaging at this point but I will fill the hole, sand it and paint this week hopefully. Never even knew about these bees until this. They are huge and loud!
What are your temps already to be running the sprinkler that often for that long? We are mid to high 80s here and I have tall fescue and I am running it twice a week right now for about 2.5hrs with smart soak enabled on my controller. Doing it daily I would think might be causing the roots to not be that deep unless you are already having 95-100 degree temps.
12-20-2022 | 03:45 PM
