What home improvement work did you do today?

Ran a 30 amp 120v outlet and a standard 15 amp 120v outlet where the camper pad will be poured in the next couple of weeks. In fact getting $19,100 in concrete work, they say you can't take it with you.

.........
Here is an example of our concrete guys work. This will be what the patio ($6700 of the $19k) will look like in a couple weeks. He had several choices of staining and stamping work but as soon as I saw this one I knew it was what I wanted. Had him send the photo to me so I could share with you guys. The patio now is pavers and weeds, stupid cracks and weeds, sick and tired.

 

So today was my third Saturday off since May, so I had time to work on the house. Today’s projects was clean out underneath the “Catio” and make it usable storage space. Tomorrow I’ll beautify it with some lattice, which was also why I painted all of the plywood black. It came out pretty nice. And it was so damn hot I sweat through two different shirts.

Before:


Some of the wood that was underneath it:



I was hoping it would be solid concrete underneath. No luck.


After I cleaned out some old roofing tile and a tarp:


I didn't like that there wasn't any support between the corners, 8 feet apart. So I cut a 2x4 I found underneath and added it. That ended up working out in my favor.


Cleaned out (sort of) and ready for work after a Home Depot run.


Picked up some 3/4" plywood, some black paint and the last can of Plasti-Dip. I sprayed the backside with Plasti-Dip for weather and insect reasons.


Painted the front side with just paint.


Walkway side. Had to make it out of two pieces, which is where the extra leg I added earlier helped out.


Added yet another leg right under the door. Can barely tell there's a piece of plywood on the right side.



Left side is a door with a latch to easily access whatever is under there i.e. folding table, folding chairs, seasonal decorations. It opened without a problem. The concrete isn't level, it has a peak at the expansion joint. More pics tomorrow.

 

catio, nice. We of course call ours the "cat house". We split the covered front porch in half with a stud wall and closed in with white lattice and a storm door, added a cat flap and moved the litter pan and cat tree outside

 

I’m on the final stages of finishing my equestrian project. I have the footings, railings and gates completed for both the covered and open arenas. The barn is about 95% complete now.










The horse walker was installed and put together yesterday. They typically install them in one day.

 

Damn fine work. I'd live in it, and if the client is pretty I'd even put a saddle on and let her ride me!

 

Woah!

 

I only "woah" if you pull on my reins.

Just sayin' that barn is nice enough to live in! And you know you giggled at that.

 

LOL. Short rides are ok, as long as there's a lot of them and not a lot of time in between.

 

Installed the lattice and made a storage dolly today.

















My girlfriend is a teacher and she'll be teaching from home until October at least, so she wanted a desk for outside when she wants to teach from there. I didn't want it taking up more room in the garage or the shed and I wanted to keep more folding chairs where they are easily accessible.

 

Dug a 110’ trench for new drainage for the sump. Found a sneaky snake where I was about to dig and moved him to a safe spot across the yard.

 

How about a metal roof? I'm thinking about this for my next one. A green one would look nice with the color of your house.

 

Sheet metal roof for longevity. Little to no maintenance, paint it however you want it.

 

You can likely find a color that is very close to the color of the current paint. Home depot .com has lots of options. Could you do corrugated clear vinyl roofing? Would be pretty much see though if you wash it now and then.

 

My wife went into turbo mode with home reno ideas... I got her to settle on just updating hardware and counters in the kid's and guest bathrooms. Got the Jack and Jill bathroom done today.

Old counters and faucets


New stuff


I have a 49" vanity top for the hallway bathroom that needs to be cut down to 41", but should be a pretty quick job. And I need to figure out shower faucet hardware since the valves are a pain in the ass to get to. New faucets are Delta, shower hardware is Moen. Gonna go back and see if we can find a Moen set that's close enough to the Delta, and then hope the cartridges are the same 15 years later...

 

How big of an area you doing for $6700?

 

20x30ish, it's a ton of labor. Our concrete guy, a first Gen Mexican whose oldest is going to Clemson so I liked him already, warned us it's almost double what just pouring concrete and brushing would run.

 

that's for the stamped/patterned concrete, right? It should be a higher bump to the equity too. It's so much more appealing.

 

75" Samsung Frame TV but I forgot to get any pics of the thing off when it is "Art"!?

 

Thats amazing!!

 

You have an absolutely gorgeous house and setting. Where part of the country are you located in?

 

Motor Home Improvement: Wired up the inverter to run the TV and DVD player .... no generator needed now for watching movies when the wind goes crazy during desert season..... it gets nuts out there sometimes.

 

Got the hallway bath done today


I also had good luck with the Moen shower faucet kit and didn't have to change out the valves, just swapped to the new cartridge. Cleaned up the inside of the valve beforehand and everything is working nice and smooth.

 

yes and YES!

 

Have you ever considered a Polycarbonate Clear Multiwall Roof Panel roof? This would be more cost affective, fast on installation and allow sun to come through and still keep the rain out. Just a thought. The one issue you can face with a traditional roof is you have what appear to be 2”x2” cedar spaced ever 4” & be 24” on center. At least thats what it looks like from the photo. I wouldn’t recommend installing a metal roof directly to the cedar without installing decking. I have other ideas but they do involve more cost and steps to get done.

 

Where's my room?

 

Good Lord, I've never even heard of a Polycarbonate Clear Multiwall Roof Panel! Can we get an "Ask 1Upper" thread going so this stuff is easier to find?