Let's See Your House Projects!

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

So when’s the pool party?

Gunite/shot-crete begins Wednesday, so probably October. You rolling?

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

Gunite/shot-crete begins Wednesday, so probably October. You rolling?

[MassWholeBimmer]

Between the 220v Sander and Vacuum system in the dining room for the re-finish, and the air nailer and compressor for the new flooring.. I can't hear a thing.. 😀.

Can anybody say pre-finished flooring !

[Watching The World Burn]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

Gunite/shot-crete begins Wednesday, so probably October. You rolling?

Always been interested in understanding construction related stuff - I'm not getting all the "plumbing" in the pit there? Why are there so many pipes running either along the side or in a lot of cases up through the proposed floor?

I presume they won't be there at the end, but what is their purpose? I don't know that I've ever checked come to think of it, but maybe pools have a floor drain, so I could see one, but there are so many?

And the sides - a lot of plumbing - are you having a water feature maybe - like a waterfall?

These are the things that interest me, because if I was building one (and I wouldn't without extensive googling lol), I'd clearly be doing it completely wrong with nowhere near enough plumbing!

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by Watching The World Burn

Always been interested in understanding construction related stuff - I'm not getting all the "plumbing" in the pit there? Why are there so many pipes running either along the side or in a lot of cases up through the proposed floor?

I presume they won't be there at the end, but what is their purpose? I don't know that I've ever checked come to think of it, but maybe pools have a floor drain, so I could see one, but there are so many?

And the sides - a lot of plumbing - are you having a water feature maybe - like a waterfall?

These are the things that interest me, because if I was building one (and I wouldn't without extensive googling lol), I'd clearly be doing it completely wrong with nowhere near enough plumbing!

Much of the plumbing you see is for the in-floor cleaners. I want to estimate there are around 20 to 24-ish cleaners going into the floors. This allows the pool to self clean (..by way of water jets pushing dirt and debris into suction areas). This essentially means no vacuuming of the pool is needed. It’s an expensive option, which is why you rarely see it on common pool builds.

The pool will also have a Fire and Water feature that measures 12’ wide, 4’ tall and 3’ deep. The water feature will be a 6’ shear - about 1’ below the top of the structure - and the fire feature will measure 8’ wide by 12” deep (…atop the structure; on the 2’ on either side of the fire feature will rest Desert Steel Artichoke Agave plants in low rise black planters). The wet deck will also be 12’ wide, 7’ in depth [from front to back], and 14-ish” deep.

The contractors arrived at 6am this morning to begin the gunite. I’ll post photographs later today.

[Watching The World Burn]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

Much of the plumbing you see is for the in-floor cleaners. I want to estimate there are around 20 to 24-ish cleaners going into the floors. This allows the pool to self clean (..by way of water jets pushing dirt and debris into suction areas). This essentially means no vacuuming of the pool is needed. It’s an expensive option, which is why you rarely see it on common pool builds.

The pool will also have a Fire and Water feature that measures 12’ wide, 4’ tall and 3’ deep. The water feature will be a 6’ shear - about 1’ below the top of the structure - and the fire feature will measure 8’ wide by 12” deep (…atop the structure; on the 2’ on either side of the fire feature will rest Desert Steel Artichoke Agave plants in low rise black planters). The wet deck will also be 12’ wide, 7’ in depth [from front to back], and 14-ish” deep.

The contractors arrived at 6am this morning to begin the gunite. I’ll post photographs later today.

Sounds like a sweet setup, I'll look forward to seeing the next set of pictures! And yes, I'd never heard of water jet cleaners, but that makes a lot of sense for why the plumbing is there and sounds like it really helps from a maintenance perspective!

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by Watching The World Burn

Sounds like a sweet setup, I'll look forward to seeing the next set of pictures! And yes, I'd never heard of water jet cleaners, but that makes a lot of sense for why the plumbing is there and sounds like it really helps from a maintenance perspective!

Here are some preliminary gunite pics. These guys work fast.

[MassWholeBimmer]

Very pleased with the results. 33 year old 2 1/4" red oak re-finished in the dining room. New 3 1/4" white oak installed in the family room. Both have clear, satin finish water based poly. I like the way the white oak came out better, as I have it in other rooms. But the red oak was in good shape.. crazy to replace it. Red oak had oil based poly which really darkened over the years. Nice to have a lighter wood.

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by MassWholeBimmer

Very pleased with the results. 33 year old 2 1/4" red oak re-finished in the dining room. New 3 1/4" white oak installed in the family room. Both have clear, satin finish water based poly. I like the way the white oak came out better, as I have it in other rooms. But the red oak was in good shape.. crazy to replace it. Red oak had oil based poly which really darkened over the years. Nice to have a lighter wood.

Those floors look amazing. Spectacular renovation job you did there.

[MassWholeBimmer]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

Those floors look amazing. Spectacular renovation job you did there.

Thank you. Yes, the old flooring was a glued down Bruce plywood veneer type flooring. Surprised I got 33 years out of it. But good riddance

[Sedan_Clan]

A gunite update. I’ll add some additional photos later today.

Added more pics….

[M-technik-3]

Originally Posted by MassWholeBimmer

Between the 220v Sander and Vacuum system in the dining room for the re-finish, and the air nailer and compressor for the new flooring.. I can't hear a thing.. ��.

Can anybody say pre-finished flooring !

Can't wait to see finished product. I figure I will have to redo mine in about 5 years. Edit: did not see the finished product. Looks great. I have 5" oak that needs to be done that is on my second floor was debating on replacing it with a Cork floor but my unwelcomed over stayed house guest has moved along to the next couch. So I'll refinish them.

[OC40]

We just renovated our second bathroom, powder room, hvac/laundry room and doors/trim.

This is the second bathroom. Second pic is a bit stretched as it was taken at 0.5x.

[Stockholmarn]

Garage project all but done. Complete with beer fridge, popcorn machine and sound system.

[MassWholeBimmer]

[QUOTE="M-technik-3;32337526"]Can't wait to see finished product. I figure I will have to redo mine in about 5 years. Edit: did not see the finished product. Looks great. I have 5" oak that needs to be done that is on my second floor was debating on replacing it with a Cork floor but my unwelcomed over stayed house guest has moved along to the next couch. So I'll refinish them.

Hey M-tech. See 7 or so posts above. That's the finished product. Moving the furniture back in tomorrow.

[vreihen16]

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

My DW was outside a few minutes ago sweeping our driveway when a pickup truck drove past. The driver backed up, stopped at the end of our driveway, and talked to her. He said that they are replacing someone's driveway in our neighborhood, and can offer her a great deal to do our driveway since their equipment is already nearby and they accidentally ordered too much asphalt for the other job.

In case you've never seen this, it is a classic scam that's been run all over the country for decades.

I pulled my security video of the truck, and looked up the company on the BBB web site. They have seven 5-star reviews...most in the past month...and the first one from early February. (We're in upstate NY, and the asphalt plants are all closed for the winter!) The whole BBB A+ rating and all of those glowing reviews in the past month make me think that they are pushing people to write positive BBB reviews in exchange for a better price.

Anyway, just posting a heads-up in case someone hasn't heard of this scam.....

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

My DW was outside a few minutes ago sweeping our driveway when a pickup truck drove past. The driver backed up, stopped at the end of our driveway, and talked to her. He said that they are replacing someone's driveway in our neighborhood, and can offer her a great deal to do our driveway since their equipment is already nearby and they accidentally ordered too much asphalt for the other job.

In case you've never seen this, it is a classic scam that's been run all over the country for decades.

I pulled my security video of the truck, and looked up the company on the BBB web site. They have seven 5-star reviews...most in the past month...and the first one from early February. (We're in upstate NY, and the asphalt plants are all closed for the winter!) The whole BBB A+ rating and all of those glowing reviews in the past month make me think that they are pushing people to write positive BBB reviews in exchange for a better price.

Anyway, just posting a heads-up in case someone hasn't heard of this scam.....

Curious what the scam is? Are they receiving payment/deposit up front and then skipping town without doing anything? I'd gladly take them up on it, but under the terms of payment upon completion and inspection of work.

I've done this as a patron numerous times. Neighbor is putting in a retaining wall, so I tell the excavator operator I'll give him a crisp Benjamin if he moseys over to knock over a couple trees for me. That kind of thing.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Curious what the scam is? Are they receiving payment/deposit up front and then skipping town without doing anything?

You can search the scam on the web.

It's a high-pressure sales pitch, because the asphalt is getting cold in the truck you know. Payment up front, and obviously no time to prep the existing driveway for new asphalt so the job turns out like crap even if there really is a truck of asphalt involved.

Personally, I would not trust ANY contractor that mis-calculates material for a job by sooooooo much that they can do another whole job with the leftovers.

Our driveway is broken up by the old roots of a 275 year old tree that I had cut down when we first bought the place, and re-capping it would only break up in a few months just like the existing asphalt. If I was going to re-pave the driveway, the job would start with a full-sized hoe to pull up the roots (and not a kiddie hoe that can be pulled behind an F150), followed with a gravel bed and then the asphalt. Knowing that our well is down-slope from the driveway, I would use concrete for the driveway and not asphalt to prevent the oil/tar from running off into the water supply.....

[Mech Spec]

I had a version of this happen to me.

Dude drives by with a truck full of driveway sealant. Says "we were doing another job and we have extra, we'll do your driveway for cheap"

Says $700, which I know is a good price because I had been quoted $900 from a reputable place before.

I was late to get it done and was truthfully being lazy and said sure lets go for it.

He prepped the driveway well, torched it and swept it, honestly did a great job sealing the driveway. And it was the petroleum based stuff, not the latex crap. It has held up very well since.

But here's the scam...

He comes to me after the job and says "I had to use more sealant than I thought so it's going to be 1200" At that moment I was in a bind, this dude was kinda sketchy, he was shaking me down and he knows where I live. I felt the best way to get him to leave and not have any further trouble was to pay.

So, I paid $300 more than the reputable place, because of my stupidity.

[vreihen16]

My DW went out to run an errand a little while ago, and saw a house nearby on the main road with a brand new driveway. I know zilch about laying asphalt, but judging by the poor seams and sloppy work with the roller I probably know more than whoever did that driveway job. We have no idea who did that job, but I suspect that they were yesterday's target of this company.....

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by Stockholmarn

Garage project all but done. Complete with beer fridge, popcorn machine and sound system.

That turned out really cool.

[jaffles]

6 years ago I retied out of the construction industry, been flopping around not doing much since.

For reasons I can't fully explain, I seemingly and willingly have found myself as an owner builder, owner everything now the kids are old enough to drive.

It all started with extending the shed. The quote was 30K, but I discovered I can do it for 8K finished and certified. So I bought the steel and duplicated the trusses along with the layout.


And this happened in 2.5 days. I have an enclosed end to do once the concrete slab is done. And yes that is part of the 8K.


So in that time of flopping around we paid a builder 35K to install a 9x9m insulated fly over roof. It was all part of a pool build so kind of had to happen in sync. We were happy enough.


But then I discovered $10,200 buys the 9x8 pre engineered product supplied with all that is necessary. So phase 2 is on me.



Phase 3 is all internal. There is a 6x9m gabled extension to the West I will manage contractors for. But internally I have 3 bathrooms make overs, remodel a kitchen and butlers pantry, couple bedrooms, robe, laundry, and fill in some roller doors with bricks. An an entry and new front door plus prep the floors. I could do the floors but that's a young mans game.

Now the daughter got her license and started driving. For the life of me I could not talk here out of it. A 2K car destined for the tip. Pannell beater/sprayer wanted 8k, so dad is it for $1500 while adding 17" wheels into the price. Best part was she was happy with it off the gun, so NO final rub and polish CA-CHING. You can see my new roof in the background.


But wait....in all the excitement. The son is getting his license soon, so an E92 330d M-Sport was bought. I liked it that much I bough an E93 of the same spec, for the wife you know. So now we have 2 BMWs with associated leaks that need attending. I am amassing parts to be head mechanic soon enough.

So I bought the 93 unseen (bar internet pics), unwashed, and drove it home 1000km. The young kid selling it was likable and I trusted him the paint work was good. But after 3 weeks of ownership and finally getting the time to wash it, maybe there was some spin on the paint work. So before I turn the paint booth into bedrooms the rush is on to paint one maybe two more cars.

So the new fun and the prototype made on the sons gaming consul, where else. Not sure I will get that gloss but hey its a 15 year old car worth 15k.


So sorry to drift into cars on a building thread but its all connected, and as you can see I am no longer flopping around. I have plenty on and plenty to guggling, but its all good fun.