The Big House Renovation

Discussion in 'Home Improvement, DIY and Repair' started by Pianolady, May 10, 2012.

  1. waretrop

    waretrop Strong Ash Plants Contributor

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    You have a big task in ahead of you. Good luck.

    Barb in Pa.
     
  2. Pianolady

    Pianolady In Flower

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    Our retaining wall & garage footing contractor is coming on Monday! Yay!
     
  3. Pianolady

    Pianolady In Flower

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    Well our contractor is here today instead, but I'm not complaining about a day late. Hopefully I'll have something to show you by the end of the day.

    In the meantime, we worked on our covers for the wrought iron porch posts until 9pm last night. Got them built! Today I put a coat of primer on since it's supposed to rain later, but it's enough you can see what they'll look like when they are done.

    http://s898.photobucket.com/albums/ac183/007Pianolady/Home Improvements 2012/Porch/

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  4. CrisGzr

    CrisGzr In Flower

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    Oh my, I had to go make an iced coffee as soon as I saw that retaining wall! LOL It made me tired just imagining all that work!

    The columns look great!
     



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  5. Droopy

    Droopy Slug Slaughterer Plants Contributor

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    I agree, Cris. I'm so glad your contractor's on time Pl.
     
  6. Pianolady

    Pianolady In Flower

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    The deck railing system we wanted went on sale! So I picked it up and we put it into storage until we need it. We're going with black aluminum in hopes it will block the view less than a traditional wood rail. Now if Lowe's could get on the ball and put our decking on sale I'd be a happy camper!

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  7. Pianolady

    Pianolady In Flower

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    Phase 1 of our project is done...retaining wall & garage footings.

    Of course I still have work to do landscaping around the new retaining wall, but I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

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    We raised the garage footings several inches to match the height of our driveway. This will be nice when we pour a new slab & driveway someday.

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    Donna S likes this.
  8. cherylad

    cherylad Countess of Cute-ification Plants Contributor

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    Looks great... and looks like a good job to me. I bet you're so excited to see all your plans coming together.
     
  9. Pianolady

    Pianolady In Flower

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    My husband worked 8+ hours / day on the garage over the weekend. All the old siding and old sheathing is gone; the old window and door and all the framing is gone; new framing put up; new sheathing put on; most of the taping is done. The garage has actual walls!

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  10. Pianolady

    Pianolady In Flower

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    :eek: Our windows are in and are going to be installed Monday & Tuesday of next week. I can't believe they're already here!
     
  11. cherylad

    cherylad Countess of Cute-ification Plants Contributor

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    Things are moving right along over there! :smt045
     
  12. waretrop

    waretrop Strong Ash Plants Contributor

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    Oh very nice! Hard work certainly shows.

    Barb in Pa.
     
  13. Pianolady

    Pianolady In Flower

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    Windows Done

    Hurrah! Next step is finished, the 12 windows are installed and all the exterior window trim is wrapped in white. Now on to building the deck!

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  14. cherylad

    cherylad Countess of Cute-ification Plants Contributor

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    Wow... want a difference in your new windows! I'm sooooooo jealous. I would love to be able to put new windows in the house... it would save so much money and look good (in & out) too.
     
  15. Pianolady

    Pianolady In Flower

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    Painted Garage Doors

    We have to keep our current garage doors for a while since it's not in our budget for now. The bottoms of them are in terrible shape, de-laminating (mainly the one on the right). The vinyl siding guy said white would be best, but I don't think so. The light color would show every imperfection in the doors.

    So, I took my sample of my siding down to Menards and had them color match a gallon of paint for me. The dark color will hide the doors' imperfections, and I'll get a preview of what my siding color is going to look like. Even after one coat, it looks pretty good. Have to wait 4 hours to do the 2nd coat, so I had time to snap a pic. I'll need to paint the bottom seal of the left one to match the right one now that I see the picture. I had to paint the right seal to try and hide the fact parts of the door were downright missing, lol.

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