Year: 2012

Another incremental day. I’m pleased to say that you can’t really tell that the screening has all been installed 🙂

You *can* see the chair rails and the doors are now all fully operational.

This first shot below is still waiting for the Lexan covering for the roof. This small part will not be screened so that I can (finally) bar-b-que unmolested by the rain.

The screen on the roof is a heavier grade than that used for the sides so it is more visible (the oblique angle doesn’t hurt either). It can support real weight. I think we can do up to 6 inches of snow should it ever come to that.

The pool heater with auxiliary filter and booster pump were hooked up

and here we have the beginnings of our control center for the pool.  Top is the Jandy controller, below that the Aqualink controller (controls EVERYTHING and can be accessed via iPad, Android and web interface). Below that is the hydraulic pump that will power the Fastlane.

This picture below was taken as a “before” picture to highlight the ceiling fans that we will be replacing with…

this nice fan we found on Amazon (Minka Aire F574-ORB Concept II Wet Bronze Outdoor Flush Mount 52" Ceiling Fan w Light & Ctrl).

2012 Home Renovations – Part 27 – Framework for Lanai is largely done

2012 Home Renovations – Part 29 – Driveway Demolition, New Door, Window Gone

Things have been a bit busy around here lately so I’m combing the beginning and end of the day pictures this time.

Yesterday they DC Enclosures guys were here and they erected the bulk of the skeleton of the new lanai

Shortly after the above pictures were taken I got together with all the major parties: DC Enclosures – acting as contractor – and the Electrician and the Pool Guy and we discussed where we needed to get to from here. Tons of decisions needed to be made that I would ordinarily take perhaps days to think about.  It’s possible to change some of the items that were agreed upon, it just becomes either pricey or disruptive to do so the further into the project you go as all parts have dependencies on the other parts it seems.

We agreed to create a walled corner in the shed to house some of the equipment and the control panels and electrical sub panel. Originally we were going to have the new electrical sub panel on the side of the house (near where the air conditioner condenser used to be) but when we got up to needing to pull about 25+ wire pairs through the piping that we’d laid down (plus needing numerous safety disconnects for the pool equipment) it made more sense to just wholesale feed all the electricity to the shed and then parse it out from there.

Also, it turns out that the receiving and return pipes for the pool (white pipes in the background below) need to be rerouted since the inputs to the heater are on the near side of the unit instead of the far side as was originally thought. The maintenance panel on that unit needs to be easily accessible and it either needed to be turned around as it is now or jutting out into the walk way. Fortunately we had left the wooden retaining wall unfinished and the top few beams are not even attached to accommodate such eventualities.

Also, lighting was discussed. The pool lights are going to be controlled by the iLink system which will also control the heater, booster pump, salt system and filter. The main lights will be controlled by a new bank of switches which will be mounted inside the laundry room.

Overall we will have:

• lights at each of the 3 screen doors to the Lanai,
• a pair of sconce lights gracing the two columns supporting the old patio roof,
• 4 more sconce lights around the perimeter of the lanai to provide accent lighting around deck,
• a couple of spot lights at the peak of the gable over the old patio roof to provide working light on the deck,
• another pair of spot lights at the peak of the lanai roof overlooking the rest of the back yard,
• some new spot lights for illuminating the bar-b-que area and
• a replacement set for lighting up the rest of the back yard behind the gym.

A LOT of lights to think about…

Anyway, when the guys left a LOT of the infrastructure work and planning had been completed and it looked like this

2012 Home Renovations – Part 26 – Lanai parts have arrived

2012 Home Renovations – Part 28 – Screening of Lanai Done

A bit earlier than expected (almost always a good thing in construction) was this trailer load of pieces that will eventually make up our lanai.

There was a fair amount of relatively invisible work done installing the anchors around the deck and on the retaining wall. The most visible piece is the large support that will hold up the two separate peaked portions of the lanai.

You can see it here upper right (big dark brown – bronze – beam over the ladder)

and here upper left

But it’s best seen in overvier

As a reminder, the finished lanai is supposed to look like this from the outside

and like this from the inside

2012 Home Renovations – Part 25 – Rock Face completed

2012 Home Renovations – Part 27 – Framework for Lanai is largely done

It was hit or miss today, the original forecast for today had been 10% POP but, as can be attested to by my rained out bike ride, mother nature does not watch the weather reports. So some workmen showed up today, milled around a bit and then left. Some of the other guys came by to pull hay bundles across the foot of the driveway to ensure dirt does not get pushed out into the roadway by any pop up storms.

But the afternoon was largely rain free so the crew from Daco Stone showed up and finished the wall(s).

We were toying with having the back face of the wall by our boulder wall covered too but thought better of it and settled for a smoothing coat of mortar to give it a more refined look than the native industrial concrete

We also had the portion of the driveway retaining wall rock faced just to be consistent with the stamped concrete patio area that we now have as a “Cap” for the driveway.

Walking around the wall from the shed:

And overall…

Michelle is very happy with the look!

The way is now clear for them to come in and install the lanai. This should begin in a couple of days weather permitting.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 24 – Rock Face on retaining walls has begun

2012 Home Renovations – Part 26 – Lanai parts have arrived

 

Michelle was concerned about the colors of the stones that arrived from Daco Stone. The sample board we were using to drive the decision was only about 15″ x 19″ of stone and, while it largely represented what we actually received, the darkest stones were represented as no more than a couple of inch high sliver on the sample. So there was some great back and forth before we were able to move forward with the install. I think most of the last minute stuff could have been avoided had the guy from Daco been more responsive to Michelle’s earlier email and phone calls from the earlier in the week.

Anyway, work has begun and will likely only need one more day to complete.

Part of such a large project – for us neophytes at least, is that there are a LOT of things that are taken for granted by the builders. i.e. the “normal” way of doing things or expected results when you make a selection.

One of the things that we absolutely did not know was that you would need to specify that “capstone” meant a solid single piece across the top of the wall if that is what you want. It turns out that having a capstone built out of smaller pieces looks fine, but I was surprised nonetheless since it was never discussed and my and Michelle’s assumptions had been that it would be solid.

At the end of the day here is what things looked like

Note also in the picture above that our pool heater has arrived. There are also some other boxes that you can’t see behind this that speak to the impending completion of the project!

2012 Home Renovations – Part 23 – Columns continue and Rock Face Stones have arrived

2012 Home Renovations – Part 25 – Rock Face completed

 

I submitted a couple more checks that bring this project to about $115,000 so far.  The original cost was expected to be in about the $140,000 range. We’ll see.

Workers were at my place all day today but what was accomplished does not jump out at you.

There was progress on the columns but there is still much to be done. You can see that the outer layer is complete on 3 of the 4 columns, crown molding is in process on all of these

Looking at the end of the retaining wall, in the center of the below picture you can see one of the anchors for the lanai is now in place. It looks dark brown to me, but I’m told it is “bronze” by those who know better.

And replacement vinyl siding has been installed where the flower beds used to be. It looks more green in this picture than in real life but the match is very good considering we’re trying to match to 15-20 year old existing siding.

I think the most exciting news is that the rock face stone and supplies were delivered today. Tomorrow and Saturday the stone will be installed, making way for the lanai to be constructed next week. Michelle wants to root through the boxes to ensure that the stones are all pleasing colors.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 22 – New Columns and Tile Sawing

2012 Home Renovations – Part 24 – Rock Face on retaining walls has begun

As expected, things came to pretty much a crawl while decisions regarding rock faces and colors were being made.

Three days ago new columns were installed to replace the multitude of makeshift supports

The next day they came and finished sawing the existing tiles so they were even. They had originally been cut and notched to accommodate the former lanai wall plus some had been damaged in the demolition.

and they repaired and reinforced the cross beam that will eventually top the new screening (whitish in the center of this picture)

Then they came back and began covering the rough columns with a more finished wood

In a couple of days I am expecting them to start rock facing the pool retaining wall. I think this will take about a day to a day and a half. After that the lanai install can begin.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 21 – The Boulders are installed

2012 Home Renovations – Part 23 – Columns continue and Rock Face Stones have arrived

 

 

With the exception of a couple of half cap stones, the modular retaining wall is complete.

Once the rock face in the back is complete (and possibly the Lanai too) we’ll move forward with pulling out the remainder of the driveway and pouring a new one. We just want to have all the heavy stuff done to avoid unnecessary traffic over the new pavement.

In the back the stairs have been largely completed. We will soon be bringing the soil up around these and the newly built wood wall.

Below, some parts of the wall will be left loose until we finish putting in the various hoses, pipes and electrical connections

This topsoil was brought in by hand so as not to damage the new patio. This area will be for various butterfly bushes and bird feeders and baths so that we can enjoy them from the screened in area.

Below, those pallets of boulders that I showed a few days ago have gone into replacing a rotting railroad tie retaining wall that was shoring up the original hill. This still needs tome work.

2012 Home Renovations – Part 20 – Modular Retaining wall continues

2012 Home Renovations – Part 22 – New Columns and Tile Sawing