Home Improvement Today?

I would have picked something different for the floor, but it's a huge room.

 

Did a shitlap under the loft with recycled fence boards.

 

Nice Johnson level. Haven’t seen one of those mahogany levels in a while. Any concerns with dust getting into that slot along the bottom of the ship lap

 

Ha, thanks that levels been around a long time. No worries with dust since it's in the shop end, nothing that can't be sucked up with the vac.

 

Finished up the back wall of my "shitlap" in the shop.

 

You should serve drinks there.

 

worked a bit on my backyard finally. I absolutely hated this backyard, its still not my favorite with a lot of things to still change, like the sunroom walls. But for now its a huge improvement and i actually feel like i could spend some time out here.

Before:


After:


Also found this gem that put power to that terrible lattice gazebo

 

Every house I've bought is WTF inside and out. Some have been better than others.

Are you just gonna plant some new stuff, or are you going to re-imagine the whole yard and do some site prep first?
1. How is the drainage?
2. Where to you want water supply?

Many many more questions after this.

 

drainage is terrible. It all leans and flows towards the house and makes a swimming pool up by the master bedroom wall shown.

Were going to deal with it for now, but eventually going to fully demo and redo the concrete back here. But for now, the walls of the sunroom are coming down, going to do my best to preserve the patio cover as it was a patio cover before they put the sunroom walls up. Still trying to gameplan on the removal of the walls.

 

Save this for when you need it. The problem with diving into this is you will realize how truly fucked up and ignorant pretty much every irrigation system is that you encounter:
https://www.irrigationtutorials.com/
He is a licensed landscape architect, and one of my licensed PE water engineers used this for his house.


Get this no matter what

$20 Graphic Guide to Site Construction: over 325 Details for Builders and Designers (For Pros by Pros)

https://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Guid...eparation&qid=1578950683&s=books&sr=1-2-fkmr1

Buy a copy of this
https://www.ebmud.com/water/conserv...er/plants-and-landscapes-summer-dry-climates/

And look into the Sunset guide, too.

$73 The New Western Garden Book: The Ultimate Gardening Guide

https://www.amazon.com/New-Western-Garden-Book-Gardening/dp/0376039205

And finally this for conceptual inspiration about how you will use the space and leaves the nuts, bolts, and details behind.

$56 Foundations of Landscape Architecture: Integrating Form and Space Using the Language of Site Design

https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-...pe+architecture&qid=1578950749&s=books&sr=1-5


And go sit outside with a beer(s) with them and some post-its and a sketch pad. Because all four are intertwined.

 

saved.

 

once we act like Gorbachev and tear down these walls, it will be nice and wide open back there except i will have multiple heights of concrete. I foresee that as a tripping hazard once intoxicated.

I really need to investigate and see if i can spot how the hell the walls are attached to the roof. I really hope all of it doesnt need to come down.

 

Put some planters (easy and cheap) and/or change of surface material at each grade change. Gives people a visual cue and reason to look down.

And wear a helmet. Also so you don't hit your head on the awning.



Oh look, skinny yard treatment


And don't forget a play area for your kids. Strategically placed to minimize noise where you are sitting.

 

Damn! The cost of copper is really going up!

I live in an area where the water is really hard. Water softeners have been the solution for years but like all things in So-Cal the leftards have taken over and banned them.

It is bad enough without one you would have to remove all shower heads and faucets and soak them monthly in CLR to remove the calcium and lime deposits. Rust buildup is also an issue.

I was grandfathered in but my water softener finally got to the point that it was no longer able to be rejuvenated.

I bought a whole house 30" carbon filter but after 30 days the water pressure would drop enough that you couldn't take a shower and flush a toilet at the same time. Replacing the filters was expensive.

So now to today, after months of searching to find the best solution, although still not as good as a water softener, this is the best I can do.

I want to keep it all copper 1 inch to not have any restrictions but the price of the copper fittings has been rising crazily.

I have bought most of the copper fittings from Amazon at 1/3 the cost of the local big box stores so that helped a little.

I have most of it here but am still waiting on the main unit to be delivered. Then the fun begins. Luckily I can do plumbing.



IT ended up being about $2500 for all the filters and parts and another $500 in copper. Schedule 80 would have been cheaper but it's harder to acquire here.

Schedule 40 is crap and would just leak.

 

Nice job on sketchup
How long you think to change out salt free cartridge?

 

Going to derail this, but why would California ban water softeners? Could you not have just gotten on Amazon and replaced your existing one?

 

TK-422, I don't know about costs in your neck of the woods, but (in Pocatello, ID) I go to Standard Plumbing for the vast majority of my plumbing needs. The staff is very knowledgeable and their prices are often cheaper than Home Depot/Lowe's.

 

^ This. Plus you don’t have to use salt and on some level I can understand the thought process to ban it. Don’t agree with it, but I can understand the approach to lead others to want to. However back to the issue at hand, we use potassium (not salt) in a standard water softener. Not sure why you couldn’t just go that route?

 

Probably due to softeners using as much as 30 gallons of water to regenerate