Power Washing & Retaining Walls

If you remember, I've decided to fix up the old homestead. I was going to remodel the bathrooms first, but the contractor that was going to do the work, seemed to have disappeared. Getting someone to replace him, that will charge a reasonable price, is easier said than done. So that leaves me with a living room full of bathroom fixtures.

Since the bathroom projects have been put on hold for now, I decided to start working on the outside of the house instead. The list of things to do outside seems endless. I'm sure the list will grow, but here's what I'm doing so far.

1. Rip out a lot of the over grown shrubbery
2. Take out old walk ways in front yard
   
3. Transplant rhododendron to back yard
4. Trim shrubbery in entire yard
   
5. Power wash the house
6. Build retaining walls in the front of the (house
7. Repair front stoop, cover stoop in slate to match roof of house and replace hand rails
   
8. Plant new shrubbery, plants & flowers in the front
9. Install shutters by all the windows (I'll do this myself)
   
10. Repair the small amount of miscellaneous damage to the siding around the house
11. Replace the driveway. This will have to wait until I sell my boat, which is hopefully soon.
    

Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 were completed last Monday. Part 5 was 90% completed last Thursday. The guy missed the side of the house above the garage and the foundation. I told the owners of the landscaping company and they will have the guy come back and finish the job. It really made a big difference.



Friday morning two guys showed up with the stone for the retaining wall. They didn't finish Friday and were supposed to come back on Saturday, but Saturday they never showed up. They did come back today and finished.

The truck has a pallet of stone and a load of top soil to put behind the retaining walls.







While one guy digs a trench for the first couple of courses of stone,......







......while the other guy starts unloading the stone from the truck.








The building of the retaining wall starts.








This is the smaller of the two walls. I didn't like the selection of stone that was left, so told him to call his boss and tell him I wanted him to get a second pallet of stone, which he agreed to do. They were a lot better.





Here's the finished retaining walls. That bench on the stoop is new too. It was on sale at the hardware store for $29.95, so I got it. It's made out of cast iron and an unknown-to-me type of wood. Lori thought it would look good there. She also picked out the purple flower next to it. Guess she couldn't wait. LOL


There were a lot of left over smaller stone that I didn't want used for the retain walls. Today the guy asked me if I wanted him to use it to build small walls to outline the flower beds and bushes elsewhere in my yard. I told him sure and showed him a few places I thought it would look nice. I had to run a few errands and was gone for a few hours, so let him decide what to do. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found when I got back.

This is the fence by my side yard on the south side of my house. I think I'll plant a few rhododendrons here.







This is the beginning of the low wall the guys built while I was gone. I never expected they would do this much, but am very happy the did. I really like the way it came out. Maybe he went the extra mile because I gave him my old lawn self-propelled lawn mower.




This is the fence behind my house. The house behind me is for sale if you have $600,000.

Edit: $750,000........... That just means my place is worth all that much more. :-D




Here's the rhododendron they transplanted from in front of my stoop.







And the low wall continues around and ends at the edge of the deck. This is the hedge near the shallow end of my pool.







I really, really like the way this project is progressing. I wonder how much my property value will go up after this part is completed?

(Look at the post below this one for the before video of my house and yard.)


Edit: Here's a video of the place now.

Power Washing & Retaining Walls

If you remember, I've decided to fix up the old homestead. I was going to remodel the bathrooms first, but the contractor that was going to do the work, seemed to have disappeared. Getting someone to replace him, that will charge a reasonable price, is easier said than done. So that leaves me with a living room full of bathroom fixtures.

Since the bathroom projects have been put on hold for now, I decided to start working on the outside of the house instead. The list of things to do outside seems endless. I'm sure the list will grow, but here's what I'm doing so far.

1. Rip out a lot of the over grown shrubbery
2. Take out old walk ways in front yard
   
3. Transplant rhododendron to back yard
4. Trim shrubbery in entire yard
   
5. Power wash the house
6. Build retaining walls in the front of the (house
7. Repair front stoop, cover stoop in slate to match roof of house and replace hand rails
   
8. Plant new shrubbery, plants & flowers in the front
9. Install shutters by all the windows (I'll do this myself)
   
10. Repair the small amount of miscellaneous damage to the siding around the house
11. Replace the driveway. This will have to wait until I sell my boat, which is hopefully soon.
    

Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 were completed last Monday. Part 5 was 90% completed last Thursday. The guy missed the side of the house above the garage and the foundation. I told the owners of the landscaping company and they will have the guy come back and finish the job. It really made a big difference.



Friday morning two guys showed up with the stone for the retaining wall. They didn't finish Friday and were supposed to come back on Saturday, but Saturday they never showed up. They did come back today and finished.

The truck has a pallet of stone and a load of top soil to put behind the retaining walls.







While one guy digs a trench for the first couple of courses of stone,......







......while the other guy starts unloading the stone from the truck.








The building of the retaining wall starts.








This is the smaller of the two walls. I didn't like the selection of stone that was left, so told him to call his boss and tell him I wanted him to get a second pallet of stone, which he agreed to do. They were a lot better.





Here's the finished retaining walls. That bench on the stoop is new too. It was on sale at the hardware store for $29.95, so I got it. It's made out of cast iron and an unknown-to-me type of wood. Lori thought it would look good there. She also picked out the purple flower next to it. Guess she couldn't wait. LOL


There were a lot of left over smaller stone that I didn't want used for the retain walls. Today the guy asked me if I wanted him to use it to build small walls to outline the flower beds and bushes elsewhere in my yard. I told him sure and showed him a few places I thought it would look nice. I had to run a few errands and was gone for a few hours, so let him decide what to do. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found when I got back.

This is the fence by my side yard on the south side of my house. I think I'll plant a few rhododendrons here.







This is the beginning of the low wall the guys built while I was gone. I never expected they would do this much, but am very happy the did. I really like the way it came out. Maybe he went the extra mile because I gave him my old lawn self-propelled lawn mower.




This is the fence behind my house. The house behind me is for sale if you have $600,000.

Edit: $750,000........... That just means my place is worth all that much more. :-D




Here's the rhododendron they transplanted from in front of my stoop.







And the low wall continues around and ends at the edge of the deck. This is the hedge near the shallow end of my pool.







I really, really like the way this project is progressing. I wonder how much my property value will go up after this part is completed?

(Look at the post below this one for the before video of my house and yard.)


Edit: Here's a video of the place now.

Curb Appeal, Curb Appeal! It's All About Curb Appeal!

Today I started another large project at my place. This project is new landscaping. I had the old bushes in the front of the house ripped out, once bush transplanted, the rest of the shrubs trimmed and a part of an old sidewalk removed. This is what the landscaper accomplished in 5 hours.

Here's the "before" of the front of my home.

Here's the "before" of one end of my pool.








This is the hedge at the other end of the pool.








The north side yard looking towards the pool.








The north side yard looking towards the street.








Here's what used to be a garden. Now it's just weeds.








The crew arrives and starts ripping everything out in the front of the house. This guy is the owner of the business. Guess that's why he gets to play with all the very cool toys.






It was amazing how fast a backhoe can destroy the over 50 years old shrubs.







Everything is gone!








It filled up four trucks. Here's two of them.

















Boy, did those bushes need trimming!








I also had the old cement walkway removed. Most of it was destroyed when the cesspools were installed in the front yard, so it looked stupid with the cement walk and the rest being gray slate.





I couldn't believe how thick it was. Maybe 4 or 5 inches think!








Once they got everything cleared out, they raked it and then brought in a load of top soil.



















The old side walk is no more.








I've never seen this side yard so bright. It's amazing what cutting down those old trees did!







I can actually walk behind the diving board now. Speaking of diving board, I have to get a new one of those too. It was cracked last summer when a VERY big guy jumped up and down on it.






I can walk around that side of to pool too now.

















The place looks so naked now.

Looks a lot different!

Next they are going to power wash the house and send a mason over to redo my stoop. I'm having it covered with the slate that almost matches the roof of the house.

(To be continued!)

Curb Appeal, Curb Appeal! It's All About Curb Appeal!

Today I started another large project at my place. This project is new landscaping. I had the old bushes in the front of the house ripped out, once bush transplanted, the rest of the shrubs trimmed and a part of an old sidewalk removed. This is what the landscaper accomplished in 5 hours.

Here's the "before" of the front of my home.

Here's the "before" of one end of my pool.








This is the hedge at the other end of the pool.








The north side yard looking towards the pool.








The north side yard looking towards the street.








Here's what used to be a garden. Now it's just weeds.








The crew arrives and starts ripping everything out in the front of the house. This guy is the owner of the business. Guess that's why he gets to play with all the very cool toys.






It was amazing how fast a backhoe can destroy the over 50 years old shrubs.







Everything is gone!








It filled up four trucks. Here's two of them.

















Boy, did those bushes need trimming!








I also had the old cement walkway removed. Most of it was destroyed when the cesspools were installed in the front yard, so it looked stupid with the cement walk and the rest being gray slate.





I couldn't believe how thick it was. Maybe 4 or 5 inches think!








Once they got everything cleared out, they raked it and then brought in a load of top soil.



















The old side walk is no more.








I've never seen this side yard so bright. It's amazing what cutting down those old trees did!







I can actually walk behind the diving board now. Speaking of diving board, I have to get a new one of those too. It was cracked last summer when a VERY big guy jumped up and down on it.






I can walk around that side of to pool too now.

















The place looks so naked now.

Looks a lot different!

Next they are going to power wash the house and send a mason over to redo my stoop. I'm having it covered with the slate that almost matches the roof of the house.

(To be continued!)