Another First for the homeowner..
 

Well for the last 3 weeks end’s I’ve been busting my butt & my wallet putting in my first patio and “then I got a wild hair” to also add a fire pit. All of neighbors give me a hard time for (over engineering it) LOL.LOL with 4” of gravel, 2” of sand, 4” of concrete, then I topped it all off with 1’ of motor and then set-in 90mm stones, Ooooohhhhh my BACK.. :lol::lol:

Here is how it brakes down:
• 16Lf of 3” Perforated pipe (Drainage)
• 2,500 lbs of gravel
• 700 lbs of sand
• 2 yards of concrete
• 1,880 lbs of motor
• 6,400 lbs of stone (did I mention my back hurts!) :wink:

Here is what it looks like finally all completed @ 12:30 am, not too shabby for a do it yourself homeowner :lol:

Have a great one guys..



http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...7/IMG_3523.jpg


P.S.
Got any pictures of your first projects ??.:na:

looks good
you have 1800 LBs of motor?.....I am assumming you mean mortar

That looks fantastic! :yes: I really like the design you have going with the stones there.

Over Engineer? Never! LOL Now you have something unique along with the feeling of accomplishment. (to go with those aching muscles) LOL

I'm working on a DIY project right now too, but it's still going to be awhile before it's worthy of pictures.

My Wife and I are in the process of adding on 2 Bedrooms and a Bathroom to the house.

First, we had to cut down this big ass tree that was sitting exactly where the new concrete slab would be. Also had to dig out the stump. Whew!

Then we hand dug with a shovel mind you, a trench 2 feet deep and 100 feet long to place the sewer pipe for the new bathroom.

Then came the forms and pouring the footing. Then came mortar and 2 rows of concrete blocks surrounding an area of 16 feet by 26 feet.

It was at this point, we purchased a John Deere 2305 Tractor to help our aching backs. I also made a forklift attachment to exchange with the bucket on the frontender loader attachment for this. Works great too! It will pick up/carry about 1000 pounds. (depending on the load center)

About 30 yards of fill dirt later, 8 yards of concrete were poured onto a rebarb structure to produce a slab 6 inches thick.

Then after framework, lots of lumber, insulation, etc..... we built our own custom trusses to match the already existing roof.

Now we are into the fun part. We have torn off all the shingles from the house, only to discover we have decking repairs to do.

Today we will be finishing up the decking repairs, tarpaper, and begin laying 27 squares of shingles.

It's funny, there have been neighbors pull up and say things like:

OMG, Did you have a fire? :surprised:

Did those high winds blow your roof off? :oh:

After the roof, we are going to take it easy, come back inside, do the drywall. Then take our time with the detail.

I was told that new Contracted construction can be as much as 100 bucks per square foot.

16 feet by 26 feet = $41,600

I have a pretty good feeling about the outcome of all of this.

It's going to be really nice to soak in that new Bathtub! LOL

Looks nice man!

Hope to have something of that nature when I have my house and get ou of this stinking apartment.

Nice man! You know what I see when I look at that? Lipo charging bunker!! :lol:

Well done...I was a landscape construction foreman who ran a crew of 5 for years & I can appreciate the sweat and sore muscles that went into that project. Now I still do walkways on the side for extra cash. The older I get, the longer I hurt after doing a walkway...I feel your pain...

Looks good Shaun, after meeting you recently I had no idea that you could do "actual" work!:lol::lol:

Just kidding that is a really nice patio. I need to do something like that as my current patio is crap... The fire pit is a nice touch.

Huh??? Shaun did not send me any of his vacation pics like he promised, how did you get them BL_RVO? I feel a bit insulted...:tongue:

Very nice work Shaun. Not as fun of an investment as a RC but a wise one. It seem that rc builds are not the only thing that you pay attention to detail on. What's the round object next to the house?

Your a sick individual BL_RV0.

Nice Shaun, fill that pit with lava rocks and sea glass (if its gas)...Someone I know (cough) backed (a) pick up up to a reservoir and filled it up with county rocks (nice ones they obviously paid for), was later informed that would be commercial burglary good for 5-7yrs should they apprehend that individual. Made a very nice retaining wall and garden border in someones yard (cough). I feel that individual should be not help in low regard as he pays taxes and got his bad karma already.

LOL:lol::lol::lol:

Looks nice! I loved out fire pit. We had something similar in our old house, but it was sunk down, and you stepped into it. I dont know how to explain it. But it was always fun when I got bored and wanted to burn some junk:na:

Shaun, we need a picture in daylight :yes:. Although it appears to have come out nicely!

LOL.LOL at least that’s they got my good side!, unfortunately you don’t see the G-sting up the @@@ LOL.LOL.. That’s great.. I’ll make sure you get next years pics.. LOL





OMG.. Reading your post makes me feel good to be me and not you LOL…

Sounds like a great project though.. Should add tremendous value to your home Man but that such a hugmugess undertaking WOW best of luck (seriously best of luck with that one)..

OMG you’re a better Man than I..




LOL.. sounds really nice for whoever “cough” has it and WOW 5-7 for commercial burglary is Harsh, but since it was a harmless crime I'm sure that the “cough” individual is extremely apologetic will never to anything like that again LOL.LOL.LOL Lets hope that that’s one menses to society that does slip through the cracks.. LOL.LOL.



You couldn’t have nailed that any closer to the truth LOL… !!



That's the Fire pit!.. It's 4' round, holds lots of woods and I was able to build a 6' "controlled" fire in my back yard (how cool is that!). :intello:

Yah sorry about that.. here is one at 5:30



http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...7/IMG_3530.jpg






Well as soon as one is complete anther one starts, here’s the upstairs restroom (kids) in its infant stages (4 hrs of Demo), I’ll be tacking out the wall on the left (partition wall) and moving it out another 5’ to gain a descent size space 15’x12’. Here’s what it should look like when it's complete, well kind of with out the gay seat and more geared towards kids.. (fishy tiles on the walls, ect).. LOL.LOL..

Before:
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...7/IMG_3528.jpg



After:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...7/bxp53649.jpg

^^^^MY ASS!!^^^^

But it's nice to have lofty dreams, huh?!