Sand Blasting
(click image to enlarge)
We had all of the concrete sandblasted a few weeks ago. It's made a remarkable difference. It's a LOUD, expensive and very dusty process but in the end I am very glad we did it. Unfortunately, our neighbors were not as pleased. Rather than address the issue directly with us, they chose to call the city to report us. Fortunately for us, no permit is required and our contractor was doing everything by the book. Unsatisfied with the results of their phone call, they came over and started yelling at the workers who strangely enough couldn't hear a word they said because they had EAR PLUGS in. They just shrugged and the neighbors sulked back home. In the end it was only 4 hours of noise and dust.
Honestly, I feel bad that we angered them that way but let's be frank, the things we are doing to that house are improving THEIR property value and I have to wonder, would they prefer to have the drug dealers back? With all the yelling, cops, broken beer bottles and liberal use of the word FAG? I don't think so. Sorry, but there are somethings you just have to live with for a few hours.
Concrete, where the C stands for Crappy
[click image to enlarge]
With all the work that we've done, the house is looking beautiful. But as the house is looking more and more beautiful each day, the crappy old concrete around the pool is looking crappier and crappier. We're exploring our options here. Some say stain it, some say sandblast it. Staining is cheap and I can do it myself but it doesn't always hold up in this extreme climate. Kooldeck is out of the question. I really don't care for the look. So we'll price out sandblasting and etching and decide where to go from there.
It Lives!
[click images to enlarge]
We were fairly certain that after moving this ocotillo plant twice in one month that we'd killed it. Its now found its permanent home outside the master bedroom and has come back to life. If all goes well it should come into full bloom when we are ready to list the house.
Block Wall
[click images to enlarge]
We had a block wall built to hide the pool equipment (as well as cut down on the noise from the equipment). Unfortunately the guys who built it left off a course and when I asked them to fix it here's what they did... I'll let you figure out what's wrong with it. Grr.
Fencing
(click to enlarge)
We decided that we really didn't like the unfinished look on the backside of the fence. The fence is all the Missus' handy work.
So is this - all together now... Awww....
(click to enlarge)
Exterior Paint
We've selected paint colors and the prep work for that has begun.
(these aren't websafe colors so I can't promise that what you see is actually the colors that we've chosen, but generally, it's a gorgeous dove gray khaki with a lighter trim.)
(click to enlarge)
Lot's of scraping and sanding and yes, more caulking! To date, including the interior of the house, we've gone through over 60 tubes of caulk. Exterior paint should go up next week.
Pool
(click images to enlarge)
The pool is finally chipped and ready for plaster today. The pool contractor that we used only had two guys working on the chipping so it took 5 days. I bet our neighbors are happy that the jackhammering portion is over and done with!
We had them save the original tile. It was in really great shape and after some cleaning will look like new. Unfortunately the chippers slipped and damaged two of them. At least they didn't ruin the classic "Hoams" tile. That one is a keeper right there. Hoams was the original pool contractor (probably the only game in town back then) for all of these tract houses in 1959.
Front Landscaping
(click images to enlarge)
The front is pretty much done for the most part. The pads are all set, the gravel is in and the rest of the fountain grass is in. All that is left is a little fluffing, paint the house and a new mailbox. Grow ficus, grow!
Heck's a-poppin'...
...On the renovation. While we were up in SF, work continued on as it should. When we returned at 12AM on the 16th we found the stucco finished and the forms set for the new driveway. First thing the next morning the mixer shows up and we're a-pouring.
(click images to enlarge)
This past weekend the missus and I set about the task of building a new privacy fence (came out to be around close to 50' of fence). We didn't want anything fancy just a nice wall effect that would give privacy to the master bedroom and elongate the house to accentuate the angle siting of the house. Came out pretty nice if you ask me. This will end up being painted the same color as the body of the house, which we've not decided on yet.
(click images to enlarge)
Today the concrete pads arrived. 5 pallets of these beasts. They each weigh about 150lbs and are a bitch to move around. We were successful in getting 3 (of the 32 we ordered) set today. At this rate we should be done by thanksgiving! One note about these pads... Pouring concrete is expensive and the largest pre-cast paving stones you can buy are only 24" square. We felt this would be too small for the look we are going for. Instead we opted to buy 36" pre-cast "mechanical pads" (sometimes referred to as "air conditioner pads") While the grade of concrete is lower so is the price! These utility pads are a fraction of the cost of pouring concrete. Just a tip from me to you friend.
(click images to enlarge)
Driveway Be Gone!
The actual removal took about a day and filled a 20 yard dumpster. Not too shabby! We thought we had it all figured out. But not so fast grasshopper... We've been moving so quickly that inevitably - we've begun to make a few mistakes. Mistake number one was not listening closely to what we could and could not put into the dumpster. All I heard was "No appliances" and all the missus heard was "No dirt" - when we'd finished filling the dumpster we were about to call to have it picked up and it hit me... I don't think we were supposed to put all that concrete and asphalt in there. Doh! And we weren't. There's no way they can haul that puppy up on the truck. It probably weighs well over 25 tons.
Tomorrow they drop off the "low boy" (intended for concrete, dirt, etc.) and we get to move half that asphalt from one dumpster to another. Yippie! The guy at PS Disposal was actually really great about the whole thing and hopefully - most of it will end up getting recycled.
Front Landscaping
We got our landscaping plans from our go-to designer guy. With some minor changes we began staking out the front. Today the ficus hedges went in. Even though they are 15 gallon plants they still look kind of puny at the moment but in a month or two, they'll begin to look more like a hedge.
So. Cal Edison
Any of you who own a home in Southern California are probably familiar with pathetic and brutal tree trimming work performed by the electric company, So. Cal Edison. They don't give a crap what it looks like when they're finished as long as it doesn't touch any wires. In fact they left our neighbor with a 30 ft. stump of a palm tree in his back yard last month. Nice.
So I was a little freaked when I walked out this morning to see they're trimmers heading into the back yard with chainsaws. Thankfully our gardener was here planting the ficus and he negotiated (in much better spanish than we could have come up with) a deal to have them take the whole "beard" taken off - instead of just hacking away at one side of the tree as they would have done. This "deal" was not exactly cheap but at least it looks good. I fear what we might have found had we not been around.
BEFORE
AFTER
On the Rocks
In preparation for the 40 tons of gravel going in next week, I've had to move a few little rocks. I have no idea where these beasts will end up, but we'll find a home for them somewhere.
Yard Cleanup
Saturday was cleanup day. Our gardner arrived with 5 of the hardest working guys I'd ever seen - and they kicked ass. They pulled about 15 dead Oleanders and replaced with new plants. Pulled about 4 stumps, 2 trees and they even uncovered a side yard we didn't know existed! Well, we knew the space was there but it was so full of yard waste and garbage that we kind of ignored it. I think this will become the main access to the rear yard (they call them service entrances, but that sounds a bit fancy...).
They also trimmed our palms. These palms had not been trimmed in at least 10-15 years and the task was daunting. When they are so over grown they are usually filled with rats. No way in hell you'd get me up there. Must be why the palms cost us $100 each to trim!
Three truckloads to the green dump. They worked straight through the day with few breaks. We gave them a 12 pack of Bud Light around 4:00 - in addition to a rather large sum of money. But when all was said and done - we got a hell of a deal.
