This had to be one of the coolest things I have done in a long time, both litterally and figuratively. It was the mid June and it was starting to be warmer durring the days down here. Nothing like August, but enough that it was noticable.

I started out by running water into the pool from the closest hose. After a few minutes, I cheked one of the other houses and still had a good deal of presure. I ran that hose out to the pool area as well and then a third from another area in the yard. With three hoses running full out, the pressure in the house was significantly decreased. Read the rest of this entry »

Once the concrete was removed it was time to dig down behind the pool. On the bright side, you know exactly how far down you have to dig and any water there was draining out through the leak that had allowed it all to get in making the ground quite dry.

I hadn’t thought to much about it until I started digging and it was the easiest dirt that I had ever dug through. After they dig out the pool are to install it, they back fill with this sand/gravel/dirt mixture that doesn’t stick together like clay. That made it incredibly easy to dig out and reach the enclosure. Read the rest of this entry »

The wheel couldn’t quite reach the deepest sections of the concrete pad, but it got close. Once that was done, I started into concrete removal. The right tool here is a jack hammer. This tool is quite expensive though and I didn’t feel like spending even more money at the renal place. Looking back, I completely under-estimated the strength of the concrete pad. Read the rest of this entry »

Draining a pool is easy. You have a pump that is designed to move water and when set properly, it sends it to drain. Surrounding the pool is a concrete sidwalk. This is pretty standard for many pools and as long as you never want to remove it, isn’t a problem. Read the rest of this entry »

This whole job started with a simple task, replace the light bulb in the pool. I figured this should be simple and dropped into the water. A quick check and there was one flat head screw that seemed like the obvious choice. There were also 12 other screws that concerned me. I considered the possibility that perhaps the single screw held the cover on the enclosure and that the 12 screws held it to the wall.

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Everything got wrapped up and the new patio cover looks great. The roofing works well, but there was a major problem the first time it rained. The installation instructions for the roofing product list that you should be 24-36 inches on center for your supports with no further details. Due to the pre-existing header, I hadn’t checked the real rise. I knew there was some and that was the end of the though. Read the rest of this entry »

The next weekend was dry and I was able to get all the cross beams up and more. Each of the 2×8’s is set on end and has a 4 by 4 inch notch cut out on the garage side to allow for the gutter. With the board on the garage already having all of the supports mounted, I was able to get each one into place and set quickly. Work like that should always be done on the ground in the name of efficiency. Read the rest of this entry »

Always Know the weather. It can’t be said enough and I got caught by it. There was a deadline in play of Halloween since we were hosting a party and we wanted the patio to be usable for pumpkin cutting. The forecast had a chance of rain and I didn’t think that it looked that bad outside so I started prepping all the boards for a final coat of paint.

As the rain started to fall, I had to scramble a bit. I’d already been painting the header beam and it was still a bit wet. I also had a number of boards that I’d been working with on the ground in front of me. I had some plastic out to be used as a drip cloth if needed. I unfurled as much as I could, but it only covered about half of the structure. Thankfully with a garage full of stuff, A tarp was only a few steps away. These tarps have a history with home improvement. When we re-roofed the garage, this was one of the two tarps that covered the roof until it was finished and weather proof. Read the rest of this entry »

By October, the rain had started back up and the water issue came back to the forefront. With good weather scheduled for a weekend, I picked up supplies and started planning for the project. I was figuring that I would just start the prep work of getting things painted and ready to start the replacement.

Word got out to the family and again I had a crew that was ready to work come Saturday morning. What was supposed to be a light weekend turned into a full blown project. Learning from previous mistakes, I was ready for them to show up and we got to work right away painting the new beams and tearing down the old ones. Read the rest of this entry »

Just before moving onto fourth street, I had my first experience with the patio. It was early Summer and I hadn’t spent to much time on the patio yet since the weather wasn’t that great yet. It started to rain and then the thunder and lightning came in. We were tucked into a spot where the wind wasn’t blowing at us that much and so we were safe.

Pretty soon, I noticed that there was water running down the wall of the garage that should have been protected by the patio cover. The water should have ran off the garage, onto the patio cover, to the gutter, and then down the drain. I quickly realized that the water was running right down the wall and eventually by a electric socket and this scared me a bit. The stereo was unplugged and after the storm lightened up, we made our way inside. Read the rest of this entry »