some if the shit i have seen i my training classes will blow you mind on what some ppl will do to there homes . like a home made sub-panel WTF . it always good to let a professional do the heavy lifting lol
Whose got the biggest deck?
- Thread starter Lokidogg
- Start date
I'm with ya - If it is out of my realm, by all means, I'd prefer a professional to do it right the first time ...... but, I can also say that I watched them put my house together from scratch and I was a huge pain in their asses when it came to QC (Granted, it's a cookie-cutter house and they were used to getting away with sub-standard work). but I complained about everthing.
My FIL is a retired electrician, he was over during the build and called them out on a couple of items; they also got pissed off that I pulled my own CAT5 and Coax to multiple rooms and had to work around it; didn't matter though, by the time it was built, the inspector made them come back and fix multiple items before it would pass code.
Yeah, I know, that's what I get for a cheap / quick house
Yeah, I built the fence myself and started on the windows. My house has 23 windows of which 4 I replaced myself. After the four I said to hell with this and hired a pro. It was taking me all weekend to do a set of two and they came in a replaced the remaining 19 windows in about 5 hours. Once we were buying the windows, there was no way I could reside the house in fiber cement siding, paint it and hang gutters for what they were willing to do it for, so I just paid them to do it all. Was nice never having to touch a hammer or screwdriver.
I don't think I'd have the patience to deal with windows.
Now on the fence, yeah - did my own as well ... actually overbuilt mine. I was lucky enough to borrow my FIL's John Deer with PTO post hole digger, all 4X4's were sunk & cemented evenly, 3 stringers per section, all boards screwed in instead of nailed, top caps on all posts.
I still have the occasional board split at a knot and the dogs get out, but replace them as they break.
Now on the fence, yeah - did my own as well ... actually overbuilt mine. I was lucky enough to borrow my FIL's John Deer with PTO post hole digger, all 4X4's were sunk & cemented evenly, 3 stringers per section, all boards screwed in instead of nailed, top caps on all posts.
I still have the occasional board split at a knot and the dogs get out, but replace them as they break.
Sounds like the fence my dad and I built except we rented an auger, 2 verticle stringers per section, screws instead of nails, and solar powered LED top caps on all posts.
Yeah, it is mainly just decorative. It keeps people from driving into the fence at night I suppose. At night my yard is a string of lights every 8 feet all the way around. The fenced in portion is the better part of an acre.
Just out of curiosity, did you encounter dense clay about 4" down when you dug your holes?
My FIL is from the area, said he had never seen clay like we dug up. Solid from 4" to 18"
My FIL is from the area, said he had never seen clay like we dug up. Solid from 4" to 18"
Here it is, at least part of it when we first finished it. I said vertical runners earlier, but I should have said horizontal. In the far back you will see 4 verticle runners, that is a 10 foot wide hidden double gate we put in so I can pull trailers in and out of the yard.
You can see that I actually started building it a couple of years before we finished it by the discoloration of the wood in that one section. My brain aneurysm put the construction on hold for a couple of years.
You can also see the top caps in this picture. Originally they were just going to run down the driveway, but we liked the way they looked so much we did the whole fence.
You can also see the T posts from the old wire fence that was here before. It sucked and the t posts are now gone.
You can see that I actually started building it a couple of years before we finished it by the discoloration of the wood in that one section. My brain aneurysm put the construction on hold for a couple of years.
You can also see the top caps in this picture. Originally they were just going to run down the driveway, but we liked the way they looked so much we did the whole fence.
You can also see the T posts from the old wire fence that was here before. It sucked and the t posts are now gone.
No, but 100 years ago there was a school in what is now my back yard. When they tore it down 90 years ago, they didn't have earth moving equipment so they knocked the walls down and backfilled the area turning what was the ground floor of my three story home into a basement of a two story home. Dig down in my yard 12 inches and you hit brick foundation. I guess you could say that is dense clay. LOL.
