Thread: Home improvements

Living in an older house has its pleasures and challenges.
This year we have decided to tackle some areas needing attention.
Bought this house about a decade ago from a pair that were retired, and avid gardeners. We are neither, and as such, I couldn't tell a weed, from a wheat shaft.
Things grew slowly out of control. Couple that with winters relentless beating of the decking and we had some work to do.
So this past week we started.
Front entrance area was the first project.


Couldn't even see the entranceway any more and the walkway was a bear to shovel.



Used an app called QTJ, quote this job, and got a local gent and his son in to do the 4 tones of clean up and rework with the new composite deck. Very reasonably priced.
Next up, the back yard!!
Happy Monday men.

Looks great Mike. Big improvement.

Looks good. I enjoy seeing ppl update their places. We also live in an older home that was a parish back in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It's a constant flow of things needing done every couple of yrs. My father bought the place in the late 60's so he totally remodeled it slowly as they had the money over the course of decades and now I find myself redoing what he did lol. Theres not a square Inch of this place I don't know having grown up following him with plastic hammer in hand as a youngin.

The grass in ur pic sure looks good. Its one of the things I can not seem to grow. It seems u also went with composite which is a wise choice as our deck boards over the years have warped turning some into tetter totters. I really like the rock in between the house and walk way. Did you all lay down plastic underneath or just keep up with spraying it. Noticed you said this was the first project under way. I understand that cuz one area is replaced with another area that ur eyes drift to needing work done. Question becomes for us where do we stop. Even a fresh coat of paint on trim in one room leads to the painting of another once u get to the doorway and theres a definite line in the sand so to speak between old and new.

Thanks gents.
First go with composite decking, and I like it. Has a raised wood grain affect that acts as a traction aid as well as gives the illusion of real wood. Hidden hardware gave it a clean line, and should outlast anything comparable in real wood, AND not catch the shovel in the winter.
The gray colour should look good, even if fading does become a problem down the road.
Next projects in order are, back yard re edging around the pool as that concrete is as buckled, then replacement of patio area at back, then sides.
Final project will be replace the asphalt out front.
This way I figure the damage done to the driveway by the back hoes going to and from the rear will be fixed by doing the driveway last.

Post up pics of your work!
Titled this thread ambiguous enough that everyone doing projects can post em up and share with the rest of us handymen for inspiration, or bragging rights..

Thats looks nice Mike. I cannot imagine trying to shovel your previous walk in the winter. I think your new curb appeal is awesome. I am a little surprised at the composite decking, seeing as how concrete is fairly inexpensive in most of Canada, it does suffer with the Canadian winters though. I am interested in how that decking stands up to shoveling. Looks great now, but I have never seen it done in snow country.

You did a fine job. My home was made 1967 so not really old but old enough. Im always upgrading or repairing. Last project of painting the insides of the house we took on one room at a time. My play room took the longezt and the most work. But this last weekend we took all the interior doors out into the back yard and i bought aj air spray paint gun and painted all the doors. They look much better. So do all the rooms. Well, one room left to do and a couple closets but almost done.

Wow. Looks amazing Mike. I'd be back there every evening if it were mine.

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Well-Done!

Looks great!!! Well done sir

I'd be back there every evening if I lived closer!