Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house? | Page 118 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?

I'm not sure if it's just Ontario but you're not supposed to move the critters more than a few Kms. You can kick them out of the house but not the hood.
Yeah, I've heard that too, but critters get killed on the road all the time and new territories open up as such. I figure a relocation is preferable, even if they have to fight a bit to stake their claim. The alternative is the Winchester retirement plan.
 
Good lord. I grew up in a 4000sqft home and couldn't ever imagine going back to something that large let alone 5600 + 5.5 garage. We're in a 2400sqft (finished) home w/ 1 car garage and I think we are on the same page about not wanting to live in a bigger house unless our family grows, but we are both open to having a bigger yard and garage. I do like your garage and all that open space for toys:)

A guy I grew up with owns his own pool maintenance company, so at least it would be set up right if we ever went that route.
I did a service call on a floor warming system in a 5000 square foot master bedroom suite. Houses that size are impressive but you need teams of service pesonnel around all the time. I prefer cozy.

However those places are used to hold parties for the money people and pay for themselves.
 
This plastic shed building lark has come a long way since I last did one 20 years ago. There’s an app called BILT that has rotateable, zoomable video instructions that’s fantastic. No more fitting the dooda #33421 that is remarkably similar to dooda #33422 backwards ensuring the doors never close. Spent the day assembling roof trusses and doors. Apparently the pre assembly is key.
 
This plastic shed building lark has come a long way since I last did one 20 years ago. There’s an app called BILT that has rotateable, zoomable video instructions that’s fantastic. No more fitting the dooda #33421 that is remarkably similar to dooda #33422 backwards ensuring the doors never close. Spent the day assembling roof trusses and doors. Apparently the pre assembly is key.
My IKEA hate. Part 457967 looks like part 485693 until the thing is half finished. IKEA instructions are modified hieroglyphics. I'm not Egyptian.
 
Fixing the posts on my building replacing the wood part in the ground with precast concrete puts made for this should last forever.
1b57b0354df878622b18a3f1c977ec67.jpg


Sent using a thumb maybe 2
 
I did a service call on a floor warming system in a 5000 square foot master bedroom suite. Houses that size are impressive but you need teams of service pesonnel around all the time. I prefer cozy.

However those places are used to hold parties for the money people and pay for themselves.
For 5 years I worked as a horticulturist for clients in Rosedale, Forest Hill and the Bridlepath. Many of them had nannies quarters that were bigger than any house in this thread. Some had nannies for each kid plus cooks and drivers etc.

I built several beautiful landscapes with the throwaways from their gardens.

One of the places we took care of was owned by some dude who organized exec team building getaways - ie CEO’s and world leaders skiing in the alps for a weekend. His wife was a former Miss France and their coach house was always rented out to athletes and movie stars. Samuel Jackson told me off for operating power tools at 8am and Julianne Moore would do yoga outdoors much to the delight of all my lesbian coworkers.

Another client was waiting for the neighbour next door to die so he could buy that property and replace the mansion there with a tennis court.

Another client installed an elevator inside their house with some rare white Italian leather on the walls, so that you could get a proper view of the 30ft fig tree that was planted inside their house, as you went from the ground floor to the top.

We had about 80 clients and each one of them had some crazy background or stories to go with. Most of our clients had a simple theme: I don’t care what it costs, just get it done right the first time. After a few years of working for them I realized I was not doing what I was supposed to be doing in life.

I also got a first hand lesson that money truly does not buy happiness - relationships bring happiness. And doing things to your house during Covid!
 
I don't really have anything left to do to the house until they show up to pave the driveway. Over the winter I'll tackle changing the kitchen pantry into a butler pantry.
I'm undecided what to do with the front walkway from driveway to door (brick, stamped concrete, or...). Stamped looks nice. Brick (whatever you call them) I'm tempted to try myself after I watch some youtube how-to vids on proper install.
 
I don't really have anything left to do to the house until they show up to pave the driveway. Over the winter I'll tackle changing the kitchen pantry into a butler pantry.
I'm undecided what to do with the front walkway from driveway to door (brick, stamped concrete, or...). Stamped looks nice. Brick (whatever you call them) I'm tempted to try myself after I watch some youtube how-to vids on proper install.
I liked the look of stamped concrete but I have never found a surface less suitable for its intended purpose. Everyone I have walked on has been incredibly slippery when wet (even dew). Sure you could mix up a batch of sealer and sand and apply a few times a year to maintain some grip but that is a lot of work for something that is theoretically maintenance free.

Interlock is back breaking but if you get the base right goes pretty quickly.
 
I liked the look of stamped concrete but I have never found a surface less suitable for its intended purpose. Everyone I have walked on has been incredibly slippery when wet (even dew). Sure you could mix up a batch of sealer and sand and apply a few times a year to maintain some grip but that is a lot of work for something that is theoretically maintenance free.

Interlock is back breaking but if you get the base right goes pretty quickly.
The most worrisome thing about concrete is that if you don't get the base right it cracks. Interlock goes with the flow.
 
The most worrisome thing about concrete is that if you don't get the base right it cracks. Interlock goes with the flow.
True. I dislike that over a decade or so, all interlock I have seen goes with the flow too much. Not a big deal on a 4' wide path but most patios end up dished and fixing the dish is more work than the original install. Imo, that is a hell of a lot of money to pay to be on the maintenance treadmill. For something like a path, you can normally get away with a longer cycle as the ripples arent as noticeable or troublesome.

Problem the next with interlock for a patios is anchoring structures. It's a huge pain in the ass. I am going to put up an offset umbrella next summer and I need to lift some bricks, dig a hole, pour a concrete post (or set a metal post, i will see when i get in there), drill the interlock and reassemble. If I had a wood or concrete, i would be done in an hour instead of a day.
 
Has anyone ordered new furniture recently?

I mean quality stuff, not the Brick or Bad Boy or any of that junk. I say "junk", because our last 2 sectionals (including the one I'm sitting on right now) are that very junk and I'm tired of disposable stuff that lasts 4 or 5 years before looking cosmetically like total ****, but sagging, etc.

We are looking to completely re-do our living room and downsize from a giant sectional to a few comfy chairs and a small loveseat for guests. Surprise surprised, it seems furniture has joined the list of things that are massively delayed. Even made in Canada stuff. We've been told that Palliser is about 4 months at this point, and some stuff like La-Z-Boy is basically 12 months.

Ugh. I guess gone are the days of being able to just hit a furniture store and have your stuff a week or so later.
 
Fence update.... still more sections to install.... we dug the post holes by hand. Most of the old posts had the concrete still attached so we reused it....

Fence5.jpg

Three sections across the front to go, some height adjustments, some hardware to add, cut the posts to length and paint....
 
Last edited:
The most worrisome thing about concrete is that if you don't get the base right it cracks. Interlock goes with the flow.
Agreed. Stamped doesn't hold up well. I watched my neighbour have it done, then watched it deteriorate, and finally be replaced.
If I wasn't too lazy to powerwash my concrete drive it would look just like it did the day they poured it.
 
Has anyone ordered new furniture recently?

I mean quality stuff, not the Brick or Bad Boy or any of that junk. I say "junk", because our last 2 sectionals (including the one I'm sitting on right now) are that very junk and I'm tired of disposable stuff that lasts 4 or 5 years before looking cosmetically like total ****, but sagging, etc.

We are looking to completely re-do our living room and downsize from a giant sectional to a few comfy chairs and a small loveseat for guests. Surprise surprised, it seems furniture has joined the list of things that are massively delayed. Even made in Canada stuff. We've been told that Palliser is about 4 months at this point, and some stuff like La-Z-Boy is basically 12 months.

Ugh. I guess gone are the days of being able to just hit a furniture store and have your stuff a week or so later.
When our kids moved out we broke down and bought our first new couch (hand me downs up til then). But after slogging miles thru those big box stores filled with crap we went to Randell Klien Design in London and had exactly what we wanted custom built. We got to pick the design, cushion firmness and fabric. A large sectional and a matching chair cost about 3400$ if I recall. Probably twice what the brick or leons would have cost but 10 years later it's every bit as good as new. And it that ever changes it can be recovered.
 
Agreed. Stamped doesn't hold up well. I watched my neighbour have it done, then watched it deteriorate, and finally be replaced.
If I wasn't too lazy to powerwash my concrete drive it would look just like it did the day they poured it.
I'm not understanding why it wouldn't hold up. It is concrete, and it's no thinner. We just require it for our front walkway which would be about 15-20ft long, average width walkway.
 
I'm not understanding why it wouldn't hold up. It is concrete, and it's no thinner. We just require it for our front walkway which would be about 15-20ft long, average width walkway.
The ones I have seen held up. If I understand the process correctly, they sprinkle the surface with something that accelerates the set to trap the colours in. Normally you want it to set slowly not as quickly as possible.
 

Back
Top Bottom