Landscaping Started

Started some landscaping cleanup and ended up starting the retaining wall template.

It will look a little ghetto for a while, as I'm using scrap wood to determine where the rock wall will be. In front of it will be a sloped parking pad. Probably just crushed rock, but I might get it asphalted. Allowing the parking pad to slope will help with drainage, as most of the water from the driveway, and a lot of rain water flows through that area.

Initially I thought I'd be digging a lot, but it turns out that I'll be adding a lot of topsoil to backfill. The wall face will be made with 1-man and 1/2-man basalt rock, similar to this style.

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Basement Painting

We're set to close on the 15th of October, so I'm getting a little braver with my fixes and updates. I realize I want a little experience with the new airless sprayers before I tackle painting the exterior of the house. I also know that once I pull down the ceiling tiles in the basement, I'll want something to make it look decent while I'm working on the wiring and rearranging the upstairs. I thought I'd do a dark paint on the exposed wood. I'd seen pictures of that done in basements before and liked the look. The basements in this house are about 8" tall, a little lower than that when duct work or plumbing is a factor, so while not low, it can't hurt to have a dark look to improve the height of the ceiling. So, I figured I'd start by painting the ceiling in the unfinished part of the basement. Here are some before pictures: The paint I used was the same dark flat Olive Green I'd used on the lighting plate in the bathroom. It...

Bathroom Waterproofing

Waterproofing the shower. 1 primer coat, 5 coats on the walls, 7 on the pan. Tested and approved by the inspector. Next is upper pan and then tile.

Basement Bathroom Progress

Just for reference, here is the original, claustrophobic, non-code-compliant basement bathroom. And here is progress on the much larger bathroom, even though to overall footprint is the same size. The shower has been expanded to fill the entire width, and the ceiling raised in the shower area. The original was a generic shower stall, and was very dark and cramped. This will be much brighter and while the dimensions are small, won't feel nearly as cramped.

Normandy Park Restoration

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