BAck Home Again

Finally, with the floor in the garage done the little one has found its way back home. Poor thing had to sit outside for four days in the heat and dust from all the construction in the area. It got its Friday night bath with a soft towel wipe down and put to bed. Looks good on the new floor.

Garage floor re-work

Well, if the walls can look good then I figure the floor must too. It isn't a hard job, just a time consuming task. Started on Monday and finished today, Thursday. The gray part was already painted with a one part epoxy. The blue section which is where the cars park is about 2/3's of the garage. It was acid etched and bonded then painted with a two part epoxy. We mixed the two parts and let it sit like the instructions said. Then I started to go around the parimeter of both sides of the garage, along the gray floor part and the entrance area. Next I started to roll the paint onto the floor in 3 x 3 foot areas and Cindy sprinkled the flakes. I noticed pretty quickly that I was having trouble rolling and that the roller didn't want to stay on the mechinism. You are suppose to have about a two hour work time but I could see this was not the case. It was hot and very humid and the mixture was getting hot which
meant it was working. I wasn't a quarter of the way through and was beginning to believe I wasn't going to make it. I changed rollers once and that helped a little. With a lot of effort I made it through the first gallon. I had Cindy
start the second gallon mix about the time I was finishing the entrance area so it had only sat for about 30 minutes. When I started rolling it I could tell a difference right away. The rest of the job has been a piece of cake. There are
two coats of clear high gloss on both of the colors and it went on like water. We plan on doing the basement floors in
the workshop and the storage areas and will in all probability cover it with the clear. Gives a nice showroom effect.

Deck Extension

What started out as an extension to the deck to get the big-ass grill out of the way at a cost of $115 turned into a cost overrun of about another $100. I was going to reuse railing material from the extension back to the house like it had been and would have only needed enough to go outwards, 36" each side. Instead of this and after the extension was built we added a set of stairs. Now we don't have to go off the front of the deck and walk around the deck to get to the hose. The only thing I have to do now is figure out what I am going to do with the landscaping in the stair area. This is quite a slope and hard to handle so I need to level it and am thinking of pavers. The stairs are 5' across so you can see the pitch in the 6" riser. I also have to finish the railing and I plan on putting a lift of opening in the side with the gas bottle, much easier to change it out when it is about waist high. No more getting down on ones knees and have to set the bottle in in an awkward position.