Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Another Garage Window (8/29/11)

Mike put in the 3rd and final window in the garage.  It's so nice and bright in the garage now!  We're hoping he can work in the garage and keep and eye on the kids while they are playing in the backyard.



Hydroseed - Round 2! (8/29/11)

We had the yard hydroseeded again.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will work much better this time!!!



Sunday, August 28, 2011

Garage Gutters & Windows

Mike put gutters on 2 sides of the house yesterday.  He replaced the gutters on one side that had a hole in them and put gutters on the back, which didn't have gutters at all.  


Today he put 2 windows in the back of the garage.  He has one more for the side to put in another day.





Friday, August 26, 2011

Water! (8/14/11)

We had a big storm with a major downpour and we got a lot of water in the bedroom downstairs!  The carpet was wet in the entire room almost to the door.  It came in through the window and collected on the table that was below the window and all over the floor.  We were not sure if it came in through the foundation but think it could be possible since we had water in the room back in December on a warm day (which didn't come through a window).

The gutters were clogged so all the water was coming down by that corner of the house and the grading wasn't the best either - bad situation!

Mike ended up digging out half of the side of the house and down about 7 feet.



He painted a tar-like sealer on the wall and put plastic over that.  He also put in deeper window wells so if water does collect in them again it won't get up to the window.  They were not too deep before, you can see the water line halfway up the screen.  He filled it all back in and made sure it was graded away from the house.  Also, put on new covers over the window wells.



Mike put down new mulch and planted some day lilies....and it is complete!  Hopefully it solves our water problem!  



Patio (8/15/11)

Mike took out the concrete that was around the back steps.  There was a sidewalk and some old broken concrete.  He put in more pavers and we will make the steps a little larger with decking over them.



Backyard Fun! (8/2011)

OK, so not so fun!  The hydroseed did not work.  We got weeds, weeds, and more weeds!  







The hydroseed guys came back and took a look and said it needs to be ripped up and redone.  We debated on doing sod at this point, but weighed the cost with the other projects we's still like to do and decided it would just be best to hydroseed again.  They will come back and spray for again for free, we just had to get the yard ready for it.


It didn't work the first time because we didn't know that we needed to use Round-up on the yard to kill any weeds.  There was weeds in the yard when they came and sprayed, we asked about them but they said it would be ok.  The heat was probably a big factor too, we had a really warm July - lots of near 100 degree days!  I think we are in a lot better time of year now to seed again!


They hydroseed guys let Mike use their tiller and tractor to smooth the yard; which also saved us a lot of money.


First Mike cut the weeds as short as he could with the mower.  Then he sprayed the Round-up to kill all the weeds and any grass that did grow.  We had to wait 10 days and last weekend, 8/20-8/21, Mike tilled up the yard and smoothed it out.  Then he sprayed Round-up again to make sure everything that was tilled up is dead too.  Now we wait another 7 days for them to come back and spray - they are coming on Monday, 8/29 - WISH US LUCK on round 2!!!


Tilling the yard

Tilled

Smoothing 


Smoothed

Desk (8/13/11)

I love my new desk!!  We bought cabinets from Ikea and put a temporary counter on the top for a week or 2 until Mike could get help cutting the slab of granite.  Zac came over and helped Mike cut 2 sides off the granite so it would fit just right.  It turned out perfect and I can put all my scrapbook stuff in the cabinets!





Last weekend, 8/21/11, I used my new sewing machine on my new workspace and shortened the curtains!  

Evan and Baby #3's Jeeps! (7/28/11)

When the baby comes he is going to share a room with Evan.  We decided to add a little baby decor to the room by bringing back the Jeep border!  It turned out really cute!



Downstairs Bathroom (7/2011)

We finished the downstairs bathroom in July.  I painted, Mike put in new trim, and we got a cabinet.  


Before:



After: