In SF Bay Area, better bamboo floor choices than Cali Bamboo?
mudworm
11 years ago
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starmouse
9 years agomudworm
9 years agoRelated Discussions
SF Bay Area, clay soil tree recommendation?
Comments (6)Thanks for the suggestions! blakrab: Diciduous is ok. I'm surrounded by evergreens, so it's nice to have some diversity. not sure if we have any other open space to plant more though (property is overrun by coast live oak which sprout like weeds here. Every year I pull out about 20-30 saplings, and seems like I'm making no dent in the growth density here... every few years I have to have one cut down since they start crowding eachother too much). I'll take a close look at the Texas persimmon. Is that anything like the persimmons you find sold in stores? (orange fruit)? There are few of those in the area. if so, may be there'll be enough in the area without having to plant another in our lot... hoobv: it's a pretty densely vegetated hillside property, so fire is always a concern. But never really thought bout tree-fire exposure (we're usually more concerned with shrub/grass fire). I said 15ft, but just looked at the survey map, and it seems like it's actually more like 25 ft from the house. making a terrace is an interesting idea. the tree can be taller, as long as it's the type that is conducive to shaping/height reduction management. but taller tree usually means faster growth (may be) and hard to manage? and thank you for the tree selection guide. I'll ahve to take a look at that. An arborist who just came by recommended chinese pistachio. He said around here, it doesn't get much bigger than about 25ft or so, and has great fall foliage, drought tolerant.. doesnt require too much water in the summer so won't hurt the juniper either (I called it juniper, but arborist said cypress, so... hmm). The tree sounded good until I found out that it has a potential of growing to 60ft.. i'll have to do more research on that tree....See MoreRemodeling costs in the SF Bay Area
Comments (24)boy i'll second that, jeffinmonterey. we waited over 6 months for our city to approve our plans and grant us the honor of a permit. they also put us into the design review fasttrack (which dinged us 1800 bucks) all because they couldn't visualize and, ostensibly, are biased against modern design. need to keep the mayberry aesthetic up you know. luckily our architect really pushed us into doing a model early on so when we plunked that down on the table during the design review meeting, the two bluehairs looked back and forth between their bi-focals and said "you know, this doesn't look anything like your drawings." they were wrong, though, it did. anyway, sorry for the rant. we interviewed 4 architects. three i found on the AIASF website and one was a friend of a friend who is a one woman operation in the city. we wound up going with her because we liked her vision and her personality. all four architects came to our house to scope things out and wound up staying between 1 to 2 hours. we did pay a retainer to get things going with the one we chose. she works on a percentage basis, 12% - 15% of the finished price tag. we never felt completely comfortable with that so we agreed to pass the baton after her initial drawings were complete. they were actually very detailed. my husband and i felt we didn't need so much hand holding through to the end and we have brought her in to tweak some things along the way. for that we pay her an hourly fee. we have had some stumbling points when things moved from her to the contractor's draftsman but our contractor is great at working these things out as we progress. it's been about 5 weeks since they kicked us out to start and the framers are really buzzing along. so far i'm quite happy. i'll happily pass on names and numbers if you'd like to contact me directly....See MorePrice check: SF Bay area. Retiling two small bathrooms
Comments (8)Hi vishketan, I live in the Bay Area (Santa Rosa) and had my hall bath redone exactly a year ago. Not sure where you live, but it can get pricey here. My hall bath is small, about 5x10. My tub/shower is in a standard 5x3 alcove. So, about 35 sq.ft. for the floor and 58 sq.ft. for the tub/shower which includes a niche. My contract gave me an allowance of $3,000 for tile plus labor. I chose inexpensive Daltile subways for the shower (love it) and a floor tile that was about $7 or 8 a square foot. Nothing to break the bank. My GC subbed the tile work out and it was done superbly. It took one guy about two days to lay the tile. Maybe extra for the Kerdi and Ditra. After the floor tile was laid, there was a squeak and deflection in the run adjacent to the tub. Joists were inspected and all was fine. The guy redid the tile. Still a squeak. Took it out. Joists were fortified just for good measure. Tile redone again. No squeaks. All is well. These tile guys aimed to please....See MoreCritique my SF Bay Area landscape design?
Comments (18)daylily, no offense at all :-)) I completely understand where you are coming from and only wanted to point out that this is indeed a pretty common occurrence!! However, one of the major responsibilities of a skilled landscape designer is to guide their clients/homeowners towards good design choices. That is, after all, one of the primary reasons they have contracted with a designer in the first place! And one of those "proper" choices is to ensure that the garden is not overplanted from the beginning. IMO, designers that do overplant (or overdesign) - even at the client's wishes - are doing their clients a major disservice both in terms of economics and overall plant health. And appearance!! This is not always an easy concept to communicate, however. Most homeowners get any garden design exposure they have from TV landscaping shows and we all know how condensed and far from true life these really are. They are done entirely for show, not for practicality, so an overplanted landscape is pretty much par for the course. It has to look perfect, not spotty, for the reveal at the end of the show!! I sometimes wonder what these "perfectly filled-in" landscapes look like a year or two down the road........not very good, I bet. I just did a consult yesterday afternoon that mirrored this exact situation. The clients inherited a grossly overgrown garden when they moved in and have spent considerable time and effort in clearing out the excess. Now they want to replant and wanted my help in plant choices and placement. The wife totally got the need for restraint and allowing things to fill in over time. The husband however wanted to cram it full of plants right now - no bare soil showing - and it took both of us some doing to convince him otherwise!!...See MoreAlex Everette
7 years agoSuzanne Reagan
3 years agomudworm
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoSuzanne Reagan
3 years ago
Nikkiee Cruz
3 years agoSuzanne Reagan
3 years agoNikkiee Cruz
3 years agoSuzanne Reagan
3 years ago
MaxiCroissant
3 years agoNikkiee Cruz
3 years ago
PROCali Floors
3 years agoMaxiCroissant
3 years ago- PRO
Cali Floors
3 years ago SJ McCarthy
3 years ago- PRO
KDH Associates
last year
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