Monolith appearance
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2 years ago
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Help picking out shrubs
Comments (34)No offense taken, Andrew, I appreciate your comments and value your opinion. :o) You're right about mockups, it's almost impossible to get a feel for the depth of an area from a photo, and the plantings are pulled too far forward in an attempt to make the shrubs in the rear visible. I would never try to do a design without doing it in plan view with accurate measurements. What is was trying to show is how the house would look from the front with the door/entry unobscured, but the 2D nature of photos doesn't take the garage wall into consideration. In fact, you can't even tell there is a blank wall there. Point taken. How would you address the position of the door on the far left of the center section? Would you curve the path out to the right to create a planting area and then return to the left to end up somewhere near the door? Ignore the door position and run the walk to the area to the right of the door with a smaller paved area that included the door (assuming that the HO didn't want a patio there)? What would you use for a focal point and/or plantings to disguise the mass of the garage that you see when approaching from the right? Would the focal point and/or plantings block the view of the door from the street? What can be done to minimize the prominence of the garage and driveway at this point, when the whole thing is paved? Many, if not most, homes are built without any thought given to how the layout of house, drive, and walks will affect future landscaping. I'm sure this big garage/hidden entrance is not all that unusual. Does anyone have examples of similar homes that are landscaped in a way that addresses these problems?...See Moresteam shower ceiling slope
Comments (12)Beautiful steam shower you've got there AnnKathryn. What sort of stone is that? Wisconsin, KERDI is supposed to be approved now for steam rooms, though I don't believe that Schluter allows it to be installed over cement board. You'll want to check with their Technical Services department on that. I prefer to build my steam showers along traditional lines with mortar and metal lath. I've talked about my prejudice with my local Schluter rep and he's got me convinced that KERDI is an alternative with longevity but I'm still timid about hanging a couple hundred pounds of stone from a bonded membrane. He's promised to share with me enough case studies of existing installations to bring me around and I trust him on that. Best of luck, Shaughnn...See MoreWood Floors in Bath...Mongo, Anyone?
Comments (11)"Do you have a preference between solid wood or engineered? Or is it just a cost decision?" Lynn, It's not a cost decision. There are pluses and minuses to each side. With solid, it's typically installed (nailed or stapled), then sanded and finished. You get a monolithic appearance, the floor can look solid. Downside? The cost of finishing on site, as well as the time required to do so. Should you need to refinish years down the road, the floor can be resanded several times before you hit the tongue in the wood. Every house I build has whole-house hydronic radiant floor heat. Some woods move more than others, engineered is typicaly a better performer over radiant than solid. With engineered, the wood comes prefinished. It can go down with staples or glue. It's generally thinner, and due to the ply structure it has a thin veneer of "show wood" that to refinish is normally screened instead of sanded. Prefinished woods typically have a bevel on the sides of the boards. Some manufacturers have larger bevels, some have virtually no bevel. That can affect the appearance of the floor, as the bevel bothers some others it doesn't. Also it's prefinished, so once it's installed, you're done. No sanding, no staining or urethaning. You can get some great looking wood species in prefinished that just are not available in solid. Normally because the wood grain is too wild, or the wood too expensive, or too unstable. Using a veneer instead of solid makes it possible to use these woods as flooring. Prefinished is usually thinner than solid 3/4" thick flooring. Some prefinished it's better to glue them (Bostiks Best) instead of stapling or nailing them. Prefinished can also have a better and more durable factory finish than what can be attained with an on site installation and finish. Lots of variables, and cost is just one of them. If it's DIY, then prefinished is much easier. If hired out, figure the cost of the flooring, the installation and the finishing (staining if required and urethane). Ease if installation? Prefinished is easier? Cost? Can go either way? Predictability of the finished look? Prefinished, as what comes out of the box is what you'll get. You need a good sub to properly sand, tack cloth, stain and seal unfinished solid hardwood. Take a look at Kahr's hardwoods. I just did a house full of Kahrs, nice stuff....See MoreOh man..The exterior paint looks HORRID! What can I do?
Comments (41)IIRC this is the house reno purchased to renovate and sell, so it just doesn't make sense (as lisa mentioned above) to dump a lot more $ into cosmetics that in all likelihood a buyer is going to change anyway. (But then reno knows this from experience, don't ya? ;D ). Honestly, looking at it from a buyer's perspective, it looks presentable to me. (Although I do like it with shutters back on and more neutral garage door.) If a paint tweak makes you more comfortable, then I say go for it , it's a quick cheap fix. BTW, I was showing DH your house (because I've been bugging him to get into renovating, it's something we can do ourselves. My father enjoyed Real Estate dealing as a hobby and did very well for himself rehabbing homes on the side when he was younger). DH wants to know if the driveway is the kind where the gravel soaks up and disperses the water below ground? (I have no idea what he's talking about, don't see those around here, but he does, so hope I phrased it properly! ;D )...See More
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