The Home Ownership Thread

[jcman311]

Well that was fun. Patio installation began Monday and ended abruptly today when the contractor hit our gas line. Luckily I was home at the time and able to fix the situation.

 

[Lizard23]

All IR or combo was the same price for me.

Crazy. I dont see pricing even close to that anywhere online.

 

[Piobaire]

Crazy. I dont see pricing even close to that anywhere online.

I shopped hard and ordered all my stuff, to the tune of about 10k, from the same BBQ shop. I have to say the ramada/kitchen project exceeded expectations and it adds so much to our outdoor living area.

 

[Lizard23]

I shopped hard and ordered all my stuff, to the tune of about 10k, from the same BBQ shop. I have to say the ramada/kitchen project exceeded expectations and it adds so much to our outdoor living area.

I am excited for the project. We have an exisiting undersized patio with ugly pavers and builder grade outdoor kitchen. We are increasing the patio by 1k sq ft and squaring off all the flower beds and grass for a more modern look. We are also creating a seating wall that will step up to a large level area of grass, doing lights, redoing and relocating outsoor kitchen, etc. Have been working on the design for a while. They start 7/23 and should take about a month. Excited for the finished project.

 

[jbarwick]

We are having a few companies come out to look at terracing our sloped back yard and potentially adding a patio. I can tell they make their markup in trees because when I tell them we are cutting a few down to allow more light in, they want to add trees to the design.

 

[brokencycle]

We are having a few companies come out to look at terracing our sloped back yard and potentially adding a patio. I can tell they make their markup in trees because when I tell them we are cutting a few down a couple to allow more light in, they want to add trees to the design.

I have found that trees are actually really cheap. Big box stores mark them up a ton, and I'm willing to bet those season end clearance trees at like 60% off are probably what they paid. We found a couple nurseries about an hour away. While we probably don't save much after factoring in the gas and time, we get to talk really knowledgeable people and it is fun getting out of the metro area.

I found places that will sell 40-50' trees for what a tree in a 25 gallon bucket costs, but the cost of moving/planting it is substantial to say the least.

 

[Gibonius]

I have found that trees are actually really cheap. Big box stores mark them up a ton, and I'm willing to bet those season end clearance trees at like 60% off are probably what they paid. We found a couple nurseries about an hour away. While we probably don't save much after factoring in the gas and time, we get to talk really knowledgeable people and it is fun getting out of the metro area.

I found places that will sell 40-50' trees for what a tree in a 25 gallon bucket costs, but the cost of moving/planting it is substantial to say the least.

My whole yard is full of end of the season trees, but my dad runs the nursery so I get pick of the lot and at cost.


Depending where you go, a lot of the markup with installed trees goes into the fact that they tend to break during transport and they tend to die shortly after installation. A warrantied install might cost more, but you'll end up getting a living tree.

 

[jbarwick]

I am not against trees for landscaping but when the most sunny spots in my yard get ~5hrs of sun, do I need more trees? If I had a lake house I wouldn't want a pond in my landscaping...

I do have a couple of companies that just do grading so I will likely have to do this in steps to get what I truly want. I have no idea what I want for patio material. Our house is multi-colored, mostly red brick and the few retaining walls are natural, non-uniform rock.

 

[jcman311]

I am not against trees for landscaping but when the most sunny spots in my yard get ~5hrs of sun, do I need more trees? If I had a lake house I wouldn't want a pond in my landscaping...

I do have a couple of companies that just do grading so I will likely have to do this in steps to get what I truly want. I have no idea what I want for patio material. Our house is multi-colored, mostly red brick and the few retaining walls are natural, non-uniform rock.

I could forward you some ideas of our patio install. Home is white colonial, and the retaining wall going in is natural cut lannon stone. Patio will be a mix of reddish brick pavers (the designer matched some of the brick facade of the foundation) and unilock pavers in some sort of gray.

 

[Lizard23]

I could forward you some ideas of our patio install. Home is white colonial, and the retaining wall going in is natural cut lannon stone. Patio will be a mix of reddish brick pavers (the designer matched some of the brick facade of the foundation) and unilock pavers in some sort of gray.

Our yard slopes upward to a retaining wall at the edge of our property. We are “cutting into that slope” to make one level patio that forms an L at the same level as our house. This allows us to create a 40 ft seating wall at the back perimter of our patio with undermount lighting and steps up to what will be a newly leveled area of lawn for the kids to play.

We are redoing the entire back perimeter with a laurel hedge and green giant abrorvitae on the sides for privacy (houses are close together).

The right side will be a 2x3 bluestone slab stepping stone walkway (grass in between” to get from front to back.

New outdoor kitchen will be on the right perimeter of patio.

Seating wall and kitchen will be out of techo g-force wall block for a clean modern look. All will be topped in bluestone.

Patio will be smooth polished blu 60 pavers. Originally we were going to do bluestone for the patio but we reconsidered because of how hot it gets. We have direct sun all day.

Hope it comes out the way i have it in my head.

 

[jcman311]

Sounds very close (except the materials) to what we are doing. Even the level play area for the kids. Good luck!

 

[Lizard23]

Anyone have any recs for fire pits? I am being indecisive.

I have ruled out built in as i would like to be able to make use of the space if we have large gatherings

In my mind i want something that burns wood but feel gas might be nore practical and get more use.


Room and board has one that looks ok, and i like that you hide the propane under the table itself but for 2k id rather have something i loved vs something i find to be “ok”.

https://www.roomandboard.com/m/cata...MIspCOzc2c3AIVDsDICh1DhwQbEAQYASABEgKYKvD_BwE

 

[Piobaire]

Fire pits are roundly despised on Style Forum, and when it comes to any flame, real men only burn wood they have harvested from the forest primeval themselves. That said we installed a gas firepit. Square shaped, built up of stacked stone, flagstone coping, partially filled with fire sand then about 100 pounds of fireglass on top. Creates a very nice conversation area and we often end up there either just the two of us or when we have guests over. It's also visible from the main public spaces of our house and lookings fantastic.

I'd love to post a pic of my backyard but that would be problematic for me on Style Forum for many reasons.

 

[otc]

I thought your firepit was OK.

The problem was your use of American Fire Glass. Italian Lava Rocks would probably have been acceptable.

 

[Piobaire]

I thought your firepit was OK.

The problem was your use of American Fire Glass. Italian Lava Rocks would probably have been acceptable.

In all truth, the most common response I get when someone sees our backyard for the first time, or even a picture of it, is that it's like something out of a magazine. Not going to lie, fairly pleased with myself for coming up with the vision and then getting it done. It's relaxing as hell, huge bump to our qualify of life, offers great spaces for entertaining, fairly sure nicely increased the value of the home, and that outdoor kitchen is really great to use.