A few years back we installed a variable speed pump, which drastically cut our electric usage. This year, we converted to saltwater. Wih the price of chlorine, the unit will pay for itself in a season and a half. Here you can see the salt cell, flow switch, and sacrificial anode.
We couldnt risk it damaging the pool or fence, so we topped it with the pole saw, then worked our way down as far as we could. Once it was low enough to reach with a ladder, the chainsaw made quick work of the trunk.
Theres a few pieces of moulding I may want to adjust if not completely remove and re-nail. But some alignment issues are simply because of imperfections in the wall. Ill do what I can to dial it in, but I'm fairly happy with the outcome so far.
Here's the finished floor. Nice to have the mouldings back on, even if they do need to be filled and painted. Overall, I'm happy with the way the floors turned out, and I really didnt think the floors had much life left in them when we first uncovered them. But honestly, it wasn't much cheaper or less work than simply replacing the floors with new pre-finished wood. I'll have to weigh my options when it comes to refinishing upstairs.
New tiles go down. Sadly these wont be as strong as the originals, since the underlayment is no longer well adhered. Hopefully we wont have to replace too many of these in the future.
After countless hours of wrestling with procelain, banging brass flanges into submission, and two destroyed wax rings, I finally noticed that the bottom of the toilet gad globs of thinset underneath it, keeping the toilet from sitting flush no matter how hard I cranked down. A few minutes with a hammer and chisel, and yet another run to the hardware store for a new wax seal, and we were finally able to reinstall the bathroom.
This was our first foray into masonry, and I think it came out pretty good. The bottom of the window is up an inch or so compared to the old ones, which will hopefully help keep the water out of the basement during heavy rains. Ill have to touch up the top corners, and I may even parge along the top to protect the 2x4 top piece from the elements.
A couple more skim coats got the ceiling faired out pretty well. Its not perfect, but Its about the best I can do without pulling down sheetrock again. The taped corner seams were a little rough, but we cleaned them up with a sanding sponge. Theyll be covered with wallpaper and crown moulding anyway, so I wont worry too much about them.
I put the long hurrican ties every other floor joist, while the others will get the smaller hurricane ties. We added a ton of lag bolts throughout the beam. Nearly a hundred were used so far. Looking from a shallow angle, if tis beam deflects 1/8 inch in the middle, its a lot. Its very strong and easily holds the weight of the structure above.
