Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT From a "double" to a DOUBLE

[Purist]

Nice updates!!! The table looks great!

Thank you!

Love the street gas. Really wish we had it where I live, our other house has it. Table is great but your gonna have to get the hole saw out for an umbrella.

I have been looking at street alerts for a table and chair set nearby. We decided for the pool deck to use a sail and next year we are going to build a pergola.

Western Mass is in the midst of a drought after having no reak snow this year so water restrictions are everywhere.

Droughts blow. We had water restrictions in place in my town for a few consecutive years, where you could only water your lawn on certain days of the week (odd vs even). Luckily, that ended years ago when our town made some waves (pun not intended) with desalination technology:

http://www.heraldnews.com/article/20140323/News/140328327

For the umbrella, we plan on going with a cantilever umbrella (similar to the one pictured below), which allowed me to make the table, as is, with no center-hole needed:

 

[Purist]

While we await the scheduling of the fence install, I took some time recently to grab some things out of the basement. Now, my yard is starting to feel somewhat more like a real yard:

No firepit, yet, but I plan on building one very similar to my setup at my last house:

Smartly, I did take the steel ring insert with me when I moved but left the pit. When we set it up, we used landscape block adhesive throughout, so that thing wasn't going anywhere.

I may try to grab a cheap, used pit off craigslist to get me through the summer until I have the time to do it right.

Lastly, check these out. Perks of being one of only 3 houses on a brand new road (e.g. not many lights illuminated at night, so the bugs FLOCK to the ones that are) that used to be all woods, with some standing water at the end of the cul de sac:

It's tough to see (those last 2 photos are iPhone shots, so I apologize for the sizing) but there are literally HUNDREDS of bugs hanging out around my front porch. It's nuts. When I take my dog out for the night, I wear an LED headlamp for some extra lighting since there are no streetlights and I hear animals all the time. Last thing I want is some fisher cat sneaking up on us or something. Anyway, while wearing the headlamp, all I see are bugs flying all around me to the point where it looks like it's just misting non-stop.

Can't wait for more houses to show up and some of these bugs to disappear. Having said that, the builders are making pretty good progress on the next two houses, though they seem to be focusing more of their attention on one over the other. I'm guessing they either have it sold already, or someone who's interested in that lot. I'll take some shots today or tomorrow when I inevitably make a drive-by or a walk-by.

 

[Purist]

As promised, here are the two, new houses currently being built and some shots of the cul-de-sac:

Also, I know this thread was originally started to track the progress of my garage, so I'll try and get back on topic sometime this week.

 

[Purist]

Before I get back to garage stuff, here are some progress shots of my fence install. Guys showed up yesterday morning and got right to work:

It's coming out great, so far. Unfortunately, the brown chain-link that will make up the other portion of the fence (along the forest edge) did not come in so they'll have to come back next week to finish the job. But they still have more vinyl sections to put up today.

And my craigslist score of the week, a cheap-*** firepit to hold us over:

 

[Mr. Roboto]

That looks great! I love that the builder poured a slab under your deck, too. Makes for a great space for some extra storage or seating.

 

[Trey T]

are those prefab fence from local store?

 

[Purist]

That looks great! I love that the builder poured a slab under your deck, too. Makes for a great space for some extra storage or seating.

Thanks, Mr. Roboto!

We actually negotiated that into the P&S. Originally, he had only put in a walkway from the walkout basement door to the deck stairs. I always planned on having a nice patio below my deck, so we negotiated having them pour us a slab under the deck into the price.

I plan on making this my "cigar lounge", with maybe a fancy outdoor sectional and some cool underdeck lighting.

are those prefab fence from local store?

Negative...I forget what company my fence guy works with but he buys all his products through this one company. Nothing from the big box stores.

 

[Trey T]

I want a fence exactly like that. How are the panels constructed w/ the pickets in between the two horizontal beams? Are the pickets get sandwiched in by 2x6 or something?

 

[Purist]

I want a fence exactly like that. How are the panels constructed w/ the pickets in between the two horizontal beams? Are the pickets get sandwiched in by 2x6 or something?

I was working from home when they began work on it so I haven't been able to really watch any of the progress. So I'm not entirely sure. Anyone else care to chime in?

 

[Purist]

From a "double" to a DOUBLE

Picked up an umbrella just in time for a family gathering yesterday.





And the fence was completed yesterday morning, very happy with how it turned out. My dog will surely appreciate having a fenced in yard to gallop around.




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[M-technik-3]

Nobody snoozing on the hamick shame.

 

[dubber]

Nice to have such a huge yard fully fenced.

 

[Purist]

Nobody snoozing on the hamick shame.

HA, right?! Granted, it was 95 degrees so I guess it's forgivable. My wife's grandparents were over, so we spent most of the time indoors enjoying the central air.

I could sure go for a nap on that thing right about now, though.

Nice to have such a huge yard fully fenced.

Amen to that!

About 5 years in the making. Makes my life so much easier in the mornings and night when I can just open the deck slider, tell Hurley to run outside to go potty and let him do his own thing on his own time.

Now, to find some free time to actually get back there and 'enjoy' my yard (and hammock!).

 

[M-technik-3]

The railings were kit? Or just the normal railings from the lumber store of choice?

I've got to put railings on my rental property since i have completed the rebuilding of the front porch.

 

[Purist]

The railings were kit? Or just the normal railings from the lumber store of choice?

I've got to put railings on my rental property since i have completed the rebuilding of the front porch.

The deck railings? If so, that's just how the builder decided to build it. We bought the house when it was already 75% completed, so most decisions were already made by the builder. We did get in just in time to choose lighting, paint, carpets and some other minor details.

 

[Purist]

Take 2 (I had written up a new post yesterday afternoon, roughly 3 paragraphs in length and upon hitting Post, was presented with a 'timed out' message. Needless to say, I was PISSED):

Man, life really does get in the way. This last month+ has been super hectic, with plans seemingly every weekend. Because of this, the summer has legit just flown right by and I've barely had any time to myself to spend in my garage.

Luckily, that's changed a bit over the last week or two. During this time, with the help of my father-in-law's hand truck, I was able to relocate my beer fridge and our old dining room buffet down into the basement. This helped to free up some room, which I was then able to reallocate to other items in the garage.

On top of all this, I went ahead and picked up two 4 foot Rubbermaid FastTrack rails and one 8 foot rail, along with some various hooks. My plan is to get both bicycles up off the garage floor and hang these from the rails, along with my extension cords, ladders and a few other items. So far, I only have one of the 4 foot rails up, but already have one of the bikes, my 75ft extension cord, my 6 foot ladder and my small step ladder. Not too shabby! I can only imagine how much **** I'll be able to get on the 8 footer.

Since we have a 3 day weekend coming up, I took the liberty of taking a vacation day today, to give myself both a 4 day weekend and a full day to go ahead and get my car ready for a BMWCCA Show N Shine event on Sunday (in Narragansett,RI), but ended up spending some of that allotted time in the garage. There are still some items I need to get back down into the basement (these are still left over from the Jimmy Buffett concert last weekend). However, when all was said and done, I was at a point where I was pretty certain my wife could finally get her Jeep Grand Cherokee parked inside. I guess I was right (mind you, she was afraid of hitting the tractor so she didn't pull up that far....there's plenty more room in front for her to push up):

These are some prints I got from a fellow BMW fanatic beer: @m-technik-3) that I'm still trying to figure out where to hang:

Things are still a bit tighter than I'd like, but there's not much I can do when I have to find space for a tractor, mower and snowblower. Man, I need a shed...

 

[Purist]

Speaking of that BMWCCA event, here's an iPhone shot I took and edited with Snapseed (yes, I left the sunshade up!):

 

[dubber]

/\ Looks great.

 

[Purist]

/\ Looks great.

Thanks, dubber.

 

[Purist]

Anyone else using the Rubbermaid FastTrack system? Any "hacks" or ingenious uses for any of the specific hooks?

 

[M-technik-3]

I used some of the ceiling racks to clear up space. As you can see karts take up a bunch of space. I also picked up some cheap wall mounted racks for wheels.



Clearing up floor space is a big plus. Car looks good, wished mine was polished up. It's still sitting in the same spot as last year.

 

[Purist]

I used some of the ceiling racks to clear up space. As you can see karts take up a bunch of space. I also picked up some cheap wall mounted racks for wheels.

Clearing up floor space is a big plus. Car looks good, wished mine was polished up. It's still sitting in the same spot as last year.

Couldn't agree more about clearing up floor space. I have options, including ceiling storage. For me, though, that's probably a last resort (due to the height). I should have plenty of storage space on the walls and existing shelves to get the majority of my **** in order.

Thanks! I wanted to polish and seal it, but I just had no time. So a simple 2 bucket hand wash and a quick polish of the wheels was all.

 

[M-technik-3]

WE haven't hand washed a car all summer, the fact that all our streams local are dry and the lakes are down over 18 inches has us a bit paranoid over having our well run dry.

 

[Purist]

WE haven't hand washed a car all summer, the fact that all our streams local are dry and the lakes are down over 18 inches has us a bit paranoid over having our well run dry.

Oh wow, that's crazy.

My parents just got back from visiting my grandfather in Portugal last week. They've been hit pretty hard with drought and wildfires. My dad and some other relatives literally had to run outside at one point with a hose and some buckets to help in putting out a smaller fire behind my grandfather's house.

Scary stuff.

You know that because of the lack of rain and the mild winter we had last year, we're going to get hammered this year. The farmers almanac is calling for an above average amount of snow, too. Yay...

 

[Purist]

Finally got the 8 foot FastTrack section up yesterday evening, so both bicycles are now up and off the ground. I need to grab a few more various hooks so I can hang the rest of my extension cords and anything else I see fit, but for now, I'm happy:

Going to hopefully get the tow-hitch mounted in my wife's Jeep tonight, so that'll be another thing off the ground:

I still have more organizing to do around my workbench area, but my son's 1st birthday party is this weekend so that obviously takes precedent. Hoping to spend some time cleaning up the workbench next weekend, though.

Cheers!

 

[M-technik-3]

Have fun hopefully it doesn't rain too bad. Though I am hoping for rain.

 

[Purist]

Have fun hopefully it doesn't rain too bad. Though I am hoping for rain.

Thanks! But it's looking like tomorrow is going to be a washout, so an indoor party is on tap. Oh well, it is what it is. Luckily, we should have the space to accommodate the roughly 50 people/children that we are expecting. AND it's a Star Wars themed party, so I can't really be too upset now, can I?!

As for the house, my plan for Sunday is to attack the lawn in hopes of having it really grow in come the Spring. Having it aerated, then overseeding it myself, and applying some Fall Lawn Food. It's been the bane of my existence up to this point, as the hydroseed that was originally used was junk. I've spoken to several landscaping professionals, mainly all of them were against hydroseed. Unfortunately, the builder of my development wasn't about to dish out the money for sod, so hydroseed was obviously the most viable (ahem, cheapest) option.

To help matters, I had an irrigation guy come by last week to provide us with an estimate on an irrigation system. I'm hoping to get this done in the early part of Spring, which should go a long way in ensuring I have a lush, green lawn in the future.

Once the weather drops to a point where I don't want to spend as much time outdoors, I'll probably shift my attention to the basement and getting that all squared away. We do want to keep some of the basement as a dedicated storage space, but we're thinking of eventually finishing roughly 1/2 of the space as a sort of play area/man cave/bar/etc. This wouldn't be for a few more years, but it's never too early to plan and start working towards some of these ideas.

To help with clearing up some free space and organizing, I took advantage of a deal on steel shelving from Rakuten.com and grabbed 2 units, to couple them with the one unit I already had in the basement:

 

[M-technik-3]

Nice to see new construction with ducting systems wrapped with insulation. Believe that's code now. Funny I have the same furnace in my rental house and the tankless hot water in my new place. My rental has a smaller unit

Beth are efficient.

 

[Purist]

Nice to see new construction with ducting systems wrapped with insulation. Believe that's code now. Funny I have the same furnace in my rental house and the tankless hot water in my new place. My rental has a smaller unit

Beth are efficient.

Haven't really had to put the boiler to much use as of yet, but alas, winter is just around the corner. So we'll see what this baby can do.

 

[Purist]

Totally off-topic (movement on the garage front has been slow), but for any of you craft beer fans, I just got back from a trip to the Burlington/Stowe Vermont area and this is what I came home with:

As a result, here is how my beer fridge currently sits:

At least I'll have plenty to drink while I resume cleaning up the garage and basement.

 

[dubber]

The true sign of a real garage hahaha.

 

[Purist]

Hell yeah, dubber!

OK, back on topic. Took advantage of my son napping on Saturday morning and spent some time cleaning up my workbench:

Where did all the **** on the bench ultimately go, you my ask? Well, on the floor, of course:

That is, until I can find a more permanent storage solution for all this stuff. Little by little, she'll get there.

One thing I'm still struggling with is where/how the hell to store my air compressor so it's centrally located and easily accessible from anywhere in the garage. Maybe a retractable hose reel mounted on the wall between the two vehicles?

I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Purist]

Now, now....don't all speak up at once!!

While not much progress has been made on the garage-front, I can't say the same for the rest of the development. The next house looks like it might be occupied by the end of November, with the other two houses currently being worked on, not too far behind.

Here are some iPhone photos I took during a recent family walk:

Weather is looking decent for tomorrow, so here's hoping for some yard work, an oil change and a car wash!

 

[tab2]

Totally off-topic (movement on the garage front has been slow), but for any of you craft beer fans, I just got back from a trip to the Burlington/Stowe Vermont area and this is what I came home with:

Next time hit Hill Farmstead in Greensboro and then Rock Art in Morrisville. The Shed no longer makes beer at the restaurant in Stowe since it was bought. Now it is in Middlebury made by Otter Creek (I think). Not much more south of there is Long Trail too. I love their Double Bag.

You say Southeastern, MA so are you close to Trillium? Ever hit Nighshift in Everett, MA?

Not to beer geek out or anything...

 

[Purist]

Next time hit Hill Farmstead in Greensboro and then Rock Art in Morrisville. The Shed no longer makes beer at the restaurant in Stowe since it was bought. Now it is in Middlebury made by Otter Creek (I think). Not much more south of there is Long Trail too. I love their Double Bag.

You say Southeastern, MA so are you close to Trillium? Ever hit Nighshift in Everett, MA?

Not to beer geek out or anything...

It was a "family" trip with a 1 year old, so I had to somewhat limit my brewery visits. The Alchemist and Fiddlehead were the two I was able to visit. But Hill Farmstead was absolutely on my list and will probably be the first place I hit the next time I'm in the area.

Double Bag is a great brew!!

I'm not far from Trillium...about 45 minutes from their Canton location and about an hour from their Boston location. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I've never been to Trillium nor Nightshift, but have had beers from both. Great breweries. My sister is good friends with one of the guys who started up Trillium, actually.

My buddies and I are hoping to hit up Tree House in Monson,MA in the near future. Have heard nothing but amazing things about what they're doing, yet haven't actually tasted anything from them, yet.

Beer geeking out is totally allowed. Actually, it's encouraged. My buddy and I just brewed our 2nd beer, which is currently fermenting....a session IPA. After we brewed an IPA for our first brew last month. Turned out pretty damn good. Here's a good shot showing off the beautiful color:

I can talk beer all day long, if you couldn't tell.

 

[M-technik-3]

Tree House is good it's just around the corner from work for me. I stop by and get some about once a month. My suggestion is you come out for Big E. The amount of Brewer's is great now that bring their wares.

 

[Purist]

Tree House is good it's just around the corner from work for me. I stop by and get some about once a month. My suggestion is you come out for Big E. The amount of Brewer's is great now that bring their wares.

Really?? Small world.

A few of my buddies from work have been to the Big E a bunch of times. I've never gone. I'll keep this in mind, thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Purist]

Yesterday ended up being in the low to mid 60's with tons of sun, so I took advantage of the rare, beautiful weather and gave my car a proper winter prep. I've been using Klasse AIO (all-in-one) and Klasse Sealant for the last few years and am incredibly pleased with the results. Easy to apply, long lasting shine and protection...you really can't ask for much more. All that's left for true winter mode is to swap out my summer wheels for my snow tire set and swap my carpeted mats for my winter mats.

Here are some photos I took with my new iPhone 7 Plus during and after the wash/detail:

 

[M-technik-3]

Last shot with the orange oaks is great. Should have that one framed.

 

[Purist]

Last shot with the orange oaks is great. Should have that one framed.

Thank you! I edited that one on my phone using Snapseed. Pretty happy with how it came out, as my goal was to highlight the foliage in the back and use it to contrast against my dark car. I think I achieved that goal.

Maybe I will frame it...good call!


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