Backyard Fall Landscaping

With the garage looking great and the fall coming, it was time to get a move on with the first part of the backyard landscaping...

For the flower garden along the driveway, Lianne wanted a nicely landscaped flower-bed, not the foot-deep tangle of weeds we had now. "The 'chicken-wire' fence also has to go!"; she added.

Here's what it looked like in the spring, and fall (with the invasion of morning glory):
(click for larger pictures)


If we took out all the soil (saving the bulbs and poppy plant) we could get a load of triple mix in and start anew.

First we dug out the garden border. Turns out it was 8" deep concrete with rebar! Then came out all the soil down to a depth of 12".

Unfortunately, the cedar tree near the house also had to go. (sniff) It was right in the way of where the new gate opening would go (the existing one made redundant due to the basement fireplace cap in the way).

After that a weed barrier was laid, and two yards of new soil put in. Ta-da, brand new flower garden, ready for spring planting!



We also had a vision for the back of the yard; the part that still gets some sunlight at the end of the day. Currently it is a vegetable garden, once home to the largest beefsteak tomatoes you have ever seen (a gift from the last owner who brought seeds over from Italy apparently).

Well, with the house reno, the garden was neglected, trampled, then weed-infested, and finally sand-covered (with dirt from the driveway centre strip re-sodding). What a mess! Also, the back fence was a major eyesore, and behind it a ugly block wall of a neighbour's garage. Ugh!



The plan was to build a deck right on top of the unused garden, and put up a lattice wall in front of the fence and block wall to hide the eyesores.

For simplicity and easy access, a low 10x14 floating deck was in order. It would sit on numerous supports for stability, and be covered in 5/4" x 6 x 14 ft pressure treated boards for strength and longevity. We paid our house contractor to take away all the concrete, gravel, sand, and weed-choked dirt. We then met at Rona to bring home all the 14' deck boards. One truck, two goals.

Here's the project mid-way - Almost done framing the deck:



There are lots of supports (fifteen). Most are under the landscape fabric laid to keep weeds from growing up under the deck.

The lattice fence went up shortly thereafter with Captain (Admiral?) Cyr's help, and here's the deck ready for next summer!



Unfortunately it rained a lot in September, and it was too wet to buy sod to re-do the entire back yard (notice bald spots), eventually getting too late in the season anyway - so this is what it looks like going into the winter.



Here's the link to all the photos of the project!

Garage Facelift

One of the common questions people ask us when touring Elmsdale Estates is why didn't we renovate the garage when we did the rest of the house?

The answer of course is always time and money. (usually not enough of both).

After the house was done, the garage still had peeling door paint, and worn out walls made of a unique product called InsulBrick. For those not up on these things, this 40's invention is cardboard fibre covered in an asphalt skin that has been surface molded into brick patterns, and then had shingle-grit pressed into it. Some people call it GhettoBrick due to the aura it imparts on a neighborhood that uses it extensively.

Anyway, it was now another summer and with last fall's new shingles working well to keep the garage insides dry, it was time to fix up this eyesore. As other web sites say so well: "It's ugly to look at, but easy to cover".

Here is the before shot:

And after a couple of weekends of siding and painting, it now looks like this:

If you want to see the transformation, here is a link to the photos of the whole job.
 

Small SoapStone Facelift

The soapstone counters in the kitchen have been sitting there since the day we bought and then installed them about two years ago.  They technically needed some additional finishing, but with all the other work being prioritized, they just got left as is.

Soapstone is fantastic material, but it can scratch and after 2 years and no preventative oiling, it ends up with blotchy spots.

To correct this, you have to sand down the scratches (easy!) and also use acetone to remove the spots - equally easy. The hardest part on our counters was actually sanding enough on the front edge and top to remove the markings made by the vendor.

Here is the step-by-step actions, applied on the right side counter as it was the side with the most scratches. We had added an extra piece, just an inch wide, to make the counter a touch longer at one end. This extra piece was itself a little bit big at the front and needed to be sanded down.

This shows the writing and the extra piece at the end.

The scratches (click to zoom):

The sanding was done first with a 80/100 grit, and then followed by hand with a finer 200 grit sandpaper.

The scratch part sanded out (click to zoom and see top of photo)

Lianne producing so much dust throughout the house that we are still trying to get rid of it months later!

After the dust is cleaned off, the counter is ready for oiling.  This is done using a food-grade mineral oil.  It brings out the stone beautifully.   The initial application is what you see here.  After a day or two, the oil soaks in and needs an additional coat or two.  After that, it is up to the owner as to how often the counter is oiled.

Here are the Before and After shots of both sides of the counter.  Well worth the effort!

Basement floor and wall cabinet

Just in time for the end of winter, we get another indoor task completed. When Lianne was away, Andreas finished the rec-room floor. What a valentine's present. :)

Since then, the hallway has been completed, all the quarter-round installed and wood-filled, and custom thresholds and transitions fitted. Everything has a waterproofing layer of DeltaFL with an air-gap underneath, 1/2" of insulation next, laminate underlay and finally 8mm laminate flooring.

The wall cabinet is Ikea PAX that has been waiting installation for months, and of course it had to be custom fitted and cut-down to fit under the ducting and around stack pipe protrusions!

Here's the pictures.

Garage gets a new roof

October 24, 2009

The garage desperately needed re-roofing. With a nail-gun loaner & a few sunny hours one cool Sunday afternoon, Andreas took care of the roof!

While Andreas did the garage, Lianne's job was to clean up the backyard scrub.

This is why the garage needed the new roof & why the backyard needed cleaning up!



Andreas at work:



And, Voila! Shiny new roof.


The harvest vegetable soup that Lianne made for lunch...yum!

We build a landing!

One more thing to cross off the list for the still-open building permit. We have a back sliding door that now actually goes somewhere safe.

More Deck Shots

Back in the Saddle Again

8 months later...we've been busy with other major projects. Those projects are now complete and we are starting again on the long-dusty left over things at the Estates.

Starting with...the Kitchen! We finally added the two panels around the fridge & a slim cupboard down the far side. Over the fridge was a bit of challenge, because IKEA has only 30" or 36" above-fridge cabinets and we have a 33" fridge.

Andreas loves a challenge so now we have a 'custom' fridge surround!








Next up is the final panel that wraps around the island; installing the toe-kick and central-vac , under-cabinet lighting & trim and then the crown that goes along the top of all the cabinets.