Chapter 133...The Stairs

Off Grid...Chapter 133

Hello everyone.  This is a story I forgot to tell.  I know.  How terrible of me, lol.

Mike and I decided to build a set of stairs going from the back of our house and down the side drive.  The pavement just gets to icy in the winter.

I will share some pictures with you:)

First we start out by digging holes and putting posts into the ground.  We leave one side high for the railing and cut the other side down.   Then we screwed in 2x8's for the sides of the steps.

We also add some weed cloth and landscape rock underneath the steps so we won't have to maintain them.

Two thirds of the way to the top.

Looking up the stairs from the bottom.

The stairs are done, the railing is up and the rocks are in place.

Looking down.

The stairs are painted the same color as the house and the decorative patio blocks are in place.

The rocks underneath.

And the stairs are finished.

These steps will really come in handy when it gets too icy to walk up our drive.   At least we won't bust our bottoms in the winter:)

Next I will tell you about my 2012 garden.

Florida Flip 2...A New Kitchen

A New Kitchen We went back to TN for the spring and summer. Now we are back and it's time to finish up this house....and lots of shopping to do. Mike and I hate shopping. We got a big shopping trip done. The interior doors, plantation closet doors, bathroom cabinets, toilets, and kitchen cabinets are in the house. Now it's time to work. What we have to now put together. Mike is cutting out the bottom of the sink base cabinet to fit the plumbing. In moving the kitchen we decided to keep the original plumbing in the same location. It was a workable idea and Mike and I wouldn't have to deal with tearing up the concrete floor and moving pipes. It's always spooky doing that as the pipes can break. Mike working on shims for us to place the base cabinet around. Next we installed the new Island. The cabinets are in place. Mike starting on our first upper cabinet. We always start with the corner and work our way out. The cabinets are in place and the double thick plywood is on the Island. Mike screwing the two sheets of plywood together to make a strong counter top. Mike cutting down the top. Then he uses a template and draws the sink onto the top of the plywood. Next he cuts out the square for the sink. Time to work on the counter top. We put it together on two buckets. This was so we can screw and glue the corners together. Next we put it in place to take measurements. We take it back down and Mike puts painters tape on the top so he can cut the fit for the stove. The tape protects it from chipping. We are done with our part. This time we called someone in to do the formica top on the Island. We have done this work before but we don't have the tools anymore. They start out by glueing the edge strips on. Next they sand the whole Island top to make it smooth. The next part is a two step process. First glue has to be applied to the back of the formica. Then the glue gets applied to the plywood. They add some dowels. The dowels keep the top formica and the plywood from instantly glueing together. Then they carefully put the glued formica piece on top of the dowels. They set it in place and start to take the dowels out. Once that is glued down they cut out the formica where the sink will be. OK..back to Mike and Lisa world and no people around The appliances are here. Using the template to install the microwave. Mike screwing on the cabinet handles. The kitchen is done. Back to the second bathroom. Mike starts the tile on the shower/tub wall. First row done. Tile is on the wall. And the floor is next. Finally the grouting. After I get that all cleaned up we grout the floor. The tile is finished. That is all the pictures I have of the work we did. I think we were just too busy to take pictures for the rest. Here are the other things we did on the house. All interior doors were replaced, closet doors were replaced with plantation doors. We finished painting the interior of the house, we installed vanities and toilets, we added a a new floor to the laundry room and all appliances were replaced. On the outside. We added rock to all the gardens to keep the dirt splatter away from the house. We added some plants. We pressure washed the house and the driveway. The house got repainted. The back patio floor got painted and the front walkway was also painted. I think that's all

Florida Flip 2...Part 6

French Doors Here is another part of our story. The back of the house had one 16 foot sliding door and one 8 foot sliding door. Mike and I debated whether or not to change these doors out. We had to work within a budget and new back doors would eat a lot of the budget up. Well after going back and forth we decided to go for it. Our vision for this house is to make it have a water view, and also make it fresh and new. Old sliding doors will not work with our vision....so out they go. We start with the one big 16 foot door. We got the glass out. Next Mike pulls up the floor track. Then he works on taking the door frame out. We put up a 2x4 just as a temporary support until we get the new doors in. I am trying to clean up the floor under the door track. We decided on French doors with built in mini blinds for the new doors. This way you can always see the water, have some privacy when needed, and not have blinds or curtains blowing around. The first door is in place. And the second door is in place. There was another problem with the original 16 food sliding doors. It allowed no privacy into the master bedroom. If someone was on the back patio they could see right into the master bedroom...not cool. So Mike and I decided to replace the one big 16 foot sliding door with two 6 foot French doors and build a small 4 foot wall near the bedroom for privacy. Mike is anchoring the base for the new wall. The frame for the new wall is done. (Do you like our fishing line holding the doors closed, lol? Without that the doors could swing open and fly out until we have them completely installed) We will have to install the door knobs as soon as everything is in place. We bought cement board for the outside of the new wall. We will use sheet rock on the inside. Mike cutting the cement board. Mike installing the cement board onto the 2x4's. And my favorite. Putting some insulation in Once the doors are level and working properly we need to finish them. We fill in insulation around any of the air gaps. Now it's time for trim to make them look nice. Mike screwing in the side trim. The trim is done on the first two doors. Same thing for the third sliding glass door. Mike unscrews the frame. And pulls it off. While we were at the store buying the doors we picked up a new gadget...and I get to use it first It is a very cool tool Another small wall needs to be built. Since we are replacing an 8 foot door with a 6 foot door we are adding the extra 2 feet on the outside portion of the new "big" room. The three new doors in the main area are in along with the new door knobs. OK....only one more sliding door to replace. The small bedroom in the back of the house has a 6 foot sliding door that goes out to the back patio. Getting ready to take the glass out. The glass is gone and Mike is working on the old frame. The new doors are in and functioning. Mike screwing in the new frame. The last French Doors are in. Now we just need to fill the gaps and trim it out...oh and of course paint everything. That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed the French Door story. Lisa