🏡 Better Homes The "Custom House Build" Thread

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jason05gt

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Agree with this, and it's part of the reason I'm not fighting as hard on this anymore.

Revised landscaping quote came back about 6k lower than I expected and there's more to be saved by postponing the back patio than I thought, so we'll probably do the driveway and wait until next spring/summer to do the back patio

If I insist on concrete and piss my wife off in doing so, then it's all cracked and chipped in 5 years, i'm going to be livid
Concrete is all in the prep, particularly in the base. I had my driveway done almost 4 years ago and the guys used rebar and wire mesh, plus 5-6" of concrete. They knocked it out of the park and the only cracks I've seen are small stress cracks in the expansion joints.
 

FirstWorldProblems

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I might be reading wrong, but you seem to be a bit OCD like myself.

I have to power wash my pavers every 2 years and add polymeric sand ($40 a bag). I really need to seal mine next time, which is a decent amount of money if you use a good quality product (~$350 for 5 gallons). That's what I call basic maintenance to make them look good. This is multi-day job for a contractor, so it's not cheap.

Now, here's where I've had issues. Frost heaving here in the Midwest shifts the pavers. Water erodes the base over time. Roots from trees push up pavers. I am anal about mine and have to "adjust" them which takes time. Paver repairs aren't cheap if you are using a contractor to do the work.

That being said, walk over to your neighbors houses and look closely. Is the edging poking up? Are there dips or raised areas? Is water pooling in spots? Etc. I'm guessing that most of the driveways have had repairs done over the years.

Again, I am just posting my experience and that of a few friends here in the area but your mileage might vary.
I'll take a closer look at the neighbors driveways when I'm talking to them, TY!
 

FirstWorldProblems

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Wood floors are done, this is from last week

7ACECC7E-46CD-4694-9AE6-403771500DD7.jpeg
629673F0-D2B2-421D-9D41-01B4D4449FED.jpeg
 

Jimy Bilmo

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Looks great and one thing I will never understand and I see this on a lot of commercial build outs. Why finish the floor before the walls and other shit is done. Just seems backwards to me and now the floor becomes a liability to the other trades still working.
When they did mine, they put that super thick construction paper stuff to cover them, which I assume they'll do the same for his.
 

Jimy Bilmo

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I know and I see it on other jobs. Still seems backwards to me.
And with contractors and subs, one mofo was supposed to be done already and then floor guys scheduled, but Joe Bob called in because he took a job for the day that pays more than this one, and expecting to be back to work tomorrow, but boss man fires him and says GFY. Now, that guy is behind, so floor guys come in and handle biz.
 
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FirstWorldProblems

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I gotta be missing something, what adds so much cost? The boiler and it's control system, all the loops of pex in the concrete?
This just doesn't seem that complex...
No clue. GC friend got a quote from another company at around the same time I got mine and it was $35k to heat the garage and driveway for his project, and that driveway was smaller, so the cost per ft was similar

It's expensive AF that's all I know
 
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