Rhyno's new house

prep work has started for the allen block retaining walls.

First pic is just for a path from the driveway to the pool, the allen block wall will be on the left side

These pics are the for the wall that will hold up the dirt so the pool is on the main level...

I'm speechless. The finish product should be stunning.

 

And sad part is I was born, raised and lived in Vancouver my entire life and I haven't taken a trip out to Kelowna lol.

That's is crazy!!!! Kelowna is so pretty. We broke another heat record today and it's supposed to hit 30C tmrw!!!!!

haven't checked this thread in a week or 2, moving so fast!.. You guys are lucky on the weather, in the maritimes we are getting +15 one day and -15 the next.

WOW! that is looking nice!

first level of the allen block wall is going in. Its a big wall so must be engineered with geo grid. This wall took only one week to get installed. The pool will be right above this wall....

 

That's a fine looking wall!

That's is crazy!!!! Kelowna is so pretty. We broke another heat record today and it's supposed to hit 30C tmrw!!!!!

 

Gotta a make a trip up there soon and weather here on the coast has been gorgeous so can't imagine what it's like up there.

Loving the progress!

Looking great, cant wait to see what you do to the interior.

Here is a picture from the lower part of my vineyard. All the scrub brush has been removed off the bank so I have an unobstructed view of the lake and vines now

Here is a pic of some of the scrub brush getting removed and a old pic of the brush...

 

Huge difference.....

Awesome view!

Whats the last picture? Is that in front of the vines? What are you building there? Or is that your house site before all the scrub bushes were removed?

The last pic was to show what the scrub brush looked like before it was removed, it obstructed the view pretty good. That was also the very start of the house build so you can see where it now sits

Deck is getting prepped. It will be finished in 3" concrete. I picked concrete because of its low maintenance.....

Looking good.

Make sure the people pouring the deck know what they are about, 3 inches of concrete without the proper joints will crack, you might use fiber reinforced concrete to increase the joint space but without them you will probably still get cracks.

Looking good.

Make sure the people pouring the deck know what they are about, 3 inches of concrete without the proper joints will crack, you might use fiber reinforced concrete to increase the joint space but without them you will probably still get cracks.

 

Here in SoCal cementitous decks are pretty common, but it's a multi-layer assembly (assuming it needs to be completely waterproof). Typically gets poured over heavy subfloor (1-1/8" / 28mm) with joists 12" OC, and uses a relatively heavy galvanized expanded steel mesh in the structural layer, that is held to the subfloor with a billion big ass crown staples.

 

Finished installation is only about 1-1/4" thick over the subfloor, but it's not a typical 'concrete' either.

 

Sherwin Williams has a bitchin sealer/topper that can be pigmented and has anti-slip additives.

 

 

Any renderings of what your garage is going to look like?

Looking good.

Make sure the people pouring the deck know what they are about, 3 inches of concrete without the proper joints will crack, you might use fiber reinforced concrete to increase the joint space but without them you will probably still get cracks.

 

To be honest I'm not that educated with most parts of the house build, it's been a great learning experience so far. My builder is fantastic and I trust his decisions and will ask what exactly he is doing on the deck. We talked about the best deck we could put down for durability and maintenance, concrete was the winner

Here in SoCal cementitous decks are pretty common, but it's a multi-layer assembly (assuming it needs to be completely waterproof). Typically gets poured over heavy subfloor (1-1/8" / 28mm) with joists 12" OC, and uses a relatively heavy galvanized expanded steel mesh in the structural layer, that is held to the subfloor with a billion big ass crown staples.

 

Finished installation is only about 1-1/4" thick over the subfloor, but it's not a typical 'concrete' either.

 

Sherwin Williams has a bitchin sealer/topper that can be pigmented and has anti-slip additives.

I'm pretty sure the anti-slip product we are adding to the concrete is called shark bite or shark grip.

Any renderings of what your garage is going to look like?

I do but I can't show all my cards

I'm pretty sure the anti-slip product we are adding to the concrete is called shark bite or shark grip.

 

Sherwin Williams Shark Grip, good stuff, I use spec it on painted or powder coated exterior stuff all the time. Looks like little silica (sand) particles and works very well. You can make it feel like sandpaper pretty easily.

 

The only thing I would discuss with the builder on the deck is joist size and spacing. It's so inexpensive to seriously oversize everything, and makes a huge difference in the stiffness of the walking surface, I would push it.

 

*engineer hat on* here are two good rules of thumb for lumber.

 

Strength = width x depth ^2

Stiffness = width x depth ^3

 

With that, compare a 2x8 to a 2x10.

 

2x8 Stiffness = 1.5 x 7.25^3 = 571

2x10 Stiffness = 1.5x 9.25^3 = 1187

 

1187/571 = 2.07

 

What this all means is that a 2x10 is over 2x as stiff as a 2x8 (assuming spans and stresses are equal). This is HUGE when you're covering something with concrete, tile, stone, etc. The added cost of going from a 2x8 to a 2x10 is a couple dollars a board.

 

Make everything bigger than it *needs* to be and pull in the spacing from 16" to 12", you'll end up with a deck that will never have any kind of deflection problems if you decide to put a jacuzzi or other massive object up there in the future.

Thank you sir! That's some good advice.

Poolside allen block wall is pretty much done....

This is where the pool will go....

Here is an older picture of the BIG garage. I had a allen block wall put in to help retain the bank on the left side.....

Here are the new pictures of the wall going in....