Update on the Redgard. It faded quite a bit when under water, but it's still on there. I found a couple of leaks that I plugged with some blue gasket sealer because that's what I had on the shelf, and it worked great!!! I also added a couple sacks of leveler to get it to drain better. That far left corner was holding water after emptying the pool, and I wanted to fix that before the tile went on.
I'm using a special thinset mortar made by Ardex that is called X-77. I think that I need 3 1/2 sacks, so I ordered five. They are $50 each and they are coming from Europe. I guess England from what I saw on their website, but I'm not sure. It's taking a very long time for it to get here. Because of the blocks being used for the walls, I wanted the very best thinset that there is. I believe this is it.
While waiting for the thinset to get here, I've been working on building the new porch. Originally it was 9x12, which was fine for protecting the door, but terrible as a place to hang out. The new porch is 16x24, which is as big as I could make it and have it all fit together. Over my posts, I ran three 2x8x24 to creat a beam. Then I ran 2x8x16 from the house to the top of the beam for my joists. My rafters are 2x6's cut to fit, and there is a L beam at the center of the span made from a 2x6x24 on the flat and a 2x8x24 on the edge. I then added 2x4's to truss it all together. My inside corners overlap, and there is a heavy metal bracket on the inside of each corner with 8 3 inch long lag bolts to keep it all together. I decked in in OSB and will install the metal R panels when they get here. I ordered them last week.
We have really enjoyed it so far. The roof has allowed us to sit out there during a storm and not get wet.
The two ceiling fans put out enough air to really make a difference. It's just very nice being out there even during the heat of the day!!! Even out Akita's like it. A lot of the time, the two boys will be spread out, laying under one of the fans, sound asleep.
