House for my Parents

Beltman60 · Oct 11, 2013

Looking good Eddie
Keep up the good work
your parents should be very proud

jinman · Oct 11, 2013

Eddie, the concrete walkways and pad sure dress up the house. How are you tying the stone to the Hardibacker? Will it use metal straps like brick? I'm a bit surprised that you didn't put a parking pad in front of the garage for washing cars and projects you don't want inside the garage, but need to be close-by for access to tools. Maybe that is coming later.

clemsonfor · Oct 11, 2013

Thats not his house but his dads. Maybe they are planning a shop?

bindian · Oct 11, 2013

Eddie,
I like the look of the Boulder Creek Stone. I like it enough to add it to my wish list when I build my retirement house.
hugs, Brandi

EddieWalker · Oct 11, 2013

jinman said:
Eddie, the concrete walkways and pad sure dress up the house. How are you tying the stone to the Hardibacker? Will it use metal straps like brick? I'm a bit surprised that you didn't put a parking pad in front of the garage for washing cars and projects you don't want inside the garage, but need to be close-by for access to tools. Maybe that is coming later.

Their garage doors face my workshop door. All work on vehicles and tractors will be done in the workshop, or in front of it. The whole area between the two houses is all gravel and it just never occurred to me to use concrete for that area. I can see where it would be nicer, but I'm not sure if it's needed. Mom seems to be the only one who ever washes anything, and she usually does it on the gravel or with the Mule, out in the dirt so all the mud coming off of the Mule doesn't build up on the gravel. I prefer to let the dirt fall off my truck, but not everyone thinks like I do.

The rock goes on just like tile. I even use a notched half inch wide, by half inch deep trowel for applying the thinset to the rock. Basically, I decide on what rock I'm going to use, how I'm going to place it, then apply the thinset to the rock and then press it onto the Hardie Backer Board. The thinset is a super strong glue like cement. Once the rock is applied, it's hard to pull them off. They will slide down until they hit something, so that's why I have 2x4's under the bottom run. But you can put them on upside down and they will stay there!!! Once the bottom run is dry, you just keep adding them, working your way on up.

Brick is stacked on top of each other, an inch or so away from the side of the house. The brick never touches the house, it's a separate wall. The metal straps keep the brick from falling over, or falling away from the house by holding them in place.

Eddie

jinman · Oct 12, 2013

Thanks Eddie, that takes all the mystery out of it for me. It's really looking nice. I like a concrete pad because the crushed rock is sure hard on my knees when I get down on them to wash tires or look under a vehicle. Even when Changing a flat or airing up a tire, I hate the sharp edges poking my knees. With your pad in front of your shop, that will certainly be sufficient.

EddieWalker · Oct 12, 2013

I know what you mean about getting on the rock. I keep cardboard boxes for just that reason. Just lay them on the rock and you are fine sliding around while working under the car.

Eddie

J F · Oct 12, 2013

It's all lookin' "beautimous", nice job. :thumbsup:

dstig1 · Oct 13, 2013

EddieWalker said:
Been working on shelves for all the closets and some other projects that came up that needed doing. The rock arrived last week and the concrete was poured for the porches and walkways yesterday.

One of those things that we didn't think about before was to have a place to store firewood. That evolved into a storage shed with a walkway to get there, and wiring for a switch on the deck to turn on a light over the firewood. We also added water to one of the posts to fill a hot tub, and then ran that line to the shed and out to the back of the yard for a future water feature, along with power.

Eddie
View attachment 340982

Nice progress. I see one of my pet peeves in this pic. During construction, the dirt always splashes back up on the siding. The way I like to prevent this is to lay a run of landscape fabric around the foundation. The thing I have run into is that the dirt can end up staining the siding pretty badly (permanently) as it tends to be there a long time. The fabric prevents that pretty well. Just about anything will do.