We are now firmly in 'do it myself' territory. If my repair doesn't work, I can always do it over and learn something in the process. Sometimes it's less effort to have someone else do a project, sometimes it is *more* effort.
'Slike my friends at Home Depot. They've had my cutting plan and cash for some plywood since Sunday 8/7 and they are still incubating the project almost a week later. Had I known they were *this* slow, I'da snipped out the parts with my wormdrive on Monday morning.
I don't get it either. It's like they are screaming "Keep your money, we don't want it!"
I haven't experienced that yet. :)
I'd be happy to eMail them a picture. No prob. They just don't wanna talk at all. Weird.
Ooopsy.
Apparently, the 'mud pumping' idea works only for solid planar surfaces, like underneath a concrete slab for example. I now grok that it's not likely to result in a flat surface underneath pavers that range from 6" to 12" square.
The landing is only concave by about 3/4" so I'm going to shovel down to adobe and just pack wet sand into the nooks and crannies using my piece of 1" solid bar and my fancy new 8" square manual compactor. I'll set the top of two conduit guides at grade minus one paver thickness and back - fill with compacted sand.
After I screed and vacuum off the excess, I should be ready to extract the conduit and place the pavers back on to the flat sand. I figure about 5 bags worth of sand should be sufficient.
The peripheral pavers are set on a concrete foundation so that will make a good height reference for the conduit.
This'll be fun in that I will learn new stuff. This won't be fun in the physical activity department. :)
I have to match the height of the existing peripheral pavers that are on a concrete foundation. The crown would be an excellent idea if I weren't constrained thusly.
Who knows? I might find this so rewarding that I end up taking it apart and putting it together every year or so just for the heck of it. :)
Sorry. They sounded great on the phone. And they did refund 2 out of
3 sorry excuses of leads for me. No, not refunds, credits. I found that they didn't have too many leads for me so I stuck with the Service Directory in my local paper. My ad costs $46.53/mo and brings in about 90% of my business. (Including the many repeat clients who found me there.)
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Here's the one who screwed me.
What about stray college/HS students who want moolah before school?
You have HD cut wood for you? Ay Chihuahua! Estan muy despacio. Condolencias, mi amigo. They could have had one of the strays hanging out at the corner of the parking lot do it for them that day, huh?
-- Fear not those who argue but those who dodge. -- Marie Ebner von Eschenbach
I want to hear this next weak. (mizpeling intentional/illustrative)
Frequent breaks relieve the aching lower back and knees (sand, screeding, and pavers) and upper arm and shoulder (tamper, screeding, and pavers) muscles.
While we're at it, drop by an upholstery shop and see if he has any
6x7" scraps of 1/8 or 1/4" foam (landau or headliner) for you. Use them to add half an inch of padding to your knee pads, which you put on before you leave the house. You will terrorize your knees, too. Otherwise, it's exercise and helps keep you fit.
Well, you couldnt' find helpers, but you can find an inexpensive masseuse/masseur to come to your home afterward and reduce the number of triple muscle spasms down to a bearable level.
-- Fear not those who argue but those who dodge. -- Marie Ebner von Eschenbach
Only a little over THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS. After hearing that they guaranteed their performance with 100% of my money back if they didn't get me five times that amount of business, I got suckered into the prepaid system. It's the first and last time in my life, I hope.
I can understand a tearful smirk, but not two smileys! That's sad.
I haven't found anything of quality in HD's wood selection, or didn't in LoCal. The nearest one is being built here in GP, but it won't be open until Spring. Next closest is Phoenix, OR, about 38 miles distant. I didn't like their selection of wood. Their 2x2 selection looked like broken pretzels. It was hilarious. 6 or 8" of bow, complete with 270 degree twists, on an 8' stick. I sure wish I'd had my camera in the truck that day.
I stick to local lumberyards with local lumber, thanks. They're usually cheaper, too. Unfortunately, the crap they call "PT lumber" is just like HD's now, with maybe 1/8" of depth to the treatment. I think they're all spraying it on with no pressure treatment whatsoever now.
-- Fear not those who argue but those who dodge. -- Marie Ebner von Eschenbach
I can't blame 'em. Whilst a yout, I wanted to start at the top and work my way up, too.
(...)
Wadda ya gonna do. The absolute worst pieces of redwood I have ever seen in my life were sold to me by my ex favorite high end wood monger earlier this year. Twisty bent beanpole with termite holes! Ewww!
Nasty.
I dug out the remains of a PT 4x4 that had been installed soon after we bought this place. It was totally rotted with a major termite infestation. The termites had died of old age and had been replaced by a major ant farm. I sure hope the name brand PT posts I used last longer than that.
I was just given some of those by a client. Almost an inch of padding and rubber on the outside. It might be the type I need for climbing in the attic. My HF pads are great, with ABS "kneecaps", but those wouldn't work in the high places. I'd have a knee through the ceiling in under a minute with the hard, slick caps.
Well, YOU wanted new experiences, didn't you? ;) Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it!
-- Fear not those who argue but those who dodge. -- Marie Ebner von Eschenbach
That is what I was thinking as well. I want future failures to be very gradual. (All hardscape fails eventually. It's a question of 'when' and 'how', not 'if'.)
One of my otherwise very knowledgeable friends suggested that I toss some blue rock in as the first layer. That dog won't hunt because my worst nightmare would be to have the interlocking stone give way into a cavity whilst someone is standing on the landing. We have a lot of water flowing above and below ground, even with a very nice French drain system in place. Erosion is an issue.
I think I have an adequate game plan. I've been modifying pallets to carry sections of the landing pavers for storage so that placement is easier. I've spent more time boring you guys with this OT subject than is reasonable.
I'll be doing all the work because the 'reasonably priced' folks either disappear or don't return calls and the 'unreasonably priced' folks want an astonishing amount of money as part of a contract for an awe-inspiring amount of money.
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