You should build in a window or porthole down the garden a bit, so you can watch them when necessary. It would save you from having to buy a trampoline once the wall is up.

Also some arrow holes. And a platform on top for the vat of boiling oil to pour on them if they start having too much fun.

Yeah, turrets sound like a good idea.

Code is 6', but the language indicates that is an average. Right now there's a few spots a bit over 6' but I think I'm good. The neighbor has signed off on this so I doubt we get any complaints.

I think I'll keep it pretty much like this. It is enough to keep them from looking at our yard and vice versa.

If you look in the picture, we have an avocado tree growing and we are assuming the bananas will spread out.

I think I'm booked workwise for a while.

On another note, mass loaded vinyl is ridiculously heavy.

I'm going with this for now.

Arrgghhhh, these window contractors.

I'm basically starting all over again.

The bulk of the companies that only install windows use PGT windows. They have a huge backlog. Earliest is November.

I had pretty much settled on a contractor to do this. He gave me a bid on non-pocket doors but after talking to others I'm leaning towards pocket doors. So, I asked for another estimate. Been a week and a half - nothing.

Then I pretty much settled on a guy that was very thorough in his assessment. I felt really good about him. However, it's been a week and no estimate. WTF!?

This is a pattern since I've moved to Florida. You practically have to beg to get anyone to do anything.

Another one bites the dust.

My hurricane shutters seem to be an issue. I am NOT removing them for any reason. That means most (maybe all) new doors can't just be installed in the current frame. Some modifications to the opening will be necessary. The window guys simply won't do this. So, I need a general contractor. Easier said than done. Nobody wants to touch this.

Moving to Montana soon? You could be a dental floss tycoon!

I'm staying away from the yellow snow.

I have a devil on one shoulder telling me I should just do it myself, but the angel is yelling NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Nothing beats a good grudge fence thread.

We decided to start on the pavers Saturday.

My main goal was to take down this palm tree. I have no idea what anyone was thinking when they put it there. It doesn't do anything but be in the way (we put our trash cans there).



I thought this would take an entire day due to the size. I started by using the sawzall to cut the root ball. There was some landscaping fabric about 4 inches below the soil line and so I cut everything above the fabric. There were a LOT of little roots. They pretty much went everywhere they could. The little area is bounded by our house wall, the porch, and a sidewalk so it was somewhat limited. Pulling them out was like a puzzle. You had to get the ones closest to the top and work your way down. We ended up filling up our yard refuse can AND our large trash can.

It took about an hour or so to remove the little roots but the tree felt like it was still in there pretty solid. My plan was to tie a rope as high as I could and pull it out with my truck. However, when we got the rope tied we found it wasn't in there all that well. My wife and I pulled it down no problem.



We did have one little mishap. Fortunately this was only the sprinkler system pipe. Easy to fix.



I really thought it would take much longer so when we got the tree chopped up and put on the curb, we decided to go ahead and dig out where we planned on putting the pavers.



That was about it for the day. We got a lot more accomplished than we thought we would.

The next day was going to be adding the base and putting down the pavers.

My only miscalculation was digging too deep. We wanted to put 2-3 inches of base but the area was considerably deeper so we had to backfill it some.

Base was easy. We bought a tamper and that seemed to work quite well.

Laying he pavers went pretty quickly. We had one spot that dipped so we pulled those, added some base, and put them back in.

Strangely, the most tedious part of this was adding the sand to fill the gaps. I thought this would be really simple. However, the sand was damp and that wasn't going to work. Even when it dried, it seemed like it took forever to get cracks filled. We would finish an area, then go back and the sand had settled some more so we had to do it again. We still have some spots that we need to get filled.

But we got pretty exhausted so we quite for the day.





This was only the first phase (of maybe 5 or 6). Hopefully we've learned a few things and it will go a little quicker. But, I'm happy with the progress.

You are a scary neighbor. And the homes are too close together. If this meets code the code needs changing. If for no other reason than fire break/protection.

Yeah, they are really close. That's why the airbnb next door is so much of an issue.

Scary!? Who, me?

I think I finally got the right window guy. Right off the bat he said that the opening needed to be framed out to accommodate any new window. He works with a guy that he told me would do a good job for a reasonable price. He hooked me up with the guy and hopefully he'll be out soon to take a look.

He said the shutters aren't a problem at all once the new opening is there. He figured about 8-10 weeks to get the windows.

I really think this guy will follow through. Fingers crossed.

just be careful about letting them get ahead of you in money.

Well, just when you think.......

The guys I thought would do it still haven't responded with an estimate. This might not be a bad thing. The issue with them is there will be two different contractors working on this. One to frame the opening and one to put the windows in. They work pretty closely together but I'm still a bit concerned about having to juggle this.

We had one last contractor come out today. They were by far the most responsive to what we wanted. She really knew her stuff and was willing to put standard sliding glass doors in instead of trying to make pocket doors work. The labor to get the pocket doors in is really crazy. The guy up above proposed taking an entire wall out. Putting standard ones in just means cutting a few inches of the floor back and framing up the existing opening.

The price is somewhat higher but they have a few things going for them. One, they are one of two that I've talked to that can handle the entire job. The other one hasn't responded and I was sort of lukewarm on him. Plus, these guys have, by far, the highest google ratings. Every review is absolutely stellar. I think I'll have some peace of mind with them, even if it costs a bit more. Plus they can have this done in 6 weeks - by far the fastest of any.

They do require a bit of a front loaded payment structure but they have such a good reputation that I'm not too concerned.

Pay the “extra” to get it done right by just one contractor. And a good one going by the ratings. Go for it. He who hesitates is lost.

With Zeno. Worth paying a little extra for fewer headaches and competency.

Yeah, I agree. 1st guy came back with a bid $3600 less, though. I'm going to ask some followup questions.

His google reviews are really weird. Lots from 5-7 years ago. All really good. Hardly any recent ones.

Also, his "address" is the UPS store. Hmmm....

If you take this yahoo on, be prepared.

Cue that great Warren Zevon song: Lawyers, Guns and Money!

The perceived airbnb nightmare next door is now a reality. A bunch of kids showed up and immediately cranked the stereo full blast. We asked them twice to turn it down, then called the sheriff. A deputy warned them that the next time they would prosecute. They finally turned it down then proceeded to get drunk out at the pool screaming and yelling. We went out there twice and told them the next time the sheriff would be there.

The owner has told them to knock it off several times

There are a minimum of 8 people there, maybe more.

I think tonight will be a repeat. They came to party.

This is why I'm so crazy about this.

if you want quiet move to where quiet is. and not where your next door neighbor is ten feet away from you.

the market is still hot and you can move even if inconvenient. but will not regret it later on. other wise you are driving yourself crazy over this and have little control over it. and it will be never ending.
a house is a house.
good luck on this.

I hear you. We're going to try mitigating the noise and see where that goes.

I paid the contractor a down payment on the windows.

My wife and I mortared the cinder blocks today.

Mortaring is hard.

We watched videos on how to do this. The pros show you how to "butter" the block. HA! We failed every time we tried. Could have been the consistency or our mortar. Probably just rookie user error. My wife ended up just spreading it around with her hands. part of the issue was we were in a full sun and the mix kept drying on us so I continually had to add water. We had to fill in gaps here and there. It was slow going and kinda hard.

But, we did it.

Our next job will be pouring concrete into the blocks. Maybe harder work, but simpler.

Meanwhile, with all of these "improvements", my dream of remodeling our bathroom has fallen to the wayside.