Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

[Greenman]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

Looks very nice. Congratulations.

[stonecutter]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

Im a fan of mixed medium and texture, but I think veneer would look the best. Love the slate, but I think it would look weird to carry the roof material onto the gable end.

[hodgey1]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

Looks very nice. Congratulations.

Thanks Greenman, i really appreciate the props.

Im a fan of mixed medium and texture, but I think veneer would look the best. Love the slate, but I think it would look weird to carry the roof material onto the gable end.

Stone, I'm lobbying my wife right now to go with the stone. I think this weekend we are going to do a mock up of a few options and see what it looks like. Thanks for your input as always.

[stonecutter]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

You're welcome. It looks great.

[hodgey1]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

FINISHED ! well, almost. I have the WFO portion or the project basically complete to where I feel I can say finished. The rest is minor cosmetic small items that will be quick and painless. The part of the project that still remains and is an eyesore is the lack of a brick patio around the entire project. It was not initially in the plans but once everything started to come together "particularly the peninsula" it screamed "brick patio. My wife has given the green light to start on that next spring. The delay is because of a few minor issue that involve money "our daughter gets married the end of the month" and time " I need a break".

This past weekend I attached the last veneer stones, what a job when the majority of all of the stone had to be applied while I was kneeling or sitting in some kind of awkward position...... "I'm not 20 anymore". I also cut and installed all of the red cedar shakes in the gable end. I hope people like it, its been a labor of love vs hate at times but now that its complete, I feel very proud of how its turned out and relieved to have it done!

[deejayoh]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

Chris,

job well done. Looks fantastic!

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

turned out very nice.

[hodgey1]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

Thanks DJ and Russel for your kind comments. I could not have done it or at least as well if it haden't been for the help from you guys and others.

[hodgey1]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

Hello All,

It was a extremely long, cold winter in NW PA. I fired my stove up last week for the first time since Novemebr. I started with a few small fires in hopes of displacing any accumulated moisture that may have entered the bricks over the winter. Then cooked my first pizzas that turned out great. Cant wait for full blown summer to get here to start using it more often. 38* and raining currently.

This is the start of my third summer on this project. The WFO portion was usable the first summer. Second summer I spent finishing the exterior and counter tops. This year we are installing a patio to finish and tie it all together. So, last weekend I removed my peninsula in preparation for a new patio. The current plan is to have a exposed aggregate concrete patio poured, hopefully in the next week or two. I will post pics as we progress. Posted below is before and after this weekends tear apart and a pic of one of my first pies of the season.

[Mactrev]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

Excellent work !! You and your wife should be very proud of what you have created. I am currently building a 32" adobe oven and can't wait to start cooking in it.

[hodgey1]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

Excellent work !! You and your wife should be very proud of what you have created. I am currently building a 32" adobe oven and can't wait to start cooking in it.

Mactrev, thank you for the nice comments. We are both very pleased and can't wait to be completely finished. Hope your adobe oven project goes well, soon you to will be making great pizza and roasts.

[stonecutter]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

What's your plan for the patio?

[hodgey1]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

What's your plan for the patio?

Glad you stopped by Stone. I had my heart set on a stamped concrete patio until I got pricing, Nearly $16.00 sq' and our plan is around 600 sq'. So, plan B was pavers but after our second winter in a row of -20*F days on end, alot of paver patios I've seen have heaved bad. I know concrete will heave also but seems to settle after frost retreats better at saw cuts. So plan C is exposed aggerate finish concrete at $9.00 sq'. Any Thoughts?

[stonecutter]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

Any Thoughts?

Yes.

Excavate all the organic soil and material down to subsoil. Pitch the sub grade to daylight the drain water or install perf pipe curtain drains. Use only 1/4" or 3/8 crushed, washed stone for your setting medium.....not sand,crusher run or gravel. Fines hold water, soaked base heaves in the winter. Screed out the crushed stone and set stone, clay or concrete pavers. If you use travertine pavers, stay away from gold from turkey and anything from Mexico....though the gold trav from turkey isn't too bad, but occasionally you'll get a pallet of soft stuff.

[stonecutter]

Re: Starting 42" NW Pensylvania

Also, smaller units are vastly superior to a concrete slab long term in a freeze thaw zone. No contest in the beauty dept too....unless you are talking about concrete pavers. My preference is stone pavers or flags first, Clay SWB pavers next, followed by concrete pavers.