On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 09:47:53 -0700, Don Y
wrote:
On 2/18/2016 2:04 PM, wrote:
It must have popped his cork to see other homes in the area getting
painted bright yellow, teal, purple, "metallic chocolate", etc.]
That was the appeal of the wood or fitted stone approach -- something
not quite as monotonous as the dreary stucco (that covers most of the
house, already).
We have stucco over block for most of our houses, just because of the
wind code. You have to put so much steel in a stick built home, block
is cheaper.
Hurricanes?
Yes we are in the 150 MPH wind code zone.
My "village" has pretty much decreed that baby poop beige is the
standard here but my neighbors have all sorts of different colors on
their house.
Many HOA's, here, are mandatory and impose covenants on residents.
Some of those make sense (keep up appearance, etc.). Others are
just overzealous attempts at control.
Our HOA deed restrictions "sunset" over 30 years ago and any attempt
to reinstate them has gone down decisively (last time it was 44-14 for
"no"). We operate as a voluntary non-profit corporation and usually
still get 90% participation on the dues. Disputes are dealt with using
friendly negotiation and not threats. It seems to work as well as the
coercive operations.
I suggest you find a good stone yard around there and walk around. If
you are like us and like stone, it can be addicting tho. We are in a
state with pretty much no natively occurring rock and our house looks
like a Rocky Mountain CCC project. It is all stone and wood.
I'm just trying to see what options are available *before* putting
myself under the salesman's "spin operation". Always (IME) better to
have contrary arguments ready at hand to see how well (if at all) he
handles them.
I kicked rocks around at my stone yard for months before I bought the
first batch. Those guys are pretty easy to get along with, at least
here. They will usually give you a handful to take home and play with.
They are only about a quarter a pound so you really can't carry away
any significant amount, money wise.
We put in a decorative walk many years ago so went through the
experience. And, of course, selecting the "aggregate" for the
front and back yards.
But, walking on stone is different than selecting stone
PURELY for its decorative appeal (e.g., on a wall)
This is basically the same stone but the walking surfaces are the flat
side of the grain and the vertical surfaces are the end grain.
We did zero in on the quartzite pretty fast once we got serious about
it, then it was just the color (silver or gold).
This stuff in flagging seems to be the perfect pool deck. It has
enough texture to be safe when wet but still easy on your feet and it
is totally maintenance free. We hose it off now and then but that is
about it.
Pools here tend to have some form of cement (?) decking -- with drains
interspersed (to keep water from accumulating on top -- perhaps it just
drains to the soil beneath?).
That "Deco drain" is supposed to route the water away from the slab.
They are closed on the bottom.
You may get away with draining directly into the soil out there but
if you do it here you will end up with a sink hole under the slab.
Drainage here is done with grading. The pool deck pitches down away
from the pool. I have pieces of deco drain here but they are mostly
decorative, just to break new sections from the older ones. The 2000+
square feet of stone deck evolved over the years. We keep adding on.
I imagine some water does go in there and they do end off of the deck.
We wanted a yard (less maintenance?) but have considered an "infinite
pool" (a spa seems to be a total waste of space -- giant bathtub?)
But, then we're back to yet another maintenance issue...
My spa swaps water with the pool so the maintenance is negligible. We
don't heat it in the summer and when we do the solars do most of the
heavy lifting.
It is a little labor intensive laying them but the time consuming part
is doing the puzzle. We always end up playing with rocks for days
deciding which one goes where. It is sort of fun tho.
Are they somewhat standardized shapes -- i.e., to limit the number of
possibilities that you'd have to address?
Not at all. This is natural stone and they just break it up into
manageable chunks. Occasionally I will score the back side and make
the rock I need but that is only when we are scraping the bottom of
the barrel. Usually you can put a pattern together that works with
existing stone. It is time consuming but we usually start laying them
out and then spend a week or so just walking by and playing with the
rocks for a while then doing something else. When we get a pattern we
like we mud them in. The sections we got in a hurry with, look like
it. After a while you do get a pretty good eye for it. Like most
homeowner projects, about the time you are done, you are getting
pretty good. I am still not sure we are done tho. Every time we stop,
my wife says, "you know ..." and I am building something else. ;-)
E.g., if they were just random/natural stones (size/shape), you could
see yourself getting into a situation where you needed a 3" stone
but only had 4's and 2's (silly example). OTOH, if they are all
4, 8 and 12 inches, then you really can't create a "void" that
also isn't 4, 8 or 12 inches! (ignoring, for the moment, the boundary
conditions)
Said another way, is it truly a puzzle (like a store bought puzzle!)
or more like a *chore* (just some motions that you have to go through
but you KNOW there WILL be a solution)
Exactly. It gets to be a Zen thing. As I said. you do develop an eye
for it. You definitely want to do the puzzle before you start mixing
mortar.
If you use the diamond cut stones, they do tend to be regular heights.
The split stones are just that, split wherever the grain in the rock
goes. It does make a more pleasing wall when you are done tho.