November 16th, 2008 — Create, Curb Appeal, Design, Flooring, Handy Man, Landscape, Outside, Project, Yard
Any home can look better when you add a nice walkway leading up to it. Luckily, just about anyone can do it on their own and it doesn’t take much time. We recommend allowing around two to three days to complete your walkway, so it can be accomplished on a weekend. If you need to break it up, you can dig on a Friday evening so that the next two days are free for the whole installation process.
You’re going to need some tools and materials before you get started. They include:
- shovels
- strings and posts
- landscaping nails
- ledger boards
- plastic guides
- rock dust
- gravel
- wetsaw or paver splitter
- numerous 2 x 4’s
- your pavers
- a level
Most if not all of these items are available at any hardware store. A wetsaw is pretty expensive, but you can rent one. If this doesn’t appeal to you, a paver splitter will usually be able to get the job done for you and they are a lot cheaper. If you are using a splitter, you’ll need to add a hammer and chisel to your material list.
Ok - let’s get started. First, you’re going to want to measure out your walkway. Keep in mind the size of your pavers and allow at least two extra inches on the sides for your filler. You’re going to want to dig out a path that is around one foot deep for the entire length of the path. Now, grab those strings and posts, and place them alongside this path. Put the strings at level with the ground above your new path. This will be your guide as to how high your finished path will be. You don’t want it too high or you’ll end up tripping over your own walkway.
Take that gravel and fill in the pathway completely with about ¾ of an inch of gravel. Once you’re done, tamp it down securely. Now, take that rock dust (sand works too) and fill in the entire path to a depth of about 2 inches. Tamp this down again. Take your ledger boards and lay them out along the sides of your path. Place your 2 x 4’s over these so that you have a wooden plankway. This provides a solid surface for your pavers.
Use those plastic guides on the outer edges of your walkway to mark off the edges. This gives it a nice finished look that is very even. You’re now ready to add your pavers. Put them in following the pattern of your choice. Make sure they are arranged properly. In most cases, you’ll need to cut a paver. Use the wetsaw or splitter to get this done and finish the walkway.
Now, add in rock dust along the sides to build everything up until it is level. Tamp it down. Spread out the rest of the dust on the pavers and sweep it into the cracks. You should do this a couple of times until everything is packed firmly in. This helps reduce the risk of weeds between your pavers and makes the surface a lot safer. You can add some grass seed along the edges to give it a more finished look.
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October 17th, 2008 — Book Review, Handy Man
As energy prices keep going up, many homeowners are starting to investigate cheaper alternative energies that can be easily installed, and run on a daily basis. Whether you’re trying to cut costs, or you just want to go green, solar power is often the first choice of many homeowners. The big problem for many however is how to install it. The basic concept of having a solar panel which absorbs energy from the sun and transfers it to your home is easy enough, but when it comes time to hook that panel up into your home’s electrical system, or finding out where to place those panels, everyone can use a little help.
The first two chapters serve to introduce the reader to the benefits of solar power, and provide a greater understanding of how it works, why it is so beneficial and how much money you can actually save. From there, the author moves on to tiny projects that you can start, that can actually have a big impact on your monthly energy costs. For example, simply by using solar powered lights for your walkway, you can easily save upwards of a few hundred dollars a year on outdoor lighting costs alone.
Section three covers some basic DIY projects that will get you going with solar power and help provide you with the skills you need to tackle the larger ones later on. We highly recommend going through a few of these projects before converting your entire house, especially if you are completely new to solar power.
Section five contains some excellent advice on how to build an entirely solar powered home from the ground up, and this section is incredibly useful for those that are truly committed to going green, or saving money. In many cases, this is a powerful selling point for any home and can dramatically increase the overall value of a home immediately.
The last section in the book contains some useful top ten lists about solar power and there is actually quite a bit that can be learned. You may even want to start here before going on to the rest of the book, especially if you prefer to get little bite sized chunks of info before getting in over your head.
We highly recommend this book to anyone interested in alternative power. The tips and advice contained herein can save you thousands of dollars every year and the book has done a great job of making all of this information accessible. Installing solar power doesn’t have to be complicated, although we still recommend contacting a professional before you mess with your home’s electrical system. That aside, there are some great real world tips in this book and if the current costs of gas, propane and electricity are any indication, the time to think about converting is definitely now. If you are interested in putting in a solar power system in your home, this book will help you get the job done.
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