I just can't say never again, yet. I need a real windfall to feel like I can afford to pay pros to do this stuff. A skilled craftsman is worth every penny they ask for, and probably then some. I can't even afford the schmucks that don't half know what they're doing. At least I'm confident it is water tight and strong. It's why I went with 1/4" grout lines, to hide my imperfections. I'm glad I did because if I tried 1/8", i don't think I would have gotten to the ceiling without a nice fuckup glaring at me right at eye level.
“By God, Woodrow, it’s been one hell of a party.” No one will ever play Gus McCrae like Robert Duvall.
A while back I posted about an animal possibly getting under our house. We finally had the pest dude out and he didn't see anything but is going to come back and set a one way "trap" so that if it's still under there, it will be able to get out but not back in. Cool, that's taken care of. Well, until the dingus fuck face went to lock the gate and did the lock backwards so wouldn't swivel towards me to put the key in. It would only swivel inwards but wedge between the gate and the pole. I had a shitty day today and this was the icing on the cake. Had a stage four meltdown and eventually beat/pried the lock apart while simultaneously shouting curse words. Eventually I was able to get a pry bar in there and use leverage to bend the shackle to the point of failure. Now I have to get a new lock, make extra keys and hope the wife is home to give them to the pool & yard people. Left the house at 6:30am, got home at 6:30pm and spent 30 mins dealing with that bullshit. Plus, I only have some Budweiser's to drink. And I really hope my neighbors weren't home.
Our single story garage has been slowly deteriorating over the years to the point it needs to be replaced. The original plan was to have someone come in and do the demolition, pour a proper pad, and build a new one. But the cost would be pretty high. So I recently decided that we’ll tear it down ourselves - we’ll be able to salvage a lot of old lumber that way. Then I’ll have someone come in to level the ground and put down several inches of crushed stone fo one of those pre-built garages. I stopped at a company that makes them this week to take a look and they’re really well built at a much lower cost. It’ll be something very similar to this: With some modifications ( one garage door, entrance door on other side, etc ). In place of the garage door on the left will be two windows which will be over my new 8’ work bench. We don’t use the garage for our cars, just tools, mowers, etc. so there will be more than ample room. The advantage of these buildings is not only the cost, but that it sets up off the ground a few inches. That’s good because the groundwater here is a real problem coming off of the back hill. We should be able to have this all done for the cost of a new car ( in the neighborhood of $30k ) and have it paid off in a few years. Now I have to wait like a kid waiting for Christmas. I could try to talk my wife into doing it this year, but I probably shouldn’t push it.