However, recently my Architect and I got back to work and we’re moving toward the point of calling in structural and mechanical people for the next round of design work.

Meanwhile, I’ve been prepping the back yard for some work.

Here’s the yard last August:

Lush and Green in Summer

And after recent work by my tree guys, here’s what it looks like in January:

Stripped. A Blank Canvas

The useless ornamental orange trees are gone as are all the trashy shrubs and other detritus.  Opens up the whole yard and makes space to plant a number of shade trees.  I will also put back a dwarf orange tree and a dwarf grapefruit tree that actually bear edible fruit…

The pictures represent two frames from the timelapse video that I’m assembling of the project.  It’s working well so far and as soon as I decide on the best way to post it or a piece of it, it’ll be available to view in all its speedy glory.

So, the plunge – so to speak – is about to be taken. I’m in the process of completing an agreement with Shasta Pools to remodel the see-ment pond and bring it up to 21st century specs.

I was looking at adding a spa at the same time, but doing that would literally double the cost of the work and almost triple the timeline due to permitting and a bunch of work I’d have to get done on the house itself (like relocating the electrical service entrance) before digging could start.

I figured that the extra $$ would better be put toward the roof, the kitchen, the garage, the new bathrooms and other things.  Instead of a spa, I’ll put in a nice landscape water feature later on.

I’d love to delay this, but one has to accept that a swimming pool is a major asset on the property and that I can’t let fall in to disrepair, lest it become far, far more expensive to fix later on.  This pool is what sold the house to me and it’ll be a center piece for the next owner as well somewhere down the road.  It’s a great old, BIG pool that was built back in 1971.  They don’t make ‘em like this one anymore, so it’s a really nice thing to have in the back yard … especially on our 110+ summer days!

So now this project has officially entered “design-build” territory where construction work will be underway while design elements are still being worked out.

This is going to be fun!!

Rendering by Architect W. Brent Armstrong

Well, OK, I guess water leaking underground doesn’t actually go “drip…”

I have discovered one of those things in life that you always knew was a possible issue, but perhaps weren’t planning to have to deal with – or at least hoping that it’d be a while.

My new-to-me house here in Phoenix has a really nice, large, swimming pool in the back yard. It’s vintage 1971 and has held up really well over the years, having had one facelift back in 1989 according to the files.

It also developed a leak back in 1997 which was repaired.

The pool also has an in-floor popup cleaning system. 9 popup cleaning heads which keep the whole pool looking really nice in between weekly cleanings. Well, when one has plastic pipes buried under concrete 7 feet down under the weight of over 27,000 gallons of water …..

The pool has developed a new leak. The last one was fairly easy – it was located in one of the skimmers at deck level. No big deal – cut out the old skimmers, install new ones, good to go. This time, the leak has been traced to some place under the pool – in the cleaning pipe circuit at the deep end. A repair means completely draining all 27,000+ gallons, then jackhammering up the concrete, repairing the pipe, putting the concrete back and on and on.

The pool will be part of the house renovation. So, as part of that, its time to just flat abandon the in-floor cleaning system. Plastic pipe buried under there now for nearly 40 years – well, it’s probably the better part of valor to just eliminate it.

So now the conundrum is – shut down that one cleaning line, patch over the outlets and deal with it in a couple of years or get the whole pool project done first, before tackling the house? Somewhere along the way, the money has to be spent anyway, so my inclination at this time is to get the whole pool project done at once some time before next summer. It’s the single largest project in the mix that’s “all pro” as far as the labor and such needed to get it done. Many parts of the house (wall framing, demolition, plumbing rough, etc.) I can handle myself – I can’t tear down and re-gunite a swimming pool myself!!

I keep reminding myself that this renovation is going to be a marathon, not a sprint.

Master Suite Framing, Partial

As part of my house redesign renovation project, I’ve been taking a run at learning Google Sketchup.  It’s an interesting app and for most things it’s very easy to use.  I’ve been spending some time watching Google’s excellent online training videos for the app, and I’m getting it.  I’m nowhere near the level of my Architect, but then I’ve been fiddling with the app for about two weeks on and off now as opposed to him, who’s been using it pretty much since it was introduced.

It’s a cool app, but the basic fly in the ointment for me so far is that I’m and old AutoCAD guy.  Using Sketchup is not like using AutoCAD, and like a person trying to learn a new language who keeps trying to mentally do translations to their native tongue all the time, I’m constantly finding myself having to fight the urge to think “hmm, how does this relate to the similar AutoCAD command…?”   Sure, I’ve got the basics down for inputting exact dimensions for elements, moving things specific distances, copying things ‘n’ number of times and so on.  What’s been frustrating me so  far, however, is things that occur that I consider unexpected, unanticipated or just plain wrong.  I’m constantly having to erase new surfaces that get created when I happen to complete a series of lines on separate elements that are all on the same plain and, to the app, form a closed border.  In AutoCAD, you have to specifically work to create a surface – Sketchup just assumes that every time you complete a series of lines that look like a closed border, there should be a surface joining those lines.  There are times when that feature is really nice, but I haven’t yet figured out how to force the app to ignore certain “closed” borders and not others.  So, for now, when an unexpected surface pops up for no apparent reason, I just erase it.

By the same token, one of the more frustrating things, to me anyway, is the behavior in Sketchup of the app automatically joining everything together so that it all interacts.  Create four walls for a building that are joined together and now when you go to move one or rotate it, etc., it drags pieces of the other walls with it.  Take two solids and put them together, then move one and it takes a piece of the other one with it, leaving a hole in the other one that has to be patched.

I’m not yet in the habit of creating components and groups.  From what I know so far, that may help some of these issues.  The drawing that’s attached to this post is a first draft of the framing for my new master suite on the back of the house.  In the second draft that I’ve now started, I’ve started creating components (studs and ceiling joists, for instance) and things are, indeed, behaving better.

I can’t just go ahead and beat the AutoCAD out of my head, because I still use it every day.  If I want to get good at Sketchup, I’m going to have to treat it like I did Photoshop – just toss aside any concepts from other applications and immerse myself in the new one.  No more translating between them … I need to become a digitally bilingual drafter.

The house is a 1950 model that was built by the family from whom I bought it in April 2009. One owner? GREAT! Same owner for 60 years … perhaps not so much. While the home is very well maintained and clearly shows that the couple that built the place loved it for all the years they were here, it is most assuredly a 1950 compact floor plan. It’s very “mazey” and feels, frankly, like a dark little rabbit warren.

One other side effect of the same family living here for 60 years – handyman specials. All over the house, the work of a home handyman is evident. Romex wire run outside the building in the open air to lighting fixtures which are connected by nothing but wire nuts (no box or anything). Outdoor storage cabinets tossed together out of a few sheets of plywood. A patio enclosed by what appears to be windows and doors that were finds from the dump or some other salvage – nothing wrong with that, of course, but not when the stuff is falling apart.

So, since the place needs some significant TLC, I’ve taken the step of hiring a local Architect to work with me through the design phase and to produce a complete set of construction drawings.

I currently plan to do most of the work myself, calling in pros when necessary (major plumbing, electrical, concrete, roof framing, etc.) … we’ll see how that goes.