My remodel has stalled. The guy in charge is trying to schedule some work by the electrician. He needs to replace a switch (a regular on/off one with the old fashioned flip switch) with a Lutron Caseta that allows for dimming and has a remote control. I bought four more remotes to go with the switch. I hope to connect both rows of lights to single remotes so you can turn on all the ceiling lights at the same time with the middle button on the remote.
I've decided who's going to pour the cement for the patio; however, the landscaper is currently on vacation and won't be back until the end of the month. He's going to pour the concrete 9'out on the side of the house and 10' behind the house. [The side of the house is 19' long and the back of the house is about 34' long.] He's [also] going to add a cement slab near the walk through gate so a person entering or exiting that gate into the yard doesn't have to walk through grass or gravel (probably grass) and the cement will help keep animals from digging under the gate. In addition, he's going to run electrical lines to the shed as opposed to leaving it as potential, will use rebar and pig wire for the concrete as opposed to using rebar or pig wire and the concrete is going to six inches thick instead of five. I could park an RV on the slab with a hot tub. That future proofs the slab. He also plans to add a pump to the swale (which will include a [PVC] pipe under the poured cement) to direct the water to the street or to a water catchment system if I add one later. His price is about $500 less than the first guy and his additional pieces are much better than what the current contractor offered to do for about $3K less. This is before the actual landscaping to make it look pretty and easy to traverse happens. Not sure about fire features or when/if I'll have a cover added to the cement slab to have a covered patio (or when I'll add the laundry room in the distant future); but I'm pretty sure I'm 99.999999% future proof since it will also have footers and will be inspected and permitted. It won't have to be ripped out to do anything more to the house. The job includes removing the cement slab outside of my daughter's door.
Still thinking that it's going to be great!
