sb127 said:
FinsUp said:
Okay, unless I'm mistaken, there's never been a fire in that fireplace. And where's the gratuitous picture of the refrigerator door hanging open stuffed to the gills with bud lights? Do you need Richard and I to come down there and help you break that sucker in?
Seriously though, awesome place!
LMAO :lol: Good call on the fireplace. It was just finished in April. It's 100 degrees in Dallas, so no store carries fireplace grates, nor does sitting by an open flame sound appealing right now. We'll have to break it in this fall....if we actually have fall in Dallas.
The fridge is packed with beer...REAL beer, not Bud Light!
I'll be sure to open the door for the next pic.
I have an 11' Sunbrella umbrella, fiberglass ribs, right out my back door, on Trex deck, with table and chairs of course, that allows me to sit outside much of the year, including our mish/mush "fawinspri" season. Great for really enjoying the few gentle rains we have throughout the year. (Folks, we usually don't get rain; more often sideways blowing "toad chokers".) A good sized off set (cantilever) Sunbrella umbrella, heathered beige color, would be just the thing for getting the most use out of your fireplace area most of the year. "heathered beige" is the perfect color to match your other fabrics. Look for umbrellas that have fiberglass ribs. Also, there is a minor attachment, purchased separately, that helps with wind with off-set umbrellas. My pole umbrella has withstood 70 mph winds, in open position. I wouldn't, though, advise doing that especially with an off-set.
In a major storm last fall, the 70 mph one, my umbrella (not cantilever) lifted out of the heavy base (the screws that secure the pole in base had obviously loosened), hovered a few feet above the table for a while, like a helicopter, and then went flying across the deck, slamming into the steel rails, taking the table and some chairs with it.
It was truly an amazing thing to see. The storm raged on through the next day so it was a couple of days before I could inspect for damage. Not one scratch or dent to anything, umbrella or furniture. Only damage was the table's center glass tile that the pole goes through. I'm certainly sold on fiberglass umbrella parts and Sunbrella fabric. :-D
I watch the weather predictions/conditions closely, 24/7, for many reasons. I don't like for my cantilever to be open when winds are going to be near or over 40 mph although it has stacked bases, >300 lbs.
My 11 footer is a non-tilting Fiberbuilt. On link there is a wind test video. I didn't believe it until I actually purchased one. I can't remember who I ordered it from (can look it up), but from the start the umbrellas canopy, in my opinion, sagged just enough in heavy rain, that a wind gust would throw the collected water off suddenly. After a quick call to the seller, Fiberbuilt sent me a whole new canopy. Great service from the seller. I, also, have a 9' Sunbrella, Half umbrella. Last fall I couldn't get it to crank down and it was doing the same thing with water. Different seller. I contacted them and the manufacturer sent me a whole new umbrella. As a note..... I've had many patio umbrellas, over the years, mostly lesser quality fabrics. I never had the water collection issues with any of the "a little lesser quality fabrics" nor the "much less quality fabrics". It seems to be only the Sunbrella that tends to do that, of the ones I've had or currently have. The original Sunbrella half-umbrella has been in open position for over a year (the one I can't crank down) and has gone through many gale force winds and the record 16" of heavy wet snow we got in Feb. this year. It did fall over during the snow storm from weight of snow but sill looks brand new. It's base has extra weights added to it too. In fact all of my bases have double or triple "recommended" weight bases.
http://www.patioumbrellas.com/patio-umb ... brella.cfm
BTW... I'm in Cedar Hill, on the hill, so most wind gust speeds measured in Dallas result in 15-20 mph greater wind speed out here.
gg=alice
