Lol!
Looking awesome!
One more vote for the lights. We just started doing our landscape lighting and it makes SUCH a difference. Don't skimp on those
Owner/builder SoCal
- Thread starter joanniern
- Start date
Lol!
Looking awesome!
One more vote for the lights. We just started doing our landscape lighting and it makes SUCH a difference. Don't skimp on those
We're back from Yosemite and while we were there we ordered rope light to put under the steps like this:
There will be no stubbed toes here!
Today Mike began pouring the concrete forms for all of the mesh fence posts.
I built a foam planter and plastered it and then plastered the risers on the stair treads - I'll paint them gray but no hardiplank because the plaster turned out pretty good.
I still want to put one smooth gray color coat on the planter so it looks like concrete.
There will be no stubbed toes here!
Today Mike began pouring the concrete forms for all of the mesh fence posts.
I built a foam planter and plastered it and then plastered the risers on the stair treads - I'll paint them gray but no hardiplank because the plaster turned out pretty good.
I still want to put one smooth gray color coat on the planter so it looks like concrete.
I built a foam planter and plastered it and then plastered the risers on the stair treads - I'll paint them gray but no hardiplank because the plaster turned out pretty good.
I still want to put one smooth gray color coat on the planter so it looks like concrete.
Wow, Joannie, that looks great! How difficult or in your case easy was it to create the foam planter? I would like to do something similar but have no clue how to go about it.
I would say it is a very easy project. I bought an 1 1/2" foam sheet from the insulation section and took off the skins (the plastic and metal sheets stuck to it) to expose the raw eps. Then I cut it using my electric carving knife. I glued it together with pl premium construction adhesive and used 2 1/2" screws to hold it together while the glue cured. You can kinda see in the pic that I have blocking - I threw those in to keep the foam from bowing. I'd probably add them in every 16" like framing. I placed mine lower than the top edge so that dirt will hide them. While that dried I applied self adhesive fiber mesh tape to the outside. Wrapping it from one side to the other slightly overlapping the seams as I went. It doesn't stick that well so I used spray adhesive to fix that. Once that was done I coated it with some surface bonding concrete mixed with an acrylic fortifier. If you're near a building supply foam coat or polybond is made to cover foam but I didn't feel like driving the extra five minutes to the supply house so I made my own foam coat. That's it. You can paint it or add another decorative layer but it's really straight forward and dries stout.
I like your rope lights and have some steps that I'm interested in doing. What do they hook up to and what is the power source?
Also do you bury the rope once it's at the end of the stairs?
Just trying to figure out how they work
Also do you bury the rope once it's at the end of the stairs?
Just trying to figure out how they work
No because I'm inpatient. But that sounds like a good idea. I'll try it on the others
We ordered 12v. The rope can be cut every three feet and connects into a power cord that is specific to rope light. That gets connected to a junction box (or straight to a transformer if it's close enough) then from the junction box to a transformer then to the control panel. We bought it from https://www.affordablequalitylighting.com/?gclid=CLju9eS73tQCFUWRfgodiUMK1w they are actually in our neighborhood but that was just a coincidence because we bought it online while we were in Yosemite [emoji23]
If you know the size you need you can order it cut we bought a 50' roll of it and will cut our own
".... very easy project......" Spoken from a serious DIY-er!!! This is why I'm so quiet with your thread. I feel like the shy little one in awe of such masters, so I hide around the corners and watch from the safety of my computer! Ya'll are amazing!
Thanks for the info. It's all alien language but I'll sort through it lol
See I think she needs to take and share pics of each item she is talking about so we can see and MAYBE figure out what she is saying.........I got foam board and fiber tape.........all the other stuff
Kim
Kim
Ok here is my planter. I'll fill it with dirt after our lights get delivered and installed.
Mike working on his fence posts.
The "wood" was delivered last night for our deck
Mike working on his fence posts.
The "wood" was delivered last night for our deck
- Jun 18, 2015
- 712
- Pool Size
- 11000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Wow Joannie - you guys amaze me! The planter - much to my chagrin I thought "styrofoam?" But it looks fantastic! I have to ask though - why foam and not a harder substance?
It's strong, I swear! Foam is used in all sorts of buildings - in fact I'd bet all of Vegas is foam. My dad ran a commercial and residential stucco business for over 30 years and foam is one of their trade secrets (although I'm not sure how secret it is anymore)
- May 23, 2015
- 25,716
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Yep.
Every stucco exterior here in the desert is foam board nailed to the plywood. The foam is covered with a wire mesh (think chicken wire) and then stucco is applied. No one does wood lathe/stucco anymore. Also, look closely enough and you'll see most of the raised planters at shopping centers and malls around here are all stucco coated foam board.
Cheap, simple and easy to replace.
Ya know I have a place on the front of the pool house that needs to be redone......I bet this would work!
Kim
Kim