How to Build a Courtyard Wall

One thing that looks really cool and finishes-off a house real nicely is a courtyard wall. They can be used to define a space outside the home that serves as a retreat for your family. Courtyard walls can add value if done properly and if they architecturaly fit the design of your home. The above picture is an actual courtyard wall that we built which consisted of two types of stone. I would like to walk you through the process of how we did it.

Step 1

The most important first step that some people forget when doing pillars or courtyard walls is there needs to be a solid foundation and surface below the wall. In the above process, we had our concrete contractor pour a footer of concrete, complete with steel rebar about two feet wide and two feet deep. The forms were set with flexible form boards so we could get that curved look you see above.

Step 2

We then designed our wall to be 36 inches high, and we wanted to have a certain look with two different types of stone. This wall consisted of a smaller Palamino chop stone and the wall cap was a flat Austin limestone. Usually you want your caps to extend off the wall sides by about an inch and a half on either side.

Step 3

We then calculated the surface area of the stone and ordered the appropriate tonnage. Usually you can get about 50 square feet of surface area to every ton of stone purchased. Remember that with a wall you have two sides, so make sure that your calculations reflect that.

Step 4

We had our masons build the wall two sides up with a hollow center. Sometimes it can be good practice to use concrete blocks first so that the stone or stucco can bond to a solid surface, but due to the height of our wall being relatively small, we opted to forgoe the concrete blocks. One important planning step is that courtyards need to have proper drainage so make sure you insert pvc pipe in your concrete footers in the event of a heavy rain so that it has the proper exit path. In this case, we allowed for three drainage paths.

Step 5

The entry point to the courtyard looks really cool when you have an elegant door or gate. We contracted a wrought iron fence contractor to measure our opening and install a gate. The gate opening should be such that the wrought iron can be supported by the masonry. In the above case, we also added taller columns so that the gate could be more of a door heights. You can certainly do a smaller gate if you wish.

Refinishing Cabinets

Recently I got motivated and decided to refinish my oak cabinets. It was much more difficult then I thought it would be- but very rewarding in the end. I wanted to share the steps with you and give you some before and after photos so you can tackle it yourself if you choose.

Before

After

Step 1- Rough up your cabinets with sand paper to allow the primer to have a surface to bond to and remove cabinet doors and drawer fronts from hinges.
Step 2- Spray 2 heavy lacquer primer coats, sanding between each coat to get rid of grains in oak.

Step 3-Spray oil enamel based paint of your choosing. We used Sherwin Williams Divine White.

Step 4- Make sure that doors are dry and free of drip marks, then apply glaze of your choice with a painters rag.

You can also give your cabinets a major boost by removing the old crown and adding new, more substantial crown moulding. I purchased the above crown moulding at Lowes and added new hardware to make them really look custom. One important note is we did not paint the insides of the cabinet. Don't worry, it looks fine. I had my electrician install under cabinet lights which also turned out nice. I think the total cost for the refacing ran about $2000 for materials and labor but you should save on that if you do the majority of the work yourself. Remember, the kitchen is the heart of the home and the main area that helps sell the home if you ever decide to do so. So if you are looking for a place to invest a little bit, this is the place. Happy renovating and let me know if I can lend any advice.

How to search for the perfect lot

Oftentimes, we get folks that come to us with ideas on building their dream home-they just need to find a place to put it. I've tried to put some tips together for you to assist you in finding that perfect lot based on past experience.
Start with a desirable location-you want to start by thinking of things like commute to work, neighborhood ammenities, area schools, access to major thoroughfares and access to activities that you and your family enjoy.
Think about your overall budget-as a rough rule of thumb, you want your lot to be one fifth or less of your total budget for building.
Study your target area-as realtors, we have the ability to search for lots in an amazing amount of ways. We can do it by street, by zip code, by neighborhood, by map grid, by lot size, by schools or by radius. Furthermore, you can set up a ticker that notifies you immediately of any new listings or price changes for existing lots that can show up directly on your email, PDA or mobile phone. The early bird gets the worm, how cool is that?
Study the features of the land-figure out what's important to you. Do you want acerage, low maintenance, a view, trees or running water on your property? Also, look for things like the levelness of the lot. As a rule of thumb, the more level the lot, the more cost effective the home to build.
Become an expert on the comparable sales of lots in the area-a realtor can help run comparables for the past year to make sure that you are getting a good deal. A bank appraiser will ultimately verify this but you should have time to get that done while in the contractual phase of acquiring the land.
Verify that the lot is buildable-sometimes unforseen things like drainage and utility easements can harm what should be a wonderful building experience. Make sure that a proper survey is done and all factors are considered in your evaluation stage.