Leak in the Driveway

I'm not sure exactly why I walked outside, specifically over to where my wife parks her car, but I did.  To provide most of you with a frame of reference, she parks on a  paved slab, that has two brick steps that lead up to a little porch, about 2 steps from where she stands when she gets out of the car.  One step up, there is a small pool of water and little bubbles coming up...there is also a trail of water from where the pool spilled over the step and spread out into the driveway.  All in all, I figure the leak was probably new, though I didn't know how much water was flowing and where from.

For a little background, this is my second leak since I moved into my house, about 1.5 years ago.  The first one involved a spigot in the farthest corner of my .75 acres.  The spigot popped off and was free flowing.  My gardener found it and we quickly plugged it, though it left a huge pool of water.  That begged the question how long the thing was running like that.  Well, my next water bill answered that question. $600 more than normal worth of water : ( However, the water district game me a one time reduction of almost $300, but still.

My second bought with a leaking pipe brought back the bad taste from my first.  I called a buddy, got some mallets and chisels and began hacking up the bricks, I'll the while hoping the leaky pipe was actually under the bricks and wouldn't require me to break up the slab driveway.  After about 2 feet of digging, after removing 8 or 9 bricks, I found what could best be described as a pin prick size geyser coming out of the 1 inch pvc coupling.  Leak found.

Like any home fix-it project, it's never as easy as it seems.  We detached the old pvc, (1 side threaded male 3/4 to female pvc 1 inch connector, 1 inch tube, 45 degree elbow and more pvc) and took it to the hardware store to buy the equivalent.  The short of it is what we bought fit almost...and by almost I mean not at all.  By now the main water has been off in the house for 3 hours and 1 of the 2 flushes we had left was already gone. Instead of trying to get other fittings, pulling lines, possibly break slab, etc, we decided to go for a quick fix for the day so we could do it 'right' at a later date.  So, back to the hardware store to buy a flexible copper tube (like the ones used on water heaters).

We bent and pulled, prodded and prayed and the damn thing still didn't fit.  Back to the hardware store.  Instead of copper, we returned with a braided steel line that was longer and more flexible (we made it loop from point a to b), flushed the supply line and had water.  That got us through the night, so we could get the new fittings and do it the right way tomorrow...tomorrow is actually today.

I'm wondering, with everything working with our temporary fix, how long i'm going to have a big hole in my steps before I go back and fix it the right way?  Any guesses?

Update

The poly on the floor bubbled on application.  We fixed that by scraping up the bubbles and re-applying the poly.  It looks better now.  I wanted to upload some photos of my barn / guest house.  Both not projects being started now, but they have potential.

 

Apparently, the wood is distressed and antique. 

Poly Sealer Down

Here it is with the polyurethane sealer down.  Kinda cool.  Check it out.

 

Some of the photos have funny lighting, but the 2nd picture is pretty much the color it looks like.  

Last step is a putting on the wax coating.  Then we are good to go.     

Cutting The Concrete Floot

Today we used a grinder to free-hand cut what's supposed to look like big tiles into the concrete floor.  Let me know what you think.

 

You'll probably notice that it's a lot lighter in color than the pictures from yesterday.  When the concrete stain dries, it lightens up.  When we apply the polyurethane sealer, it will take on a darker, wet, glossy look.  

For now, I have to clean up all the dust.  Then, I'll apply one layer of the sealer, wait 6-12 hours, then apply another layer.  After the 2nd layer dries, then I'll put on a layer or two of wax.

Concrete Stain

After pulling up the carpet in the family room and pulling up the tile and thin set in the kitchen, we saw a concrete floor that was half painted and a couple cracks in the concrete itself, not to mention the tack strip concrete nail holes and random rough spots in the concrete finish.  We decided to put down a 3/8 of an inch overlay and let it cure for a week.

A week later, we sprayed with concrete spray.  That's where we are at now.  Check out the pics below and let me know what you think.

We are going to use a grinder to put in what looks like grout lines, so it'll have the look of giant, stone, free form slate.  Then, we'll lay 2 layers of sealer, then wax and it'll be done.

Over My Head From the Get Go

My wife and I finally found the foreclosure of my dreams : )  She liked it, I loved it!  The house is 4b 2b approx. 1900~ sq ft. with a small 1 B 1B guest house and a HUGE Barn on .76 acres.  The barn potential alone made it worth while.

Things we knew needed to be done ASAP going into the purchase were:

- Spot treatment for termites
- Carpet Cleaning
- Fence Repair/Rebuilding
- Purchase Appliances (All but dishwasher)
- Electrical work in the main house
- Replace all missing Base Boards (Who steals base boards?)
- Paint Interior - All walls, 'cept ceiling
- Replace all face plates on outlets
- Install internal gates for dogs
- Replace toilets
- Window Treatments
- Remove carpet in family room
- Remove tile in kitch
-Stain concrete in kitchen and family room
- Kill ants and Spiders (tons of them)
- Major lawn work (Remove termite infested huge dead tree, 30+ un-cared for fruit trees on property-some dead, irrigation lines tested and sprinkler head fixes, tons of leaves/dead fruit, etc).

Long Term Projects

- New sub-panel on barn to power it up
- Take guest house down to foundation and rebuild
- Potential Leach Line issue with septic tank
- Pave the back 60% of our U shaped driveway

I'll post before pictures next. 

Most of the work is being done by my wife and I, close friends and the occasional contractor when the work has a high probability that doing it myself will lead to my death or the death/destruction of someone else or the property itself.

Hopefully, the story of our trials and errors will be useful to those of you in a similar situation.