The joys of homeownership!

[drjohnnyfeva]

Well, sometimes you need to have some fun with being a home owners too! I vowed this summer that I would make our deck a place where we could all just hang and talk a little more and put devices down. Success.

I've always liked darts and had an old dart board that I found at a Goodwill a couple years ago. Knew I wanted it for the deck, but hadn't decided where. And then we went to Deep Creek Lake MD, a place we love, and were reminded of the Hook and Ring game that we drank beer, ate pizza, swore, and otherwise had a ball playing more than a decade ago. The kids got in on that one as they got older - minus the beer. lol.

Anyway, just decided to stop delaying and did these two little fun games a couple weeks ago. The ring toss is a little wobbly. I think I'm going to go with metal pipe, but I wanted to get it done to prove to the wife and kids that it wasn't that difficult to get these things done. Results below.

 

[Mr Boochie]

A friend at work decided to change the old galvanized plumbing in his house to copper this weekend. First time DIY under the house in 95-100ºF weather.

When I did this R&R a billion years ago, I prolly drank 50 gallons of water in only 85-90º weather. I don't think anything is as claustrophobic as being under the house with little headroom and no airflow. And all my Patton shop fans did was kick up dust.

You sure learn how to solder correctly, as leaks were a beetch to fix, once water hits the pipes.

I gave him free passes to the local pool.

 

[DesertRatt]

Nice work - the yard looks fun and it's lovely too. I like that pool (it's 115F today). We have many pools here, but it would be nice to have a yard pool too.

 

[drjohnnyfeva]

Nice work - the yard looks fun and it's lovely too. I like that pool (it's 115F today). We have many pools here, but it would be nice to have a yard pool too.

I'm 57 and have had a pool in every back yard of every house I've ever lived in. It's such a nice perk if you have the room. They are easy to take care of and cuts down on AC use if you take a quick dip before bed. On the hottest days, even when the water seems like a bathtub, it's nice when you get out and feel the cool of any air that's moving.

We bought a heatpump for it this year. I installed it a few weeks ago and tried the cooling part because the water was up to 90 degrees F. It worked, but we're more interested in the heating part trying to extend the pool year another month to the beginning of October. Ours will still be opened and working when the community pool closes after Labor Day.

We get a lot of use out of it and the deck with the TV's for movies at night or ballgames and there's a nice stereo out there for music too. It's really nice and we got most of the work done as Covid was taking hold and people were begging for work. Decided to just go for it and get decks and sheds to make it a real inside feel but outdoors. We'd never be able to afford now what we did then.

 

[krautmaster]

I'm 57 and have had a pool in every back yard of every house I've ever lived in. It's such a nice perk if you have the room. They are easy to take care of and cuts down on AC use if you take a quick dip before bed. On the hottest days, even when the water seems like a bathtub, it's nice when you get out and feel the cool of any air that's moving.

We bought a heatpump for it this year. I installed it a few weeks ago and tried the cooling part because the water was up to 90 degrees F. It worked, but we're more interested in the heating part trying to extend the pool year another month to the beginning of October. Ours will still be opened and working when the community pool closes after Labor Day.

We get a lot of use out of it and the deck with the TV's for movies at night or ballgames and there's a nice stereo out there for music too. It's really nice and we got most of the work done as Covid was taking hold and people were begging for work. Decided to just go for it and get decks and sheds to make it a real inside feel but outdoors. We'd never be able to afford now what we did then.

My father made is own "solar heater" for his pool in Phoenix... he made an aluminum frame 12' long x 4' wide x 4" tall, covered the bottom with corrugated steel roof panels hammered flat at the edges to attach to the frame, the top was thin plexi glass. He used a pool pump motor to draw water out of the pool and slowly pump it up to the roof "heater" where when full (and warm) it would run back down into the pool. He was able to use the pool year round except for the rare days when the air temperature would dip down into the 30's overnight.
I'm pretty sure you can buy ones ready to install from pool supply/repair stores now (he built his in 1979).

 

[YY1]

I just did a redneck pool heater for our 16'x48" above ground.

A simple $5 yard sale thin garden hose attached to a $38 "Beluga" adapter where the pump feeds back into the pool, then laid around the top of the pool perimeter.

It's only about 3 degrees difference, but when the pool is 77*, that 3 degrees really helps to make it a more comfortable 80.

I'm considering A running another course, or B running it up the side of the garage to the roof and back down with the second length of hose.