Changes around the house and garden
include
- Landscaping
- Lanai renewal
- Work done in the pool area
- Renewal of the garage door
- and the new boat dock.
During the showing of our future Florida home the area around the screen was nicely overgrown with various bushes, the same around the small concrete dock.
But when we came back after signing the sales contract we found these areas bare as the lawn service had cut down most of the green:
 |
Boat dock |
||
|
first showing |
after signing the sales contract |
||
 |
 |
||
|
Screen |
|||
|
first showing |
after signing the sales contract |
||
 |
 |
||
Our lanai came with a black outdoor carpet (!!) as they love doing here in Florida. You can find lots of choices of outdoor carpets in the DIY stores here.
Besides tiles being easier to clean these carpets have a very big disadvantage: "no-see-ums", a tiny bloodsucking sandfly, love them!
Furthermore there was a flower bed in front of our bedroom. One may ask "Why do I have a screen over the pool and lanai area when on the other hand I breed insects within the screen in that flower bed?"
At the time of sale we had made sure that the pool area and the screen were ok.
The only thing missing when we came back after signing the sales contract was the pool vacuum cleaner, nicknamed "Schlapp-Schlapp" by Maria because of the type of noise it makes when coming out of the water. But Martin, our realtor, could help. Later we realised that he had bought the wrong type.
|
Pool area at time of sale: |
our first pool vacuum: |
the correct pool vacuum which we using at the moment: |
 |
|
 |
|
|
(one mouse click on the picture shows the respective original photo) |
|||
All material unprotected from the hot Florida sun, in connection with the salty air, only lasts for a certain amount of time. That is what happened to our screen:
in 2008, at the time we bought our house, the pool was ok as it had been resurfaced just 4 years before.
But these pool surfaces last between 12 and 15 years in average. But as it had been 12 years after the last resurfacing our pool was starting to become spotty, cloudy and the surface was partially damaged after 8 to 9 years.
As the concrete deck was not very nice anymore and Maria had been asking for a whirlpool for years we decided for a complete overhaul of the whole pool area in 2017. On top of the existing concrete pool deck we had brick coloured pavers laid and the edge tiles were replaced as well:
For years both of us had been yearning for a "bubbly hot tub". Originally we had planned to put in an in-ground jacuzzi with an overflow into the pool.
Unfortunately the building department of the City of Cape Coral was far behind in approving permits. And we needed such a permit.
Instead of doing without a jacuzzi we decided for a wooden hot tub shaped like a barrel. As it would be sitting above ground it was officially mobile and therefore a building permit was unnecessary!
In the end, after a lot of compairing of products and prices, we ordered a diy set from British Columbia / Canada. Though the transport fees were higher it was still less expensive than the product of the US competitors (some of those even refused to sell one to us as we have a saltwater system though they offer a chlorinator on the same company's website!).
Delivery and building our hot tub 
Our house is situated at a saltwater canal, i.e. the so-called "seawall" is mandatory and it was in good order. This wall is needed to keep the soil where it is instead of running into the canal as this area has tides.
When this lot was developped the former owner had added a concrete slab as part of the seawall already which we used as a dock for our boat. But as it is brackish water there always were a lot of barnacles underneath the boat which meant Juergen had to take it out of the water every 2nd or 3rd year to clean and repaint her.
In autumn 2018 Juergen bought his dream boat, a "MacGregor 26". That was the reason why we agreed to have a boat dock including a lift built.
|
That's the original concrete dock: |
Here the new boat dock with lift: |
 |
 |
|
|
(one mouse click on the picture shows the respective original photo) |
||
Building of the boat dock with lift
... was getting old and rusty over the years and it was not hurricane-proof at all!
That is why we decided to get a new hurricane-proof garage door in spring 2018:
|
The old garage door: |
... painted: |
... and that's the new one: |
 |
|
 |
|
|
(one mouse click on the picture shows the respective original photo) |
|||
