Spring Cleaning: Pressure Washing & Gardening
April 18, 2008 · Print This Article
I bought my first house this past December. The house I bought was a foreclosure in Terramont Subdivision in Roswell. The house needed mostly cosmetic work and I have been working diligently to rehab and “modernize” it. The inside of the house is nearly complete and with the warm weather I have begun to focus on projects outside of the house.
A few weeks ago I rented a pressure washer from the Home Depot, just down the road from me on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell…the cost including supplies was right around $100 for the day. I had enough time to pressure wash the concrete around the pool as well as the covered deck. I had to return the pressure washer before I incurred any additional charges so I was unable to get to the driveway, front sidewalk, or the house itself. Looking back it would have made sense to buy vs rent because you can get a pressure washer new for around $200-$300…I probably have a day or two worth of washing still to do.
Check out the before and after shots of the concrete around the pool below:
Last week my girlfriend Elika and I spent the weekend moving clay from the backyard to the front, filling a hole that was a result of building material waste from when the house was originally built. We purchased 35, 44lb bags of topsoil from Home Depot to mix in with (using a roto-tiller we bought, not rented) the remaining clay in the backyard to prepare for new landscaping. We still have three sides of the pool left to get ready, but we completed the biggest section.
I don’t want to have to pay a landscaper to do the work to my landscape, but I also don’t know where to begin. Neither Elika nor I know much about gardening so I sent an email to a few agents in our Keller Williams Realty - First Atlanta office asking if anyone could suggest a “master gardener” local to Roswell who could help us create design plans that we could then follow and do the work ourselves. My email led me to Tara Dillard who has quite the extensive and impressive resume. She has written five books, hosted various gardening television programs, written for magazines, served as an instructor and speaker for various groups, and the list continues.
For reasonable professional fees Tara has agreed to meet with me at my house in Terramont to create my landscape plan. The plan will incorporate plants, such as azaleas, camellias, and hydrangeas to ensure something is blooming everyday…something that if I attempted on my own I most likely wouldn’t achieve.
I’ll be sure to follow up with additional blog posts and pictures as I work on this project.
After reading about your Pressure Washing experience and then noticing the date in which this was done, I thought I would just add a little note.
Be careful pressure washing if you are a Home Owner and not a licensed pressure washing business, due to the water restrictions you could be fined which could end up costing you more than if you hired a professional to do the job in the first place.
To learn more about all the current Water Restrictions in your area visit http://www.PowerWashOfAtlanta.com
and Remember sometimes it’s cheaper and easier to just call a professional.
Good luck with your renovation project!