Its time to reno our dock. It needs to be cleaned up, a fresh coat of paint, and the sink and plumbing needs to be replaced. I’ll also add a small closet on the side to cover the irrigation pump and provide room for hanging life jackets. The paddle boards and kayak need a new home so I’ll also be building a couple of stands which will free up our jet ski lifts for jet skis. I will not change out the inner bar by the front of the large boat slip. We still haven’t decided what we want to do about the boat so no sense changing anything until we make that decision. I am also not going to change the sitting area.
Let’s list what needs to happen. I think the budget will need to be about $2000.
- Sink – The sink is probably one of the biggest updates that we need. It looks terrible and isn’t functional. Years ago the PVC plumbing broke in many places. I have tried fixing it a few times only to find another problem. I would like to remove the PVC and replace with PEX. The counter top is also sagging and several of the original tiles are broken. The counter top surface is made of small 1.5 in square tiles. I think I’d like a concrete counter top. The faucet is also too small. I’d like to replace the faucet with one of those tall faucets to make it easier to use. I’ll need to replace any rotten wood, sand and paint. If I can salvage the sink, I think I can get this work done for $300, add another $100 for the sink.
- Shade – The two pull down sun screens are worn and discolored. A storm a few years back damaged one of the sun screens beyond repair. These will both need to come out and get thrown away. I’ll estimate that these might cost about $100 each.
- Fans – The dock has 4 ceiling fans. The largest one is 52 inches and was destroyed by a storm. One of the blades broke off. It has an overhead light which is cool however I can wire in more lighting. I think instead I will only replace the over head ceiling fan directly over the benches and I’ll install a directional fan that can be pointed towards the seating area and outfitted with misting systems. Fans are not cheap. You need to use outdoor and wet rated fans for this application. A simple 42 inch outdoor fan is likely to cost near $200. I’ll budget $800 for fans.
- Bar – This is the area that I mentioned I wasn’t going to reno. Since I don’t know how much space I’ll need for a future boat, I’ll just leave the bar area but clean it up. It will need to be cleaned, painted and the surface repaired. There are some cracks in the grout that need to be fixed.
- Fridge – The drink refrigerator sits inside a cabinet space. The one I have is too small for the area but I’m not going to replace the mini fridge just yet. Instead I’ll just clean up the area and repaint.
- Closet Door and Poles – These just need to be painted. I may end up replacing the hardware on the door.
- Bench – I worked on the bench last year but didn’t get around to applying the finish. It just needs to be cleaned, painted and shellacked.
- Cabinet and Pump enclosure – I’ll be building a new cabinet to protect the irrigation pump and keep it out of view but also to provide more storage space. I need a spot to hang all these life jackets. I’ll use the same shiplap siding but I may need materials for the roofline since it will be exposed to the weather. It will be a very small space so I’m hoping I can avoid having to build shingles. The frame will be made of 2×4 boards. I think I can build this cabinet for less than $250.
- Roofline – I’ll need to remove the old gutters and replace any rotten wood. I know there is some on the corner so I’ll budget about $50 for that. I’ll also need to get up on the roof to clean, sand and paint the cupula.
- Lift Motor – One of the lift motors isn’t working and needs to be replaced. I can get a 1 HP electric motor for about $100. I will also need to grease the gears and my grease gun was damaged years ago. I’ll need to pick up another on.
Sink and Counter Top demo
I started with the hardest part first. Since I wanted to reuse as much of the original structure as possible I didn’t want to completely destroy the sink so I surgically removed it. I started by taking off the trim and prying up the tile. I couldn’t get the sink off and noticed that it was secured by several clamps. I was able to remove these clamps by reaching under the sink. The sink still didn’t come out. It required me to completely separate the base of the counter top from the structure of the cabinet. Once I had that apart I was able to muscle the sink out. Here is what the counter top looked like after removal of the sink.
The sink has adhesive and tile stuck to it and I’m not sure I will be able to salvage it. I have it put aside to look at later. I also cut out the PVC plumbing from under the sink since it was broken anyways.
Next I focused on the roof line. I pulled off the gutters and cut them into segments for the trash. Since I had the ladder out I also finished all of the work on the cupula. You don’t know what a cupula is? Its the little house that sits on top of the roof.