I am a huge fan of setting personal goals. They will change your life!

I'm not talking about thinking to yourself,"Boy I would like to ___." I mean the full fledged and committed kind of goals that you can't turn back from. Take sky diving for example- you might say “Boy I would like to skydive”, and write that down on your list as a goal for someday, or you can go ahead and jump out of the plane and  then set a goal of walking back to your car in half an hour.

When push comes to shove, the second option is the one you can't turn back on, because there is commitment. Now it doesn't always take the most extreme type of "can't turn back" commitment, but in your mind you need to build a key concept. I guarantee that if you develop this concept you will be amazed at what you are doing every day.

You ready for it? Okay here goes. The key concept is this, "If I think it I must do it." this isn't to say that every little thing you think of you must do but  more that you should replace the "Boy I would like to." with "I must do it." A year ago I would have said, "Someday I would like to work in an environment that would challenge me more and stress me out less. I’d like to participate in stuff like a 15k race. And what I’d really love to do someday is to go sailing on a weekend rather than trying to catch up with life after a week that was way too busy." Then I found the key- “I must do it”. I would tell myself this time and time again, beginning with the little things. When I was driving down the road and thought about how much I wanted to pass the guy going 35 mph in front of me I would find an opportunity to do it.

Today I am in a place in life's journey where I have used this key to unlock the opportunities to change my work environment. I’m training to run a 15k race this summer (currently running 12k three times a week ), and I’ve bought a sailboat so that I can spend Sunday afternoons on the lake with my beautiful wife. 

Lots of thoughts here I know, but I think its important to keep challenging yourself. I encourage you to put your full trust in God, surround yourself with encouraging people and keep the key in your mind with all decisions “If I think it I must do it.”

Can’t wait to hear the places you end up going as a result! Leave me some comments with your thoughts and your goals you are going to accomplish!

I've seen a lot of  stamped concrete in the past five years- enough to know how well it lasts, what it can stand up against, and new products that can help to make it last longer.

Stamped concrete is a technique used in finishing concrete that gives the surface a look such as different kinds of stone or brick. The results of this product is a more cost effective patio, walk, or set of steps. They are as strong as the concrete used by the installer, whether it is 3000psi 4000psi
5000psi.

The traditional difficulty in product longevity is actually in the fine sand and Portland layer on the surface of the concrete. This fine layer is created as the concrete is tooled with screeding, bullfloating, and sealing. I love to figure out how things work and determine their weak points and then try to improve upon them. Because of this I have a different technique in the way I do stamped concrete- a cutting edge product that will  last a couple years longer than the current competitors. I find that working the
concrete in the order of screed, bullfloat, and mag allows the concrete to get smooth and increases the surface strength while allowing for a better slip resistant surface. 

Most stamped concrete uses a powder release for the mats. This release is not only messy but mixes the secondary color in the surface. When this color in the surface wears off it is difficult to recolor the concrete well. I use a liquid release that is clear and add the color later on.

The final touch to a great stamped concrete job is the sealer. There are a thousand different sealers on the market today. The most common sealer is one with a wet look. This sealer has several issues which include sun bleaching, toxic odors, flaking, and a thick seal which can make it slick to walk on.  I have sealed stamped concrete for five years and used a few different products. The sealer I prefer is a water based sealer that gives a great wet look but also has a curing compound in it as well. This allows the concrete to cure as necessary over the next 28 days for the hardest concrete surface currently achievable. 

I've had a great experience with this technique and the pictures below show a job I did this way. It turned out great and continues to look great even months later.

Wet stone basements are an awful pain in the neck to their owners. They have reduced storage usability and seem to attract little more than mold and a stagnate smell.  My most recent project
is one such basement.

As I walked in to this project I could see a few straight-forward issues that needed to be addressed (you can see some of this in the “Before” pictures below) Most of the water was entering the basement from the outside of the house. After some investigation I traced the issue to the concrete apron. The apron had broken at some point broken and a large 20 in. by 24in. piece was missing. This was allowing all the water from both the driveway and roof to sit there with nowhere to go except into the house.

Looking at the inside you can see that all of the mortar that should be between the stones had washed out due to years and years of water funneling down and through some of the stones/ They were actually falling right out of the wall!  Not a good situation at all for the homeowner.

There are lots of ways to fix this kind of problem and the solutions vary from expensive to relatively cheap options. I could have torn the whole wall out and replaced it with new block and waterproofed it from the outside, but not many people budget for that kind of expensive home repair. The most cost affective fix available was to try to shed the water from the obvious exterior point and
this is the option the homeowner chose to go with.

I replaced the missing portion of the exterior apron outside and cut back some of the driveway to allow for a slight pitch change as well. Then I went  inside and pointed up the stone with Type S mortar with a waterproofing additive. In the places where stones had fallen out I built the wall back out with concrete brick and re-bar.

This project took two days on site. The two days were separated by a week to allow for proper curing. The second day that on the site I attached diamond mesh with nail-ins.  The end product turned out great! It had good form as well as the function we desired to see. All around a great job.

PS- Please post in the comments any stories or questions you may have on the topic of “Leaky basements”. Can’t wait to read your stories!