have had this for 18 months also 2dogs pee and poop and still perfect but make sure you get an good quality

there are way too many colours going on here. Your home is a traditional style and yes the cream and green are traditional colours with the reddish brick however why did you put grey around the windows??also you have red scollops above the grey and it doesn't do the house justice. What colour was there before you painted the grey?? considering grey is a more modern colour I think you were attempting to modernise the externals. in saying that the roof would have been better to paint charcoal the cream in white and then the grey and then the driveway would be done in a grey stain. but if you leave it the way it is and cover the red scolloping above the windows the same grey and the bricks below the windows near the ground grey as well then get the drive way restained to the reddish colour of the bricks on the house and then it would blend more and look inviting.

I wouldn't leave it to the pool renovators and their concretors to decide. If they misjudge and it cracks open in a few years then will they be around to pay for relaying new limestone? I would engage an engineer to assess the condition of the concrete under the brick coping and design the joint (possibly with rods and chemset), allowing for adequate expansion joints for the new concrete and the new limestone. Engineers tend to be more conservative than concretors when it comes to design. Engaging an engineer to design this joint will cost you more in the short term, but nothing will be left to chance. Who knows there may be a better way to connect than rods and chemset - let your engineer advise. You can then get a competitive quote from the two pool companies for the same thing. Just dont go with timber decking around a pool as it looks so dated and needs lots of maintenance. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

We've just had new concrete pavers laid, and the finish was not what we were expecting. It looks as if the paveset/pavelok was not cleared from the paver surface before wetting down (and from what I've read this should be via misting rather than simply hosing down), and the joins were inconsistently filled. We're left with an unsightly mess of off colour pavers and a 'messy' look due to joins. I've tried some scrubbing with a hard bristle yard broom but it hasn't achieved a great deal. Would warm soapy water work or will I need to look at an acid wash? The first photo shows some of the pavers that haven't been affected (well and truly in the minority!) and the colour the pavers are meant to be. And this is what most of the area looks like: The following is an example of the join sanding inconsistencies throughout (the top picture is what I was expecting, the second looks to have been overfilled and not swept properly before watering in). Thanks in advance for any advice.