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Section 2.6 Home Improvements

Worksheet 2.6.1 Home Improvements Worksheet

Problem Situation: Home Improvements

Bob and Carol Mazursky have purchased a home and they want to make some improvements to it. In the following problems, you will calculate the costs of those improvements. You will use scale drawing of the house and lot to assist you.

Review the drawing of the house and lot below.

1.

Refer to the scale on the diagram. What is the width of each box? What is the area of each box?

2.

Estimate and write the dimensions of the whole lot (all of their property).

3.

Use the dimensions you determined to estimate the area and perimeter of their lot.

The Mazurskys are expecting their first child in several months and want to get the backyard fertilized and reseeded before little Ted or Alice comes along. They found an ad for Gerry's Green Team lawn service (see below).

Table 2.6.1. Gary's Green Team
Itemized Costs:     Grass seed    $3.50 per pound.  1 pound covers 250 sq. ft.
  Fertilizer $1.25 per pound.  1 pound covers 350 sq. ft.
  Labor 4 hours @ $45 per hour

Gerry came to their house and said that the job would take about four hours and would cost about $600.

4.

Using the area of the backyard, determine how much the job should cost, based on the advertised prices. Assume you have to buy full pounds of grass seed and fertilizer.

5.

Is Gerry’s estimate of $600 consistent with the prices in his advertisement?

The Mazurskys want to build a chain link fence around the backyard (the fence is already shown in the diagram above). The fence would have two gates on either side of the house. They decide to do the work themselves. They need an inline post at least every 8 feet along the fence, a corner post at each corner, and a corner post on each side of the gates. The cost for the materials is shown below. The total cost will include 9.4% sales tax.

Table 2.6.2.
Chain-link fence 48-inch wide gate Inline posts Corner/gate posts
$7 per linear foot $75 each $12.50 each $20 each

6.

Calculate the cost of the materials required to fence in the backyard, after tax.

There is a brick grill in the backyard. Bob and Carol are going to make a concrete patio in the shape of a semicircle next to the grill. (The patio is the shaded area marked in the figure below)

The patio’s concrete slab needs to be at least 2 inches thick. They will use 40-pound bags of premixed concrete. Each 40-pound bag makes 0.30 cubic feet of concrete and costs $6.50.

7.

How much will the materials cost, including the 9.4% tax? Assume you can only buy whole bags of concrete.