Another Project, New Side Gate

It was time for the old gate to go, and we've had the doors from a friend's old gate for a few years, so out with most of the old and in with the new-ish!

Digging out the woven screen/gap filling support column (the door used to be hinged on this side) was fun, here's the minion hacksawing an obstacle...

Old copper rod, maybe a ground strap, couldn't dig it out, so we hacksaw'd it!

Out, damned post!

Next. I squared up the remaining post to set door #1 as level as possible to measure the distance needed to install a new gap filling panel against the garage leaving the proper room for door #2

Doorstop strip recycled from old setup, of course. Waste not, want not!

Maybe refilling the hole and removing all the attached lumber is a good step, you think?

then, time to re-dig the correct hole for the new installation...

I needed to build a new anchor point against the garage from scratch. This is also from the old treehouse, which was made with lumber from a friends' deck tear-down that got us the gate doors!

Here's where the story gets interesting: I shortened all the filler pieces after carefully measuring the distance between the garage and the edge of the installed gate door, slid them in the grooves of the posts and get it all ready to pour some concrete to set it.

Too wide.

Dis-assemble, trim all the pieces, reassemble. Argh.

This was the easiest part, dump the mix, then add water and wait! Granted, after digging and redigging and shimming and squaring.

Once it had cured, on went door #2, with a little work on the jamb edge to let it close....

The top crossbar is necessary for strength and keeping the doors relatively square.

The lattice on the left remained to preserve the clematis already winding through it, that will get replaced before too long

A Project From the Summer of 2014

I want to get these off my phone, but also wanted to record them somewhere!

First is the Veggie Garden Table. It started with a broken patio table: I removed the legs and disassembled the top.

 Then I roughed out the size of the moveable raised bed using leftover boards from our treehouse (also constructed mostly with secondhand lumber).



The legs got chopped down to an appropriate height, old screws removed and the frame pieces measured, cut, and assembled.

The side rails, here in the middle, got ledges attached to them for the slats to rest upon. All the basic frame parts (4 legs, two ends and two sides) look like this just before rain stopped work!

Here's the inside of the corner layout: end pieces flush with top of legs, side rails set to correct depth (a 2x4 will trim the top gap, you'll see below), with a slat temporarily laying across the middle). Can you see my mistake?

Lopping off the tongues of the old table slats.

Removing table hardware to reuse table parts

More table disassembly....

Trimming the sides to match the end piece height:

Looks finished, but remember my mistake? Yes, those gaps on the ends because of my simple corners. Let's scavenge some hardware and drill holes for anchors, hammer them in and attach some blocks.

Now, casters (so far, the only newly purchased item) to keep it mobile if necessary (when filled with peat moss and soil, it's pretty heavy).

Trim pieces to fill the end gaps, resting on the blocks.

Landscape fabric (oh wait, I bought that new, too, oops), peat moss that I'd had laying around for years, and then topsoil (the next newly purchased item) and finally, new plants: peppers, basil, rosemary, cherry tomatoes, squash.

And, plants!

Finally, a frame of leftover pvc and some mesh to keep the birds and critters out!

All Work and No Play

Well, last night was home improvement night, and I must say, I got a fair amount done and perspired enough to show it!

With our Central AC out, we've been using 2 borrowed air conditioners, a small window unit and a portable floor model. Yesterday, I borrowed a 3rd unit, a large window unit, from the wife's brother's shop: it was dirty, let me tell you!

It cools like a beast, though, and I succumbed to the wife's wishes and put it in the boys' room, moved that little one upstairs, and can only hope for little rain so that the cardboard in the open window sections stays dry-ish... what a pain.

On the upside, having AC in the bedroom might help break the 17-day dry spell....it is my birthday, after all. :)

I did manage to get 20ft of new vinyl gutter installed almost completely, just an endcap and some screws in the joiner piece and all should be done. Not a difficult job at all as it turned out, just hoping the chalkline was accurate and the fall is enough!

**UPDATE 2*** The other half of the front is done, about 15 feet, plus endcaps and screws in the joiners, so I can call those sections "complete."  Next is either the sides of the porch (4 ft. each) or the garage. Definitely need gutter covers, though, there was already bits of bark, moss, and shingle crap in there!


UPDATE***
so, on the birthday night, we found a leak in the laundry room ceiling: after some perspiration and cleaning, discovered that the ice maker supply line leaving the "switch" had come out of the compression fitting....grrr. Fixed it, though. Oh, that other matter? Sorry about my luck. (update: 25 26 days. oh well broken at exactly one month)