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Category: Just Saying …

Fall Has Fell

Yesterday, the high was around 87. Today, the high was about 49. Yesterday, mostly sunny. Today, cloudy and rainy. With snow in the mountains.

We live about 4200 feet, snow level was around 5000 feet. There were 5-11 inches of snow in the mountains. They do look nice in the distance.

Stayed inside today; too cold to do anything outside. Besides, I have declared the pergola project finished. Yesterday, I installed the top corner braces, finished spreading the shredded bark, and started final cleanup. That will be finished tomorrow; it’s supposed to clear up a bit, but still stay cold.

But, some excitement — I did see a few snowflakes outside. I suspect that there will be more in the coming months.

Pergola – Done!

The pergola now has flowers around it. Mostly mums of different colors, and some purple asters, including the two in the pots in front. On the right is a miniature Scotch pine (I think), which will be the outdoor Christmas tree we’ll decorate each year in honor of Jason.

There is a four-outlet AC box in back of one of the back posts. We are thinking of some landscaping lights back there; I want to get some LED-type on a timer. LED lights are harder to find, but they will be very ‘sippy‘ of the AC.

I am also thinking of some corner braces at the top of each post for a bit more support for windy conditions. We’ve had some 40-45mph winds with a couple of storms this summer, so perhaps the support is a good idea.

This project is done. Some minor cleanup, but that can wait. Got a college football game to watch.

Pergola Plantings

The pergola project continues. Last week I got the 12×12″ red pavers installed. Lots of knee work, which in my case is difficult. I’ve been a ‘sit-at-the-desk’ guy for a long time, and haven’t had any requirement to do any outside work until we moved here. But I’ve got lots of spare time now, so the pergola project has kept me busy.

This morning we grabbed the truck from the Jensen’s, and wandered over to J&J; Nursery. Great place, and since it is nearing the end of the growing season here, there’s lots of stuff on sale. Since the first frost hits usually here about mid-October, we needed to get any plants in quickly so they can get established before the frost.

So we grabbed about 15 mums of various colors, and 10 purple asters. Those are both perennials, so we’re hoping they survive the winter here.

I took four of the asters and planted them on either side of the pergola. The mums were positioned to the left of the pergola, between it and the future garden area. I laid down some weed-blocking fabric, cut holes for the plants, and got everything in the ground. There’s some shredded bark to be placed around as ground cover. We didn’t get the plants until a bit after lunch, and I got finished with the planting about 6pm (there were a few Kool-Aid breaks in there).

The result looks pretty good. Tomorrow I’ll spread around the bark, clean up the materials a bit, and take some pictures.

I have also been working on a few new web sites. One site is a ‘play’ area for testing out designs. I’ve installed a couple of WordPress sub-sites, and a simple and complex ecommerce add-ins. The result is almost ready for viewing by the masses.

I also have installed a Drupal sub-site so I can compare the features and customizability of it and WordPress. Haven’t come to any conclusions yet, as I am still working with both.

And I am working on a new site for a niece-in-law, who makes custom beaded jewelry. Right now, it’s WordPress-based, with a WP ecommerce add-in. That’s still a work in progress. I got a big file of product pictures this morning via my FileHurl site (absolutely free no-size-limit file transfer at www.filehurl.com ). I’ll grab a dozen or two of those for the ecommerce product area.

But at the moment, the muscles (especially legs and knees) are a bit sore. And there’s some good new shows tonight to watch.

Pergola Done

Finished up the pergola today, attaching the top vertical boards. Here’s a picture, looking out to the empty lot in back of us (there’s lots of empty lots around us at the moment).
I had been contemplating how to get the spacing correct on those boards. I knew the width of the top rail (119 inches), and the width of the boards (2×6 inches). After some test runs, I figured out the front overhang (12 inches on the top edge; the edges have a 30 degree angle cut).
But how to space them? Then I remembered watching an episode of “This Old House”, where they talked about how to space the balusters (vertical boards) of a porch railing. After some Googling, I found a discussion of the process to figure out the spacing for stair rail balusters:

Determine the max clear area allowed by code (4″ locally), add the width of
baluster. Then divide that number into the length of railing to receive
balusters. Round up that number to the next whole number.Place your tape in
lower start corner (back off half the width of a baluster to start). Pull the
tape to the end plus half the width of a baluster. Remember that whole number-
move the tape diagonally (holding start point) up until you can get a number
that is a multiple of that whole number. Then mark at the multiple number. Use a
level to transfer number up. This should divide the balusters so that the space
between is slightly less than required by code & be equal. Place another
mark half the width of the baluster to one side of the center line mark so you
can see where to place edge of baluster. Check that you did it right. Example:
So if you have a 4″ clear space and 1 1/2″ balusters, you can use the 6″ mark
when the tape is stretched on the diagonal based on a multiple of 6″ x rounded
up whole number from the length divided by 5 1/2″. Start 3/4″ before calculated
start and 3/4″ past end.

Got that ? Me either.
So I found this page http://www.virginiarailingandgates.com/calculations.asp with a baluster spacing calculator. I knew that I had 16 rails, so I added played with the numbers until I got the result of 18 top rails (including the end one, which I wouldn’t install). That gave me spacing between each rail as 6 inches.
So I cut a scrap piece of wood to 6 inches to be my spacing template. I placed all the railings with their proper spacing, then used another piece of scrap cut for the overhang length on the back side. I got all the railings ‘dry placed’, and then looked at it from all angles to make sure that it looked good.
All was well, so up the ladder with the 2 1/2 inch deck screws, the cordless drill, hammer, and my wood spacers. I started on the back side to practice my fastening technique. My plan: one screw on each side of the rail, angled down into the support rail. And I used the hammer to help get the screw started.
The technique worked, so I continued on the back side, using the wood spacers to get the proper spacing and overhang. I did notice that I should slightly offset each screw from the center; if you don’t, the second screw hits the first one and the wood will split a bit.
Once all the back end screws were done, it was off to the front. I just needed the 6 inch spacer board, more screws, and a recharge of the cordless drill battery (note to self: next time, charge the battery overnight, although waiting for a recharge gives you a nice break from your hard labors).
So the pergola phase of the back yard project is done. Next phase is prep work for the brick pavers underneath.
Not only did I finish the pergola, I also gave the back yard it’s first mow since the sod was installed. A nice professional diagonal mow, with once around the edge.
And that was enough for one day. I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the shaded back porch, doing a bit of reading, and watching the jets from Hill Air Force Base fly by on their way to the training range on the other side (west) of the Great Salt Lake. Temps in the high 80’s, but a little breeze made it pleasant.

Stain Master

More work on the pergola today, after a trip to the lumber yard to pick up eight more 2×6’s. I’ve been looking at the structure as it exists: currently four posts set in concrete, and the 2×6’s fastened to the top of each post. Each 2×6 has a 30 degree triangle cut. I got that by measuring 2 1/2 inches from the end, then cutting on that diagonal. The long edge of the 2×6 is at the top after the cut. The 2×6’s are fastened to the posts with two galvanized lag bolts.

I’ve used ‘construction common’ redwood, which means that there are knots in the wood, but they are ‘tight’ (not open). The color of the wood is red and lighter color, although the posts are full red color. I had been thinking that I needed some sort of stain or protection against the wood weathering to a gray color. So I got some semi-transparent stain in a ‘honey’ color at the local “Wally Worlds” (that’s what people call WalMart around here).

Todays’ task was therefore cutting the top boards to 100 inches, so there is a 14 inch overhang on either side of the top, then cutting the 30 degree angle on each end. Then I applied the stain to all of the top boards and the posts and rails. I am letting them dry and will install them next.

Except: what would be the proper spacing for 16 rails mounted vertically across the top of the pergola (the width is 119 inches)? It would be similar to figuring out the spacing on stair balusters (them’s the vertical boards on a stair railing).

And I know the answer on how to do that. Which you will find out in the next post. And there will be pictures when it is all done.

In the meantime, it’s time to mow the newly sodded back yard. The sod has been in place for two weeks, so it is time to start mowing it. So that is also on the agenda for tomorrow.

Pergola-ing

Started work on the pergola area of the back yard. The structure is about 7 feet square. Got four 4×4 posts 10 feet long, and 12 2x6x8′ for the top side and top rails from the lumber yard this morning, along with four bags of cement mix.

I had previously dug the hole (two feet deep), but wasn’t sure of the exactness of the placement of the posts so that the structure would be square (or rectangle). The dirt around here is very silty (leftover from the ancient Lake Bonneville, which covered most of western Utah from the Wasatch mountains – those are the ones east of Salt Lake City – and into Nevada). It’s a grey-ish color of ‘dirt’, compresses OK and holds the shape of the hole, but is easy to dig through. I had some good topsoil brought in when the landscape guys did the back yard.

Anyhow, I set the first post, then used a string to get a straight edge to the next post. Although, now that I think of it, I could have used one of the 2×2’s I grabbed from the waste pile of the house next door that is under construction. (Yes, I got permission from the builder to raid their scrap pile.) I ended up getting three of the posts done before I decided that was enough work for one day. (Yes, I am a bit out of shape, but I do have lots of time to get this done, since I am not working.) I’ll get the fourth post done tomorrow, and top off the holes with more cement to get the cement up to the grade.

Our house is in a newer subdivision that has lots of empty lots. I have one house to the NE of me, and no others in my block. There are three houses across the street, and more empty lots. It is sort of nice to have all the empty space around here; nice views all around.

We had a neighbor (who has a landscape business) get the back yard in. A nice concrete border, sprinkler system, and sod. The sod has been in almost two weeks, and gets watered three times a day. The sod is ‘knitting’ into the topsoil nicely, and looks pretty good. I’ll have to start mowing it (carefully) next week, I think.

Anyhow, empty lots all around. Until a couple of weeks ago, when two different builders started a new house on the lot next door and across the street. It has been interesting to watch the progress, although they do start a bit early. The usual noise ordinance states that work is not supposed to start until 7am, but the workers start showing up a bit earlier than that getting ready to work. Since the house next door is on the master bedroom side, we don’t get to sleep in as much as we used to. Probably a good thing, though.

Right now, both builders are at the same point in the process. They both finished up the main floor subfloor today. (Houses around here have basements, so they put rough wall framing in the basement, then the floor joists, then the subfloor. It’s been interesting to watch the whole process, even if it starts a bit earlier than I would like. (Hey, I am retired! And I’ve always been a ‘stay-up-late’ kind of guy.)

Tomorrow’s plan — finish up the fourth post, top off the cement, and maybe mow the front lawn.

Tuesday Dirt Mover

Did a bit of work on the garden area today. Mostly levelling the grade of the dirt. (It is back-to-school time….) I also figured out the paver area in the flower garden area next to the area that will be the vegetable garden. That area will be a memorial area for Jason. The plans are for a bench on the pavers, some sort of small shade structure over that area, and a tree with some flowers and bushes.

We had an early birthday party for Stacy last night. She is turning 25, so, being the clever person I am, I gave her some “25” presents. There was a movie about a quarter horse (at least it looked like a quarter horse), a roll of quarters, a box of crayons (there were 24, since that’s how old she is now, but they cost 25 cents), and a small stuffed toy quarter horse. Max (grandson, 5), who is the cowboy in the family, grabbed that stuffed horse toy. Pam got her a Wii game she had been wanting, and a book. The grandkids each made a little card, and Joelle (9) made a nice crafty-type card. Fun was had by all.