Repositioning of the steps

This past weekend I finally got a latch installed on my new gate. I added a new gate up near the house when I was rebuilding the fence this past summer. My only problem is that I needed to move the steps I had built at the old gate location. I also had to get a latch installed on the new gate, and I just about finished up the fence/gate work as the November rains hit last fall.

I had to raise up the latch catch a few fractions of an inch, due to the way the latch fit together. A small piece of metal from the garage worked for this. I wasn't wearing work gloves at this point, which soon caused me some pain. As I was screwing in the first screw - it caught the metal, which began to rotate. So - at drill speed - the sharp corner of this piece of metal sliced a finger on my left hand holding the piece in place. A few drops of blood later, putting on some gloves, and a small scrap of wood kept the metal from spinning any more. The latch was now installed.

New latch - with the owie bad metal

In order to place the steps, I had to do a little digging first. Before I could do the digging, I needed to remove some of the ground cover plants. No problem here.

I then needed to remove some dirt near the curb so I could place some flat concrete blocks. I needed these to be the support at the bottom of the steps. Due to the slope up to our yard, I also needed to remove some dirt where the step hangers would be. More dirt also needed to be removed from the top of the bank for more concrete blocks to provide a firm foundation for the top of the steps. Since Sunday was over 80° - this was starting to feel like a hard summer's day worth of work. Connor was a big help to me. He managed to move the concrete blocks from the old stair location to the new. There were just about at his maximum strength - but he did it. That gave me more time to keep digging. But - I still ran out of time, though I did get the steps level and stable. I still need to do a little more construction - a small landing or one step up to the deck. I guess that will have to happen on another day.... But for now - we can get out the back fence without having to walk to the corner of the yard. This would have been really great all winter long when the grass was soaking wet each day. I also need to make the latch workable from both sides of the fence...a piece of string would work, but I am thinking of something a little more sturdy. Check back later for that solution.

Steps moved...not quite OSHA approved yet, but workable

Yard Work 2009 - Extra!

Pretty flowers no one sees - they are on the back side of the house

The weather was so nice this weekend - we got out in the yard and tended to all kinds of issues that had waited patiently all winter. Maybe not patiently...but the issues themselves could only nag at us. I certainly felt fine ignoring them for a while.

Mick did a great job weeding out our flower beds and the long strip down our front fence. It looks awesome now.

I cleaned up some large branches that had fallen in our backyard from a neighbor's tree during the December snows. I trimmed up the small stuff, and cut up the large main branches for firewood. We're going camping soon - so that pile of cut up branches just might last about an hour or two.

Right...don't believe everything you read

I also pulled out the edger and spent way too much time edging. I posted a while back about our 'bump-less' edger that didn't work. It still doesn't work, so every couple of feet of lawn I have to pull off the housing on the bottom of the edger and advance the spool.

Looking at the mechanism in there - it seems like it has a good idea behind it. I guess if the line gets short, the edger should rotate faster. Then a little switch should move in place based on solid physics principles. When the edger is stopped and started again, the mechanism (I like that word) should advance the spool. This rotation should allow more line should go out, thus slowing down the rotation of the motor. Simple physics. Maybe I just can't figure out what angle to hold the edger. Maybe it needs a sudden stop to jolt the little switch. Maybe the switch has some friction in the wrong spot, preventing it from moving at the right time. Maybe I just bought a defective product - and the other 99,999 edgers of that 99.999% defect-free batch are fine.

Enough of that...it still bugs me.

Look at that edge!

I also got to work on moving the step for the new gate I built in our back fence. Connor helped me with this - I had a lot of cinder blocks to move from the old location to the new spot. That will have to be another post...stay turned Uncle Earl. I know you can't wait for the Fix The Fence saga to be completed.

Final Fence Foto

Fence posts replaced - from 1 to 11

New gate with missing stairs....the next project

Fence is done...at least the posts

Last Sunday I moved the last post into place. The six foot section that I had been leapfrogging along was trimmed to a new size, about three feet, and attached to post number 11 and the corner post. I don't have a photo, because I finished so late in the day - and this past week was busy enough that I haven't thought about it.

Now...I just need to figure out how to make a latch for my new gate that will work well from both sides of the fence. The latch also needs to be able to be reached by someone who is not 5 feet tall - so a latch at the top of the gate won't work. I'll either have to cut a hole in the gate so you can reach through from the street side, or maybe attach a string or coat hanger type extension through the gate.

Guess you'll have to stick around for that new adventure...and then how I move the existing steps and build a new landing, since the new gate is coming from our deck which is a more than a foot above grade.

Stay tuned!

The stormy weather can't stop me - posts nine and ten are looking good!

We've been having rain here in the the Pacific Northwest. I'm not sure about this - but I think it has rained everyday since at least before Halloween. This makes the fence fixing a little more challenging. The return to PST from PDST didn't help either...

This week it took me two nights after work to dig the hole for fence post replacement number nine. Something about the location of the hole caused me problems. See...it was about two feet from a maple tree. The maple tree has a foot and a half diameter trunk. The roots encountered in this post hole were some of the worst I've dealt with. The post ended up being located directly between two roots that paralleled each other between one and two feet below ground. That post hole digger just couldn't cut them, and they were too deep to be able to get a good swing with an axe. Maybe if I had a sawzall - that could have got them out. Anyway - I dug the hole Wednesday and Thursday nights after work, and put the post in the concrete this morning. The rain started to let up when I finished.

After a nice lunch of leftover pizza, the sun came out and the day looked great. With all the rain we've been having, the temperatures have been in the 60s. So - with no excuse - I looked at the fence and knew that if I didn't continue, I'd be wishing that I had when I was out there in the pouring rain tomorrow. So I got out and dug hole number ten - this was the easiest hole yet. No rocks, roots, or rebar. By dinnertime - the post was set.

One more post to go! See if you can figure out how many sections my fence has...I am not replacing the corner posts, and I will have replace 11 posts when I get that last post done. It is a little tricky - since I did add the gate, but you can count the gate as a section. Leave a comment and I can reveal the answer sometime soon. Or stop by for dinner some time and count them yourself, and marvel at my surveying skills, brute force hole digging labor, or just enjoy the two-toned fence color.

Eight down, three to go. Or - fix the path please!

I got post number eight placed in the ground this weekend. This is the first post after the new gate that I created last weekend. I can't believe how long it took to measure, re-measure, estimate, think about all the issues, think again, re-measure, finally cut the pieces and start to assemble everything...and then rethink it again. Apparently when you don't consider that your screws are 3" long - they won't help you connect two 2x4s when laid flat.

So Connor and I went to the helpful and confusing Home Depot, since the True Value which is closer, is closed on Sunday. We managed to find some parts that would help (actually there are more that 140 parts at least that are similar to what I was looking for in the aisle).

Closeup of the connector and new hinge

Completed gate

At siome future point plan to finish off the top of the gate - maybe with a nice curve. But, for now, I need to keep getting the remaining posts planted. For post number eight - I had a few issues to deal with. Six inches down - I hit a piece of rebar, sticking 4 inches into where I needed the hole. Not sure why that is there - it goes under our deck, but I don't see any concrete at this location, and I didn't want to make this hole huge trying to pull the rebar. So - after dealing with that trouble - I found I was digging right near a sprinkler head. Yikes! When I got to two feet down - I found a very nice root from one of two close trees. Fun stuff...this post-hole digging. Right?

The rebar is at the top right corner...it wouldn't move

As I was getting ready to position the post - a friend stopped by to say high. And he had a few more words which I didn't quite understand. Apparently, my fence work has caused commuting problems for this squirrel. We see him running along the fence from yard to yard - and he wasn't happy about the construction delays. I guess I forgot to post notices and hire a flagging crew.

C'mon! Let me through - I'm late!

This just isn't working...

So now that the rains have started, and November is turning out to be an above average rainfall month - I have three more posts to go.

After the posts - I still need to deal with the gate latch (make it work from both sides), build a step or two up to the deck, and then move our old steps from the other gate to this one - and postition, level them, re-position them, start over with a better foundation.... You get the picture. Sounds like another blog post coming you way soon.

My own perspective

Vanishing Point, on a nice fall day

Just before post number six is placed in the ground.

Over halfway done.

Stay tuned...

Yard Work 2008 #5

Friday - April 25, 2008.

Check - Grass cut.

Check - Driveway edged with a hand edger to cleanup the line.

Check - Done.

Then - on Saturday, our new neighbor (new since December, but we only met her two weeks ago) cut down the maple tree that was growing up on/through our front fence. This tree was probably less than eight years old, and started by accident. When we first moved here, it was one of those accident trees, planted by some bird, and was less than 8 feet tall. We asked the previous neighbor if we could cut it down 2-3 years ago - and he said not to worry about it and that he would take care of it. Yeah - they were those kind of neighbors. Once a year yard work type neighbors.

Before

Our new neighbor has been making up for six plus years of neglected yard work. And she and her family took it down today, and I attacked the roots that were growing all through our grass - even eight feet away, going underneath our driveway. Some of the roots were over 5 inches in diameter.

After

It was a nice tree - but just in the wrong location.

The fence is fixed

After 6 months - our backyard is again fenced in...

Yukon is still chained up, as he never met a fence he couldn't jump, dig under, crawl through, eat.....

 

Daddy's big helpers!

Here are Tegan and Connor - collecting rocks to use at the bottom of the fence post hole. We'll make sure these posts last more that 15 years this time....

 

Working on the fix

I took Kevin's advice and instead of putting the posts in the same spot, I replaced the end section that was 6 feet long, with one of the 8 feet sections. So - I had a two foot offset, and could leave the old concrete in the ground. Here is me digging one of the middle holes.

 

The middle and the far right post holes....how do I get these out of there? Build a scaffold with a smooth rod so I can pull them out? Tie balsa wood on them and flood the hole? Dynamite?

This is the middle post - the concrete crown is much wider - the hole must have been dug with a shovel and not a post-hole digger. This one I haven't completely dug out yet.

This is the first hole I was digging to put in a new post. Surprise! The previous post was in concrete - and it just broke off. The concrete is 3 feet down. This hole is dug deep enough to where the concrete can be pushed side to side - but I can't pull it up!

Here is the broken fence. A post is missing from the middle, and at each panel where the fence still stands.