Another shed

Marcy and I did another craigslist weekend shed project to help pay the vet bill for Roland. This was a water shed. The floor is designed to hold 15,000 pounds, and the roof is designed to withstand falling snow from the house. It will get siding in the spring.

Happy Halloween!

Here we are, Fry, Leela, and Nibbler.

Shed Building

Paul and I (with some help from Ty Keltner) built a shed for his new house. Fairly simple, shed roof, no roof trim to save money:



I enjoyed it, so I put a craigslist ad offering sheds built, any style. I got a response and we ended up building this:



I didn't get any photos earlier, but here's some of the building process.


The temperature was dropping to about 20 degrees, so we were slowed down some by finicky nail guns. Also, daylight was short. Without those obsticals, this would have been a weekend project. As it turned out, we needed to spend a couple hours Monday and Tuesday evening to finish up.

The owner was very pleased and Paul and I made some extra money while getting exercise. We might try to do more of these next summer.

Dog house for the spoiled dog

Roland is learning frisbee

ASH

smokey

There are numerous fires burning around fairbanks, including one alarming one that just sprung up some 30 miles from our house. It was the driest July in history, I believe I heard. Tonight it has been fairly clear down at our house, but the smoke is rolling in and has made the sky a wild yellow color. This photo is with the white balance set at daylight, which would yield true colors on a sunny day, and slightly blueish colors on a cloudy day.

deck stain

Finished re-staining the deck. I even sanded it first. After just two years it was pretty faded, but I think the second coat will last longer since the first was on bare wood. It was also worn from construction, and some boards had drips, so it looks really nice now. I also like a second coat because it gets into the screw holes, the first one was done before installation so it was less protected.


beer + floor sanding

landscaping etc

First of all, I wanted to post a picture of our amazing new butcher block that Christen and Troy Bouffard gave us as a housewarming gift. Thanks guys! Troy does oustanding work. This is Purple heart and Maple.



Very nicely joined

As promised, here are some photos of our yard and landscaping work. I never thought we'd even really do a yard but here it is, mowed grass and all!


the yard from below, near the edge of the maintained part. There is 1/2 acre fenced in, the part behind me is natural treed but not very dense and has pathways. There are lots of low bush cranberries around, and the little treed area towards the left of the photo has some nice raspberries that should really take off with more sun now.


here's the view into the yard from our deck.


Marcy's garden is starting to take off, but we could use some rain!



Our boardwalk to the front door is basically done, with gravel I sorted from the driveway, the garden, a green strip, and a little retaining wall. I still need to cut those posts flush!


I finished the final part of the deck over the weekend, consisting of a small landing for another flight of stairs near the garage. This will be nice for bringing in firewood. Here also is one of the four gates into the yard (one on each side of the house, one by the driveway and one by the power line)


I also completely redid the top of the rail because I didn't like how it turned out the first time. The corners didn't touch. The I was a little short on wood due to my error (a 16' wide section of deck needs LONGER than 16' of rail because of the corners and overhang). I used all the wood for the landing, so nothing was wasted. Also, now the right side is up. Decking should have the end grain look like a smiley face, not a frowney face, so as it ages it cups in a way that it will shed water. It may be counter-intuitive, but this is how it works. Luckily I did the deck the right way.


Next step: Restain the decking, but other than that we can just enjoy our house!

This blog needs an update!

We never really seem to stop working on the house, but I've been lazy about updating the blog. Tonight I will try to take some pictures of the new fenced in yard, the new stairs and landing on the deck, and Marcy's nicely growing garden.