Friday, February 25, 2011
Blueberry Buds
There's snow on the ground today, but a week ago things were warmer. In fact, we noticed the new leaf buds on the blueberry plants. Five of the plants have no leaves and the buds look full of spring promise. The semi-evergreen plant looks good, too. Can't want for the crop to come in this summer!
Monday, February 14, 2011
New Outdoor Circuits
While this post is related to the shed, it's not of the shed directly so I'm not giving it a shed heading.
Since the table saw and future hot tub will need electricity, I installed a new dedicated 20 amp 110 volt duplex on the south side of the house. This also means that I can plug my miter saw in and cut the wood that I'll be building the shed with. While I could use an extension cord and plug into one of the other 20 amp circuits, this would mean that I would have to disconnect my mother-in-law while I was using the saw. Now I don't have to do that.
To install the new circuit and duplex I had to go under the house and run some 12-2 wire (mandatory for 20 amp circuits). Drilling the hole to the outside was a pain! The spot where I wanted to located the hole was in an area that I couldn't really reach. I could either stick my head in and see the location or I could stick my left arm in to drill the hole. But not both! I ended up drilling most of the hole from the outside and then drilling a pilot hole the rest of the way. Then I was able to locate the pilot hole from under the house by feel and only have to drill for a half inch.
The duplex is a 20 amp GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter). GFCI's are required for areas that have moisture. I'll eventually run some electrical to the actual shed area from this GFCI so they'll be protected, too. I also installed an outdoor cover on the duplex to protect it from the rain.
Installing the new breaker in the service panel was pretty easy. I actually installed a tandem 20 amp breaker. I did this because I also installed another 2o amp duplex on the north side of the house. The additional duplex/circuit is for my mother-in-law's trailer. There's been an extention cord running through the kitchen for the last three months and it's gotten annoying. Now it's gone. Yay!
Since the table saw and future hot tub will need electricity, I installed a new dedicated 20 amp 110 volt duplex on the south side of the house. This also means that I can plug my miter saw in and cut the wood that I'll be building the shed with. While I could use an extension cord and plug into one of the other 20 amp circuits, this would mean that I would have to disconnect my mother-in-law while I was using the saw. Now I don't have to do that.
To install the new circuit and duplex I had to go under the house and run some 12-2 wire (mandatory for 20 amp circuits). Drilling the hole to the outside was a pain! The spot where I wanted to located the hole was in an area that I couldn't really reach. I could either stick my head in and see the location or I could stick my left arm in to drill the hole. But not both! I ended up drilling most of the hole from the outside and then drilling a pilot hole the rest of the way. Then I was able to locate the pilot hole from under the house by feel and only have to drill for a half inch.
The duplex is a 20 amp GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter). GFCI's are required for areas that have moisture. I'll eventually run some electrical to the actual shed area from this GFCI so they'll be protected, too. I also installed an outdoor cover on the duplex to protect it from the rain.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Shed - Part 1: The Foundation
We've finally started building the shed. This is a project that will have a huge impact on our quality of life because once it's done we can move most of our tools as well as a lot of our boxes out of the house. This means more living space and more room to do more work on the house. It's going to take a little while to complete, but it will be worth it.
The shed will be located on the south side of the house where the drain field is, but since the septic system has been decommissioned there won't be any problems with smothering the drain field. The shed will be five feet deep and twenty-four feet long. We'll be adding a pad on either end of the shed as well. The one on the east side will be covered and will be the new home for the table saw. The pad on the west side will be the future location of the hot tub.
The first thing that we needed to do was clean up the area and string the shed location. The setback from the property lines is five feet. Getting the measurements and the strings set up took a lot of time.
Once the strings were in place it was time to mark and dig the holes. The foundation system is a pair of 4x4 rails anchored into the ground with three posts in concrete footings. This means that three holes get dug for each rail (eighteen holes in all). Each set of holes was dug first. Then the rail (with posts pre-attached) was placed and leveled. Then the rail was removed and the concrete poured in the holes. The rail was then put back in place with the posts inserted into the fresh concrete.
Digging post holes in the Pacific Northwest requires hacking through roots and dealing with ground water. The first holes ended up being close to thirty inches deep. Water seeped into the holes when they got to be around twenty-four inches deep. The soil was relatively easy to dig with just the post hole digger, but the digging bar was very handy to have. The goal for each hole was to get down to harder earth so as to best support the concrete footing.
Here are some photos showing the rail installation progression.
There is a rise of about seven inches from the lowest to the highest area. The shed will be built in three sections, though the roof will be seamless from one end to the other. The rails are probably the most level thing on the entire property so the floor joists should be very easy to line up and install.
The shed will be located on the south side of the house where the drain field is, but since the septic system has been decommissioned there won't be any problems with smothering the drain field. The shed will be five feet deep and twenty-four feet long. We'll be adding a pad on either end of the shed as well. The one on the east side will be covered and will be the new home for the table saw. The pad on the west side will be the future location of the hot tub.
The first thing that we needed to do was clean up the area and string the shed location. The setback from the property lines is five feet. Getting the measurements and the strings set up took a lot of time.
Once the strings were in place it was time to mark and dig the holes. The foundation system is a pair of 4x4 rails anchored into the ground with three posts in concrete footings. This means that three holes get dug for each rail (eighteen holes in all). Each set of holes was dug first. Then the rail (with posts pre-attached) was placed and leveled. Then the rail was removed and the concrete poured in the holes. The rail was then put back in place with the posts inserted into the fresh concrete.
Digging post holes in the Pacific Northwest requires hacking through roots and dealing with ground water. The first holes ended up being close to thirty inches deep. Water seeped into the holes when they got to be around twenty-four inches deep. The soil was relatively easy to dig with just the post hole digger, but the digging bar was very handy to have. The goal for each hole was to get down to harder earth so as to best support the concrete footing.
Here are some photos showing the rail installation progression.
There is a rise of about seven inches from the lowest to the highest area. The shed will be built in three sections, though the roof will be seamless from one end to the other. The rails are probably the most level thing on the entire property so the floor joists should be very easy to line up and install.
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Where Do We Live?
Notice anything different?
One project that we've been meaning to get around to is the address marker. We purchased the numbers three or four years ago. Unfortunately, this project has not moved up the project list.
The whole mother-in-law in the driveway reality has had an effect on this project's ranking. Especially now that she has some home care nurses and a physical therapist showing up. Apparently the same nurse doesn't show up each time either. We gave them very good directions (i.e. we're in the house directly behind the monstrosity at 14519), but that doesn't seem to work for some folks. Well... time for us to put up the numbers.
The neighbor in the monstrosity said it was okay to attach a plaque to his fence so that's what we did. We used a 1x6 clear cedar board for the plaque and screwed it to the fence post. We're undecided about the positioning of the four. We'll live with it for a week and then change it if we can't handle it.
The whole mother-in-law in the driveway reality has had an effect on this project's ranking. Especially now that she has some home care nurses and a physical therapist showing up. Apparently the same nurse doesn't show up each time either. We gave them very good directions (i.e. we're in the house directly behind the monstrosity at 14519), but that doesn't seem to work for some folks. Well... time for us to put up the numbers.
The neighbor in the monstrosity said it was okay to attach a plaque to his fence so that's what we did. We used a 1x6 clear cedar board for the plaque and screwed it to the fence post. We're undecided about the positioning of the four. We'll live with it for a week and then change it if we can't handle it.
At least now delivery trucks and emergency vehicles will have an easier time of finding us.
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