At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

Obed, you say " The well digger " told you he dug the well and you had a good flow rate....There is a huge difference between a " Dug" well and a " Drilled " well....The drilled well, which I hope you have taps into the aquifer below the bedrock whereas the dug well relies on surface water and shallow pockets of water, the first to dry up in a drought....Which do you have....? Drilled or Dug...?

Bob,
Our well is "drilled". It is 300 ft deep. I am pleased that we have discovered that we can water the garden or grass all day as long as we limit the sprinklers to one at a time. Apparently our well can keep up with that flow rate. When using 3 sprinklers simultaneously, it only takes about 30 minutes or less to lose water pressure.
Obed

 

[Obed]

We have installed all the top and bottom rails. We attached 1Xs on the sides of each post below the top rail to form a frame onto which we will attach removable screens. My wife pre-drilled the holes and I nailed the 1Xs to the posts. I notched the short post on the deck to form a place for the 2x4 top rail to rest. A 2x8 cap rail will sit on top of the top rail and post. My wife has bought stain and plans to stain the railing this week if weather permits. She has sanded all the posts and all the railing. We are close to finishing our railing and being able to use the deck. I could insert the steel rods and attach the cap rails at any time. However, if at all possible, my wife wants to stain the railing before the rods are in place to make the staining a little easier.

 

[Obed]

Soil does an amazing job of cleaning water. I have read that you can drink water that comes from your septic leach lines once the water has run though only one foot of soil.

Obed.....I am going to let you try that.....not for me....

I guess I'm all hot air. I think I'll pass.

 

[RadarTech]

I guess I'm all hot air. I think I'll pass.

Um... I think it was 100 feet....

 

[Obed]

Last night we bought this stainless steel gas grill off of Craigslist for $20. It's in fairly good shape. All the igniters work. One of the 3 burners is starting to rust out but is still useable. A set of 3 new burners costs $13 online. One of the casters does not work. For under $50 we will have a very nice grill when done.

We got our previous grill for free when someone put it out on the street for trash pickup. We replaced the burner for $10 or so bucks and used that grill for 10 years. Our "new" grill is in much better condition than the old one. Unfortunately, the new grill is very heavy so we will need to get the casters working.

 

[Tororider]

Nice score!

 

[Obed]

I didn't get all the holes through the top rail drilled exactly perpendicular. So I had to redrill some holes as I put in rods.

 

[brin]

Obed,,,,Congratulations on the new grill.....Don't you just love finds like that....It looks like new...

 

[jinman]

Last night we bought this stainless steel gas grill off of Craigslist for $20. It's in fairly good shape. All the igniters work. One of the 3 burners is starting to rust out but is still useable. A set of 3 new burners costs $13 online. One of the casters does not work. For under $50 we will have a very nice grill when done.

I guarantee you a steak or pork chop cooked on that grill will taste as good or better than the one cooked on my $600 Weber. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Weber, but a deal like yours is impossible to pass up. You can buy a lot of steaks for the difference in price.:thumbsup:

 

[Obed]

Yes, I'm pleased about the grill find. I didn't even have to shop Craigslist for long. Since we are getting ready to start being able to use the back porch, Saturday evening on a whim I searched for gas grills on CL. This one showed up. Monday morning my wife called the seller and made an appointment for Monday evening. $20 later we were loading it in the pickup truck.

 

[Obed]

We finally have the railing installed on the back porch/deck! Yay! Now we can start using it.

Obed, Are you nailing the top 2 x 6 CAP RAIL to the top 2 x 4 TOP RAIL with the galvanized nails? What about drilling holes through the TOP RAIL, setting the CAP RAIL on top, then using galvanized screws to insert the screws from the bottom and then attaching. That way the CAP RAIL would not have any nail heads showing and the screws would pull the two boards in real tight.

I screwed the cap rails onto the top rail from underneath the way Stanley suggested. I like the fact that there are no nails or screws showing from the top.



I took some pictures last night after I finished. I'll take more pictures when I have some daylight.

Next I need to install the steps. My wife will stain the railing when the weather and timing work out.

 

[brin]

Bob,
Our well is "drilled". It is 300 ft deep. I am pleased that we have discovered that we can water the garden or grass all day as long as we limit the sprinklers to one at a time. Apparently our well can keep up with that flow rate. When using 3 sprinklers simultaneously, it only takes about 30 minutes or less to lose water pressure.
Obed

I'm glad you have a drilled well...that's great...Our well is drilled but only 175 ft. deep and we have 25 GPM as measured at the time the well was drilled with the Well Companies pumper truck but with our well pump , it is not capable of pumping 25 gpm even though the water is there so we can't run 3 sprinklers at one time either..we can run 2 but that is it.

 

[PAGUY]

Obed - Are you going to leave that end 4X4 post sticking up like it is now? I think if you don't have any plans for it (e.g. bird feeder or bird house )then I think it would look better cut flush with banister and capped or sclupted to a point. JMO

 

[srs]

Obed, Your'e doing a great job, looks sharp! Stanley

 

[brin]

We finally have the railing installed on the back porch/deck! Yay! Now we can start using it.

View attachment 283104



I screwed the cap rails onto the top rail from underneath the way Stanley suggested. I like the fact that there are no nails or screws showing from the top.

View attachment 283102

I took some pictures last night after I finished. I'll take more pictures when I have some daylight.

Next I need to install the steps. My wife will stain the railing when the weather and timing work out.

Obed...in the first picture of your porch and deck , right at the end it looks like there is a long post...If you have no plans for that post ..You might want to consider one of those farm bells that are designed to be bolted to the top of a 4x4 or 6x6 post...we have one and they are neat as yard art but also functional...if you or a member of your family are out in the woods out of sight and are needed at home..they just ring the bell...it is loud and can be heard for a very long way....Your porch , deck...the whole house just looks great....You and your hard working wife and small engine mechanic are to be congratulated along with your little helper, cute daughter.

 

[Obed]

Obed...in the first picture of your porch and deck , right at the end it looks like there is a long post...If you have no plans for that post ..You might want to consider one of those farm bells that are designed to be bolted to the top of a 4x4 or 6x6 post...we have one and they are neat as yard art but also functional...if you or a member of your family are out in the woods out of sight and are needed at home..they just ring the bell...it is loud and can be heard for a very long way....Your porch , deck...the whole house just looks great....You and your hard working wife and small engine mechanic are to be congratulated along with your little helper, cute daughter.

Bob,
A farm bell is a great idea. In fact, my grandad had a farm bell on our farm when I was growing up. I hope my dad still has it. I'll check with him. I would love to have my grandad's bell on that post! Now you've got my hopes up.
Obed

 

[Obed]

Here are some porch pictures taken in the daytime. I was able to spend some time sitting on the porch this weekend. I really like it out there. We had a family with 6 kids stay with us over the weekend. The porch added a noticeable new element to the house. Temps are starting to cool off around here. We got the porch done just in time for it to start getting cold outside. There will still be some warm days I will be able to spend on the porch before it gets too cold all the time.

 

[Otto Syracuse]

Obed,
I've been following your thread for a long time. I just want to compliment you and your wife on the finished product, it turned out great. You will still get plenty of use in the cold weather too....they make excellent walk in refrigerators!
Otto

 

[Diamondpilot]

Very nice job on that porch. Your level of craftsmanship gets better with each and every project completed.

Chris

 

[brin]

Bob,
A farm bell is a great idea. In fact, my grandad had a farm bell on our farm when I was growing up. I hope my dad still has it. I'll check with him. I would love to have my grandad's bell on that post! Now you've got my hopes up.
Obed

OBED, we bought our farm bell and one my in laws years ago at a roadside flea market...If your grandad's bell is not available ...Craigs list or local flea markets should have the old originals that mount on the top of the post...if not here is a place...Farm Bell Classic Cast Iron Farm Bell but there are plenty of sources on line and some of farm supply companies on line sell replicas of the original....Let us know ...