Freestanding deck project

This seems like a large project, and it is, but it really only took 3 few days to do and 2 days of waiting for cement to dry. So I picked the dimensions of the deck with the idea of having no scrap lumber left over and a minimal amount of cutting. So lumber comes in 8, 12, or 16 foot lengths at my local lumber yard so the deck is 8 feet wide by 12 foot 3 inches long.  Since my deck wood is going to go the width I picked 8 foot exactly for the length so all my deck boards will measure perfectly.

So for lumber for the structure of the deck ;
(4) 12 foot 2x6s since my spacing is 24 inches.
(1) 16 foot 2x6 plus some scrap dimensional lumber that is about 24 inches for cross pieces.
(4) 8 foot 4x4 pressure treated posts for the foundation.
(12) 16 foot 2x6s for actual deck

The total was somewhere between two and $300 for everything I needed and this will last longer than me.

Other materials needed were 12 inch diameter cylinder sauna tube and 12 bags of cement for the foundation and then the post brackets (6) and also (5) column caps. You'll need joist hangers nails, and vinyl coated or galvanized 10 penny nails around 3 inches long.

So first I marked out my deck location with stakes and strings. I dug six holes 18 inches deep and 12 inches in diameter INSIDE the string boundary. The four corners and then two in the middle of the two lengths. I cut and put the sauna tubes in the holes and then mixed my cement and put it in. It took about two bags per holes. The other way to do this is use the cement in the bottom of the hole only and put a pier block on top when it dries.

I let my cement dry a day and then cut the sauna tube off and attached my post hole brackets to the cement. The cement was still a little soft so I let it dry another day.

Now  the eight foot 4x4 pressure treated pieces are going to go across horizontally the width from cement pillar to cement pillar. Everything will be level to the cement pillar that is highest in elevation so start there and have a buddy hold a board across with a level on it and then measure what from the bottom of the board to the top of the cement pillar on the opposite side from the highest cement pillar. Mine was about 6 inches. This will be the length you need to cut off that fourth 4x4 post. Nail this vertical 4x4 piece to the post bracket with joist hanger nails with a level on the top. Then nail a column cap on top of it. That first high cement pillar does not get a vertical post
 and therefore does not need a column cap.

Now put the 8 foot 4x4 across here and you can nail it in as well but don't nail the other two 4x4 horizontals in until you put a board across all three to make sure the ends are even so you don't have a diamond shaped deck. Now the next vertical post you cut you need to level both across the width and length to find out the length of this next post. And don't forget to account for the width of the 4x4 when measuring with just a level board. So my next one was about 8 inches, then 12 inches and so on since I'm heading to the lowest corner.

Nail in all your vertical posts and column caps and once you have checked the horizontal 4x4s for square you can nail them to the column caps. This is the foundation for your freestanding deck. Then I simply lay my 12 foot 2x6s across this base to be my joists and nail on the two 8 foot ends. Then I put my scrap pieces between the floor joists for stability.

Now I put some weather seal on this bottom joist section before laying down the deck. I used two wooden stakes on each end for my spacing between boards and starting screwing in my deck. Then I put deck stain on this and built a make shift rail with my one left over 8 foot 2x6 that I made my railing posts out of  and then used cable across.

I love working out my deck overlooking the blackberry patch and taking lunches in the sun out there. I just planted some boysenberry and climbing peas around it so they can grow up the rails.

Making a cold frame to start spring seeds in winter

So you already know I am super excited for spring planting. I have my seeds germinating and a bunch of little sprouts. To start them off early and get them hardened off a cold frame is a way to have your seedlings outdoors but protected in case of one more frost.

I wish I had known about this last year since I moved in at the start of winter and my spring plants didn't get a good showing with the late season frosts stunting them as sprouts. Basically a cold frame is a mini greenhouse.

The top though has to be see-through and placed at an angle for the sun to warm up the sprouts that will be inside. I took some plexiglass out of a free large plastic picture frame for this part. The bottom stays open to the dirt, or it could be closed I suppose. The top needs to be able to open as well so you can use hinges or like I did, put a 1x2 piece to rest on the bottom. Unfortunately it means I have to use two hands to open it but I didn't have the right kind of hinges in my collection. I still have some chip board from my neighbor and some 2x6 scraps from my deck project I will post about later to make the sides out of.

I have heard too about a heat activated window opener, like a small shock, that many people use so if it gets too hot in the cold frame, the heat makes the opener open the lid to the cold frame and let some air in to keep the plants nice and healthy. I don't think I have too worry about things getting too hot in the winter here though. I was worried about snow load on the lid though so I designed it so the snow will slid off my lid.

The size of my cold frame was dictated by my plexiglass sheet. First I made a frame for this. I did only three sides however and left the bottom off so the snow will slide off. I used a table saw to cut the groove so the plexiglass will slide in. I used screws on the bottom edge with the heads keeping the plexiglass in place but glue in all the grooves will work probably better. It was too floppy leaving the bottom off completely though so I put a piece of wood underneath a few inches up from the bottom, as short as I could make it while being able to screw onto the wood frame to act  as a block to keep the lid on instead of hinges. Later I did it on the top as well.

Now I know the length of my cold frame. I cut my two front and back pieces to length. One I made about half the height of the other since I want a steep angle on mine. With a little difficulty I laid the lid on top to see what my width would be and cut the two sides of my box.

The angle on top is simply the height of the front piece to the height of the back piece. I now used 2x6s for the corner supports. If  you don't have scrap dimensional pieces, 2x2s would work great. Since I have an arbitrary angle, I made them a little long and penciled the angle on the piece and cut them that way. Then I screwed them to the side pieces while laying flat and then raised them vertical to screw the front and back pieces on.

If you are doing hinges, mark your holes and pre-drill the holes for the screws and do that, but like I said, I just put blocks under my lid to hold it in place. Then I painted it all dark brown because the plywood was very conspicuous in the place I put it, which is in a sunny location with the angle facing the south so it will get the most exposure. Plus the dark color should help absorb a little more heat as well.

Sugar pine needle tea

With the cold wet weather comes warm fires and flu season. Either I get a little bit sick for a long time or extremely sick for a short time so this time I could feel myself getting sick and wanted a boost of Vitamin C. Sugar pine needles right off the tree are chocked full of Vitamin C and since I can boil water fairly quickly over my wood stove, sugar pine needle tea is the perfect cold weather immune booster.

This time of year fortunately it is easy to identify sugar pines from all other trees because their pine cones are just about ready to fall or have fallen. Sugar pine trees have large but long cones. The other identifier is their short needles.  Ponderosa pine needles are poisonous to eat so don't be willy nilly trying this with all types of pine needles. I've been told sugar pine sap is pretty good too but I licked some on a tree to try and I was not impressed.

When I take the dogs for a walk, I can make the trek uphill just a little farther than usual to get to the sugar pine trees. Sometimes I get lucky with a low hanging branch since the pine needles need to be green to get all the good nutrients from them. Usually I can jump just a bit and pull some down.

Now, remove the little balls where the needles attach to the tree, you want just the needles only. I have been leaving a pot of water on the wood stove to humidify the room every time we have a fire so I just add some more water and the sugar pine needles. When the water gets hot enough for the pine needles to float to the surface, that is when the tea is ready. I add a packet of black tea and some sugar too because the taste is a little astringent without it and with is quite delicious. I like to strain the pine needles out too into my extra large mug.

I left some pine needles on a small branch in a vase as decoration and it lasted a long while and I just picked some needles off as needed. I used them in about a week but they were still green.

Starting seeds

I am super excited for spring plants already. Of course it is fall but I did not live up here the spring of last year. It is hard to find plants that don't need full sun and can resist a spring frost.  I saw a lot of giant hollyhocks, roses, snapdragons, periwinkle and petunias. Even some marigolds in town where it is sunny. Of course bulb plants and wildflowers grow great here.

I also found out hops grows great up here and all kinds of berries.I have a huge patch of blackberries, but a neighbor up the street has olallieberries, and the Ace in town had raspberries and boysenberries for sale.

But as a beginner in a seed starting I got myself some re-seeding perennials. These were hollyhocks and poppies. I also got some hop seeds but they are not doing anything yet. I have been told many ways to start seeds. Some in the refrigerator, some in potting soil, some in peat moss, some in potatoes.

This worked for me and is what I'm doing from now on. So, find a low container that will fit the seeds and does not absorb moisture. I found this plastic drywall mud holder to do the job perfectly.

Now line it with paper towels. I put a couple small pieces of paper towel so each seed variety can be lifted  completely out easily. Put the some seeds on it. Try to spread the seeds apart from each other. Now find a clean spray bottle and fill it with water.

Spray some water over the seeds, not much,  but enough to get the paper towel damp. Cover your container with saran wrap or a shower cap and leave it in an area that gets some sun. Uncover and spray with water every morning and night then re-cover.

When the seeds start to germinate, pluck them out and put them on some potting soil. Or it's through the paper towel already, just take the whole paper towel with it and put it on some potting soil in a pot or peat pot. I love peat pots since I can just plant the whole thing without transplant shock. 80% of my flower seeds germinated this way.

 Have your pot covered in saran wrap or a shower cap and continue the same process. When it is rooted good, you can remove the saran wrap and continue watering,  three times a day since it dries out faster. Mine are currently in this stage. Or if it is planting time, plant it of course. I will be wrapping my peat pots in chicken wire when it comes time to plant since there is a huge gopher population here.

Glass bottle lights part two: wiring.

This lamp is for my craft shed, but when I finished this project I was excited to make more and better ones. I found Vintage Wire and Supply which is like a little candy store for doing these bottle and jar lights.However, for this project I went to Home Depot and got some simple candelabra sockets (normal size bulbs don't fit in these bottles), some threaded nipples and hex nuts as well as a candelabra set foe the plug and switch since this one is going to be a lamp. Although I can still easier turn it into a fixture in the future. I had some lamp cord already, I used probably only two feet for these three IBC root beer glass bottle lights.

For tools, all you need is a wire cutter, wire stripper, and a drill with a bit the size of the threaded nipple. You will also need two wire nuts and a little bit of paint of your choosing.

First I put the lamp cord through the threaded nipple, then split and stripped the two ends. On mine, the ribbed goes to the silver screw on the socket and the one with the writing goes to the gold. Most lamp cords the writing strand is the hot which goes to the gold. First I threaded the nipple into the candelabra socket.  Now, you can skip the threaded nipple all together and just do wire with an underwriters knot and a strain relief at the top instead of a hex nut. I didn't want mine swinging around though.

I made a U shape with the stripped wire end and stuck it around the screw and tightened it. Once I saw what my wire length needed to be to reach the middle of my wood base with some room to spare, I cut it. Now the cut end can go through the bottle. The candelabra socket is the right size that the root beer bottles sit on it just right. I though the cardboard socket cover was horrible so I just put some brown Rustoleum on it before installing it back on.

I drilled holes the size of my threaded nipples in my finished reclaimed wood board I am using for the top of my light where the bottles will be. Mine was snug which was perfect. The hex nut goes on top here. Do this for all of them. Now separate and strip all the wire ends on top. You will need one more length of wire as well that will either be to attach to the one coming out of the ceiling for a fixture or like mine, to a switch and plug.

Since I have three glass bottle lights, I have four wires. Once separated and stripped, the hot (writing side) all go together with a wire nut. Then the other side (ribbed side on mine) all go together in another wiring nut.

Now if I was thinking, I would have turned my wood board into an open wood box because I can't flush mount mine. That is okay on mine since it will be high enough no one will see the top of it, but next time or if I do turn mine into a fixture, I will make sides for it of 1x1 inch strips of wood to hide the wires coming out of the top of it but still be able to mount it easily.

Wood signs

I didn't take a lot of pictures for this project because there is not much to it. You do need a router and a bit to do this. It could be a core box bit, v groove bit or straight bit. The core box and v groove gives it an extra dimension. Now I did one sign with a ruler and pencil measuring the top bottom and middle of the letters and giving each letter the same amount of space. The other sign I did freehand,  You can tell which is which.

All the wood used was just what other people had considered firewood. 

Routers are designed with the hole for viewing although you may need to bend down to see good. Wear safety glasses, you don't need flying bits in your eye. Just set the bit at a shallow depth and follow the lines. You can move the router pretty slowly to be accurate. I try to keep a moderate speed so I don't get wobbly. Just pick the router straight up each time and put it down slowly to cut away to the proper depth before moving again.

I sanded the signs and just used plain black acrylic paint with a paint brush. If you do get some outside your grooves, it washes off with water when wet. After that dries, just put some exterior clear polyurethane on it and figure out it you need mounting holes, string holes or a stake depending on where you want to display it. I made some stake ones to mark my trail through the berry patch and one hanging from twine as a gift to my sister for her new last name.

Halloween tombstone stakes

This is my first Halloween where I have a huge yard I can decorate. My decorations need to be out in the rain, who knows even snow, so not all decorations will work here in  the mountains. I don't want any fabric or even those fake cobwebs will probably be full of real cobwebs and definitely pine needles when Halloween is over.

I do have a lot of OSB plywood end pieces leftover from my shed roof so I decided to make some tombstones.

First I used the skill saw to cut a my plywood into tombstone sized pieces. Then I used the jigsaw to round the corners off. One of them I left square and did a crack design instead.

Next I put some brown latex paint on both sides. Did the backside first and then the front. Of course if you have gray or black that would work fine too.

Once the back side dried I screwed some wood stakes on, two screws each so I can pound them in if I need to. Once the front side dried I got some lighter spray paint and fogged it on the middle area.

Now is the fun part. I just did hand lettering on mine but it is not the greatest. I made up for my lack of straight letters by making up kooky names, descriptions and unreasonable birth and death dates. It was plain so I added crosses, floral patterns and skulls at the top to dress them up more since grave markers used to be extremely ornate.

I still did not think they were spooky enough so I threw some red acrylic paint on and couldn't get that blood stain look with a brush so just got my fingers in there and made some bloody finger prints and smears. Hey, I know it's not as realistic as I wanted but you can get a letter stencil at your local craft store and use that to make it much better.

I think an outline around the edge would give it more dimension too, but that might be for next year since I got so excited I stuck them in the ground already.