New backyard steps

Posted on July 29, 2012 by thediygeek

Below are the steps that used to be on the back of my garage. A garish pinkish tan that matched nothing else (house is white with blue shutters) They were never pretty steps, but they served a purpose when I needed them, which was not often.

With the new screened canopy setup behind my garage I had found myself using them more and more. They always squeaked and moved a little bit, but I rarely used them.

Project Stats: Installing concrete pad and steps
Time: 6 hours (over two days)
Cost: Low
Difficulty: Medium-High
Value for cost: High
Tools Needed: Concrete, wood, nails (galvanized), deck screws, stringers, joist hangers, tape measure, levels

As you can see the canopy is setup right next to the stairs and it needed to be tethered down so it would not fly away. For the other three corners I used ShelterLogic 30in. Auger Anchors. For this corner that was close I decided to attach an eye bolt into the stairs as they should be secure…right?

2012-07-25_11-38-34_856

After taking some of the steps off I noticed that the stringers were held on with L-Brackets…not too safe.

There was also nothing supporting the steps from below. Overall I’m surprised that this passed inspection, actually I am surprised I was able to walk on these without falling!

There were a lot of shortcuts taken here too, there was about 2in of contact to the ledger with 3 1.5in nails. At least they were galvanized.

I quite literally started to take them apart and the whole thing collapsed.

I started by taking down the old ledger (3 nails into the footer of the garage frame)

As you can see the old ledger just snapped when I pried it off.

As they were 3 steps before I went with 3 again. I did not make my own stringers as it is not really worth the time (IMHO)

I went with steps that were 40in wide, slightly larger than the door. I had a cutout in the siding that was 36 in already, so I decided that I would plan my stringers with that. Taking two stringers at the end and a placement ledger I cut a 2X4 to 33 inches so I could find out where my concrete pad would need to go.

33in + 3in for the two stringers = 36in

I used some deck screws to attach them together.

I then tacked another 2X4 to the sill plate to act as a ledger.

Marked a level line for where I wanted the first stair to be located.

Now I knew where the concrete pad needed to be exactly. Having worked with concrete before I knew that this could only be done once. I used stakes that had markings and locations to know where I would need to put my frame.

My frame was a hair wider than 36in to catch the stringers, with very little left over so there would not be a blob of concrete on the sides. I framed the pad with scrap 2X4′s and attached them to the marked stakes to make sure they were level.

This quite honestly took the longest part of the whole project, making sure the pad was level and in the exact right place!

To prep the pad I took some gravel (had some in the back yard) and made a 4in base of it, making sure to pack it down well so it would not shift in the future.

I took one bag of QUIKRETE COMPANIES 80 LB Concrete Mix and mixed it up well. I usually add extra water as I find mixing it with a shovel makes it more difficult. For this bag I added a little more than 2 gallons.

Sorry, no pictures during the pour. I just took my shovel and scooped it into the frame. Making sure to push into the mix to eliminate any air bubbles and to mix the concrete into the gravel base.

After the concrete was to the top of the frame I screed it with a 2X4 and then used an edging tool to help round the corners. I was not too concerned with the looks as it would be covered with the actual steps.

I let the mix sit for almost 24 hours. After it had solidified I sprayed it with water and covered it with some 6mil plastic to help it cure.

Once the concrete set for a while it was time to install the ledger and stringer. I put a 2X8 PT ledger in place of the notched one.I fastened it with a combination of Tapcon Concrete Screws and deck screws. Normally I would suggest using nails as screws shear, but I’ve heard that the Tapcons have the correct strength for this application.

Once it was seated and in place I took a level and measured again where my top step would sit. Instead of toe-nailing I decided to use stringer hangers. This was the most expensive part of the entire purchase, but well worth it. Make sure to use galvanized nails as regular nails will corrode with the pressure treated wood!

This hanger will never come down!

I took a lot of time making sure that everything was level, left to right as well as front to back. In the end I decided to slope the steps slightly away from the house to help if there was water.

As all wood, especially new wood, expands and shrinks I used a deck screw as a spacer.

Before I put the last stringer in I dry fit everything in case of any problems. I used a 2X4 spacer to make sure that everything was square and was set in the right spot.

The finished product!

Now the stairs are secure, look great and will last a lifetime!

Shelter logic canopy setup

Posted on July 10, 2012 by thediygeek

With the nice weather here I love to spend time outside whenever I can. If I am not working, relaxing in a nice chair reading a book (or Kindle now) is great.

Living in New England the weather often changes daily, or hourly, and sudden storms can spring up. We also have mosquitoes like you would not believe! After hemming and hawing for a few years about building a deck and always changing my mind about the size, location and scope of it I decided that this year I would do something simple. Put up a screen room!

A few years ago my parents got a canopy and they have loved it. It keeps them dry when it rains and it also protects their older deck from the elements. The rage lately has been the 10 X 10 canopies that you buy at a big box store for under $100. I never liked these because they were too small for a get together and they are built to wear out after a few months of use.

I decided to go with the ShelterLogic 10 x 20-Feet Canopy 2- Inch 4-Rib Frame, White Cover as the canopy of choice. This was an upgrade from the 1in frame that was slightly cheaper. My thought was that if it was built bigger it would last longer. To keep the bugs at bay I also purchased the Screen Kit

I purchased them from Amazon (click through to help support the blog) and they were shipped directly from the factory. Within 5 days I had the canopy, screen kit and augers to hold them down.

Project Stats: Installing canopy and screen kit
Time: 2 hours
Cost: Medium
Difficulty: Easy
Value for cost: Medium
Tools Needed: Rubber Mallet, screwdriver

The box arrived, pretty beat up. Luckily no major parts were damaged or anything missing. One thing that was disappointing was the lack of instructions in everything I received. I contacted customer service and they sent me the wrong instructions (1in canopy instead of 2in)

A lot of the welds were also sloppy, and not complete. This seemed to me that they look to cut corners wherever possible to reduce cost and time. Luckily all of the parts are stamped with numbers on them to assist with layout and assembly.

First thing I did was take stock of all the parts to make sure they were there and laid them out where the canopy was to be assembled. If you noticed the lawnmower I did cut the grass very low so I could work and setup after.

The roof frame went up easily with just a few parts put together. I’m surprised that there were no bolts to hold it together, just friction at the connections hold it together. Overall it seems sturdy enough…

The next step was to put the legs on, this step is tricky to do alone, so I would suggest getting a helper for 5 minutes as you have to lift one side up then the other while attaching legs.

While I had Mrs. Geek help my with the legs I did tackle the cover myself. This got a little tricky, but not impossible. Patience was the best help with this. Moving slowly and not pulling too much. If I did it again I would put the cover on before the legs, but I wanted to follow the instructions to the letter.

The cover laid out next to the frame.

I started by feeding a little bit at a time until it would stay unassisted. Then I started to pull the cover a few feet towards the other side and move over a few feet. Before long I was on the other side and done!

The system to attach the cover to the frame is easy, just a few bungees that wrap around the frame. Go around and that is about it!

Simple simple

Putting the screen kit on was also very straight forward. This is simply deciding where you want the door and attaching 50 more bungees…

I was not very impressed with the screen kit. It came with a grommet not installed and a rip in the screen. We will see how good the customer service on this is…

Another factor is that due to the design there are quite a few areas where the screen sags and needs to be tightened daily.

Overall I love having a screened canopy in the back yard. It really adds the functions of a outdoor room without the permanence of building a screen room onto your house. With our situation, and a deck in the next few years, this was a great investment. I have already run power and speakers out to the room. I actually just wrote this post in the room as well!

Score: 7 out of 10 I have some concerns about the construction quality and durability. If I had to do it again I would put up a canopy, but most likely get another brand.

Choosing a Vinyl Fence for your yard

Posted on August 2, 2011 by thediygeek

As I have written about my yard and fences before: Removing an Old Fence The fence in my yard could use replacing. After a few years of pondering, saving and dragging my feet I decided that this was the year to replace our fence.

: One section done while another is being put together.

I will start this post by saying that installing a fence properly is no small task. The fence I took down was put in with minimal effort. As I like to do things properly I did a lot of research into fencing and found that the best product overall for my situation was Vinyl Fencing. With no parts to rot, chip, stain it will last for years as long as I don’t run it over with my tractor.

What I found was there are a lot of fencing companies out there with big and small differences between them. Fencing found in big box stores are often made of lower quality materials and have some obvious traits.

Big Box Fencing Characteristics:

Weak walled boards and posts
Exposed brackets
Parts that will rust
Decorative Posts that cover wood
Rigid, Brittle plastics
Made in China

After checking out several fence contractors and examining products I decided to go with Active Yards. Their fencing had a build quality that I found to be impressive. Combined with an easy and effective design I was sold on their product. On top of that they are an American company that makes their product in this country! (I was not sponsored by Active Yards in any way)

High Quality Fencing Characteristics:

Solid construction
Invisible, routed brackets
No rusting parts
Solid Vinyl posts that will never rot
Easily assembled panels
Lifetime Warranty
American Made (there are some quality imported fences)

The Active Yards fencing had all of these characteristics, once I had the post holes dug the fence literally snapped into place.

: The sections literally snap into place with the routed grooves!

If you are looking to install a fence make sure to go with a reputable fence company. After looking at about half a dozen companies I went with Active Yards, they had the best product at a great price point.

The next post will be on the install of a fence. This will include tips from the professionals and some great time saving techniques.

Removing an old fence, for a good cause

Posted on July 20, 2011 by thediygeek

As I have mentioned before, I am about to install a new fence on my property. When we moved to our house we knew there were a lot of things that needed to be fixed, even though it was built in 2001. One of the biggest items was the fence.

My house looks great, but the fence does not.

The fence is in good shape, but not standing straight

As you can see this fence has had better days. First of all it was not installed properly that could not hold up to the brutal New England seasons we have. We live in a high elevation zone where there is constant wind, massive snow storms and lots of rain throughout the year. After 10 years of abuse and theformative years with no proper maintenance it started to show its age.

It might have been upright once, but not anymore.

That is NOT level!

The fence itself is not in horrible shape. Sure there are a few sections that have some rot and broken pieces. There is also the color, an awful brown color that did not go with our white siding one bit… That is why I decided to donate this fencing to Habitat for Humanity Restore Outlets They take materials like this and make them available to people who need them. Now instead of throwing this away, or burning it I know it will go and provide years of help to another family that needs a fence.

They even came by to pick up the fence!

Taking this fence down was pretty easy. I did half of it by myself in a few hours and the rest down in two hours with a friend.

This 4ft picket was easy to take down solo

In case you were wondering, that is not how my property line goes. It is a straight line, not a curve. To take this fence down was really simple, as most of the posts were either resting on the ground, or only a few inches down.

This is how far a post was in for a 6ft section.. YIKES!!!

The picket fence came down with ease and stacking it was simple. The other side of the house however was a different story. It consisted of about 12 sections of 6ftX8ft fencing and it was bulky to move! Luckily I had my friend Gene help me out.

Lots of fencing, I told Gene if he helped I would make him an internet star!

Working together we came up with a nice system to remove the sections and then take out the posts.

Take out a few sections and then remove the posts.

This moved extremely quickly until we were had them all down.

All down! Now we are done right?

With help, and poor construction methods this fence came down easily. Most of the posts were only a few inches in. and a total of 3 had concrete (minimal).

Hammer height is for outlets, not fence posts!

Looked like it was secure, but it was not!

Since these are going to Habitat and I wanted to make sure they stayed safe until they were picked up I stacked them in my driveway. Instead of carrying them I used my John Deere and cart to carry them.

Oh the things you can do with a tractor and a cart!

This allowed us to move them quickly around the yard. Yes, Gene did get to ride in the trailer

Overall the project was quick and easy to take down. Habitat came today, but they could only take a few sections as they did not realize how much fencing I was donating, so they will be back next week to pick up the rest.

Remember if you have something that you are going to be replacing or getting rid of, see if someone else could use it before you throw it away!

Fixing up the odd space between the planting beds and walkway.

Posted on July 6, 2011 by thediygeek

One thing that I have always been a slacker on is my front yard. When I purchased my house the previous owner mentioned to me that he wanted the least amount of work to do in the yard. This resulted in him using unreasonable amounts of gravel anywhere he could. Over three years later and I am still picking up gravel in places you would never imagine.

Although the front yard is one of my lower priorities, I have been working hard to add the “Curb Appeal” one step at a time. For my birthday this year my wife and mom replanted some front planting beds I had made a few years ago. They added weed-block, flowers, pruned the existing foliage and redid the mulch. This was a great present as I did not have to do it!

There was a nice looking planting bed and walkway, but in between was over run with weeds!

As you can see the planting beds looked great, however the rest looked hideous. Last year I removed a brick walkway that was overrun with weeds and make a nice concrete walkway. Before the weeds blended in and were not as noticeable, however with the new walkway this area stuck out like a sore thumb.

Getting Started

As you can see the soil is poor and nothing good wants to grow there.

The existing plant matter had to be completely removed so I would not just have more weeds popping up in a few days. I used my handy small spade shovel, a 3-tong rake, and a hoe to remove all of this vegetation.

Another angle of the project

While I was digging all of this up, I was reminded of past plantings in this area. Below is the remains of some Irish Moss that I had planted here two years ago with the hopes that it would spread and grow. It did not.

Rest in the compost pile little guy…

Past plantings had proved to be unsuccessful in this location.

With nearly everything removed with hand tools I went in to detail mode, pulling everything I could from this area. It is amazing how grass grows where you do not want it to, but try and plant it and it never takes!

I started by removing all of the weeds and other plants growing to start with a clean slate.

After that the soil was ready to be amended.

Now that the soil was clear I could start with the fun part!

I collected all of the plant matter and put it in a compost pile.

All of the plant matter, soil and twigs I put in a compost pile in my back yard. I have one for sorted items (food scraps, garden plants, etc…) I also have one for projects like this, grass clippings (when I don’t mulch) and weedy material. Compost is easy to make and can be used everywhere.

The soil looks great here!

Although the soil looks great in the above photo, below the surface is a different story. As you can see below, once I dug down I discovered that there was a tightly packed clay soil. This is not conducive to grow anything but weeds.

In order to promote root growth I dug down about a foot to loosen the soil.

To help make this soil better, I dug down to make sure the soil was loose to promote root growth. This would also allow me to mix better soil into the area.

Below the surface there was a lot of clay soil, not the best for plants.

I did find a few friends like this one while i was digging. Worms are awesome in the gardening area. Keep them around by using organic gardening methods!

Worms are awesome!

After digging the entire area up, I was ready to start adding some soil. Luckily the soil was below grade so I did not have to remove much existing soil.

It does not seem like much, but digging this out took a bit of work in the hot sun.

Now the soil is dug up, but it still needs some help.

The soil here was clumpy and full of clay...I need to fix this.

I made sure to pull all rocks out of the area. I have a rock box for other projects.

To amend the soil I used a ratio of 2 bags of Top Soil to 1 bag of mushroom compost. I have found that Agway soil is actually really good and not full of junk like a lot of other big box top soils. I also mixed in a little bit of organic garden fertilizer to promote root growth.

I used a mixture of 2 to 1 Top Soil to Compost

I mixed all of this up in my tractor dump cart. I got a John Deere X300 last year, and I love it!

I love my tractor cart, I mixed the soil quickly and easily in it.

The pictures before show that the soil used to look like it was full of nutrients, but once I add the composted soil you can see how different it looks! The new soil is almost black it is so rich.

Look at how rich this mixture looks!

After filling it in, I mixed the soil in with the existing area. This helped the soil below gain those needed nutrients so everything will grow.

The soil looks nice, but I had a little too much (for this projects anyway)

To help speed up the planting process I placed all of the plants above where I wanted them to go. Spacing them evenly all the way down. This allowed me to go down the line without stopping to measure or eyeball where I wanted them.

I placed all of the plantings above where they were going so I could work straight through.

Make sure to read the tags for proper spacing and planting information.

Before planting, I took a bunch of newspaper and soaked it in water. I’ll go into newspaper in a little bit.

What am I doing with newspaper? Continue to read to find out!

A typical problem of store bought plants is they become root bound. I made sure to cut and spread the roots so they would start looking around.

The Plants from Agway were a little root bound.

All the plants are in and they look great!

After the plants are in I laid down a thick layer of newspaper. I cannot say enough about how great newspaper is in the garden landscape. Not only does it block weeds, it helps keep the ground moist. Promotes worms (this is a good thing) and brings them to the surface.

Please note that you should not use the glossy ads, but rather the regular paper. This breaks down after around a year, so it does need to be replanted. Most newspapers give away old print for free, so you can have a great resource for no cost!

Newspaper, a great free weedblock.

Finally, I put the mulch down. I always go with hemlock mulch as it is natural, lasts a long time and is not dyed. A lot of my gardening friends always go with this for these very same reasons.

Cover it all with some nice hemlock mulch.

I wonder who the shadow belongs to?

Now everything matches and looks great! Now when I have people walk up to the house, I do not feel embarrassed. This will last a few seasons with no problems. When I do have to refresh it I just need to remove the mulch and lay down new newspaper.

All finished! And it looks awesome!

Project Stats:

Time: 3 hours
Cost: $45 for plants, mulch and soil
Difficulty: Easy
Value for cost: High

Simple DIY hop trellis/trebuchet

Posted on July 4, 2011 by makoskim

As you will soon learn I have a lot of hobbies and interests. One of these interests is brewing beer. I am lucky enough to work part time at a local micro brewery just a few miles down the road from my house. While I have a few titles there, my favorite is the “Official Taste Tester” title that I awarded myself (and it has stuck around!).

In addition to the responsibilities that I have there, I also grow hops for one special batch of beer that we brew every September, the Face-Off Double IPA. This is an award winning beer at The Great International Beer Fest.

For the past couple years I have been growing the hops by attaching the twine to a big stick that is attached to my fence and cutting them down. There were a few problems with this however.

It looked very unsightly to have this 2X4 attached to my fence.
I am getting a new fence in a few weeks
I pick the hops at 3am, so it is dark and not safe to cut things on a ladder with little light.

I have had this idea for about a year now, and it allows me to run the hops to the needed length, train my hops to grow, and easily harvest them in the morning. The entire project took almost two hours including breaks and time for the pictures.

The Beginning: A Hoppy Mess

Hops grow quickly and everywhere when you look away!

This is what I had to start with. These Cascade hops have been growing for three years now in this location with great yields. After a few weeks of neglect I walked into this clump of vines. Some of the shoots were 12 feet long wrapped around lots of other vines.

Simple, yet effective

The goal of this project was to create something that would be useful, something the wife & neighbors would not mind looking at and also cost effective. The materials used for this projet are as follows:

1 – 7′ 4X4 PT Post
2 – 8′ 2X4 KD
4 – 6″ 2X4 KD scraps for spacing.
1 Eye Bolt
2 Lag Bolts
Misc Deck Screws

This makes the entire project cost less than $20. I had all of the materials laying around from other projects, which made it even better!

Digging a hole: The hardest part

Digging the hole for the post to go into is a lot harder than it looks!

In order for this contraption to work I needed my post to be secure in the ground. Using a post hole digger and a small spade shovel I dug over three feet in to the ground. I always forget how much I dislike post hole diggers until I hit that first rock! Luckily I did not hit anything too large and I was able to get to my desired depth.

Checking to make sure the post is rooted far enough into the ground.

Making sure everything is nice and level

Using a tamping tool I backfilled the hole and make sure the soil around the post was nice and tightly packed.To add a little more support I pounded a large stake into the ground as well and attached it to the post.

Now that the post is secure we can attach the arm.

Now that I have the post in securely, I can make the second part of this device.

Making sure all the parts are snug...it fits perfectly!

Good thing for standard millworking. When I designed this I wanted there to be minimal cutting so anyone could make this. All in all I made 4 cuts (3 for the calls, 1 for the extension) Really I could have gotten away with 1 cut if I did not want everything to match. Using the width of the 4X4 I knew that the arm would fit perfectly. I decided to have a back call for a few reasons:

I could counterbalance if needed
The angle of the arm would be set at a precise angle that I selected
The arm could never fall back into the house

One of the neat things about this design was having one pivot point so I could quickly harvest the hops when the time came. To do this I used Lag bolts as the hinge and tacked the arm in place with a few deck screws. This allows the arm to be moved quickly and easily. I drilled through all of these boards quickly with my 18V Makita Drill Driver! I will do a review on this amazing set soon.

Before I put the arm in place, I did attach an extension block and eye bolt to the end of the arm.

This allows me to attach the twine to the arm easily year after year.

Now that everything is set I can now put it in place!

Everything is in place. Twine is coming down from the top and the hops are already climbing!

Notice that I also drastically thinned out the hops. They grow better when there are only a few main vines receiving all of the nutrients.

Another view of arm.

There you go! Now I have a reliable hop growing mechanism that will last me for a few years. I am going to build a few more that will catch several plants with one arm as I have seven plants on the property and I don’t want to build one for every plant. I will make sure to update this post with those pictures.

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