Grooming a tree

I LOVE climbing things...Trees, buildings, mountains! This is a job I did this week for a regular client who has a tree in his yard that needed thinning out. Problem is this tree is full of thorns! I used a ladder to get a safety line into the crown of the tree,  then got into the tree using a hand saw to clean the centre. Later I used a pole chainsaw to reach the outer branches from inside the tree. Then I chipped all the cut wood into bags and removed it from the site. I did not want to spoil the look of the tree just thin it out some...Before and after shows the thinner tree but the same character.

As part of the shared skills deal I have with a friend Dave, he designed the signage for my truck and I helped him with a couple of problem trees at his place. Here is the link to his blog where you can see me in removing a difficult dead tree...

http://davessecretgarden.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/getting-expert-help.html

...Dave is a great artist and graphic designer and an intrepid gardener too, check out his blog its a quality read!

Converting a storeroom

This client just bought a home and wanted to turn an old unused store room into a second study. The room has no windows or natural light and has several service pipes on one concrete wall. There was no insulation and being under the house was cold, not condusive to hours of study! It needed lining and something had to be done to hide the pipes on the wall and cover up the ceiling beams. I gave him a few ideas on how to finish it off and we reused an cabinet he had removed from his bedroom which I adapted to fit on the ledge and cover the pipes. Neat!

finished pics to come soon!

Crushed stone walkway

My client was putting her home up for sale but felt that the paved area outside one of the bedrooms was looking unfinished and wanted a pathway and surround added to finish it off.

This took me a day, but there was the small matter of getting a cubic meter of stones to the site...

I used a weed mat cloth to prevent the grass growing through the stones later ( In New Zealand everything grows like mad!) as I had no time to spray the grass with a weed killer. The ground was sloping so the path needed to be quite deep to het a decent flat finish, so this path used up 1. 5 tons of stone!  It was 13 m long.

Bedroom wardrobe

A regular client of mine asked me to build a wardrobe in the master bedroom of her home. ( not sure why a modern new home didn't have one!)  I have never done one of these before, so it took me about 6 hours to construct, the stud was 2.4m high and the sliding doors were only avaiable in 2.0 m high so I made the top are a storage area behind hardboard sliders. My client had some storage units she wanted to use inside so I didn't build any shelves just a hanging rail.

Simple Planter box

Planter boxes are great ways to add color to a balcony, or grow veges in. They are cheap and simple to make. I have used decking timber leftovers from a job to construct this one. Here are the tools you will need to build this simple project. You could use hand tools as well but it will take a mite longer to complete.

 Step1

Cut 4 rails of equal length to suit your planter box sides, clamp and add wood glue to either end.

 Step 2

Clamp and screw on the precut legs to either end making them flush with the top on each side. Add a leg for extra support in the middle of the panel, if the planter's overall length is over a meter long.

 Step 3

Now do the same with the ends, remembering to leave a space as wide as the side rail's thickness  so that the corners are flush when joined to the side panels.

 Step 4

When you have both sides and ends prepared, screw them together on a flat, level surface so that the box is square and level

 Step 5

Now add a rail at the bottom of the last side rail on both the insides to take a floor plate.

 Step 6

Do the same for the ends and add a nog in the middle to keep the floor from sagging...

 Step 7 

Carefully cut the floor to fit the bottom. Hint! Place the plywood sheet on the bottom of the upturned box and temporarily fix it in place. Now trace the shape of the inside onto the plywood and remove from the box. Now add the floor support's width to the drawing, and cut out for a perfect fit!

Step 7

Your box should look like this! You can add some top finishing plates if you like, my client did not want these.

A new landing

My clients on this job were an retired couple who's old landing was not only rotten but an eyesore! It was downright dangerous, almost falling apart, and had to be replaced completely as soon as possible. I had to remove the old structure first but took the time to measure up its dimensions to give me a plan to replace it as close as possible to the original style.

Next I dug two post holes 800mm deep and concreted in two 100 x 200mmm treated posts and left them for a couple of days to allow the concrete to set well. Since the building was to take place on the posts themselves I wanted them to be firmly set to avoid and separation from the concrete footings and cause 'wobbly legs'...

 Step cuts in the posts are made to give the supporting joist a firm fixture, and the joist is bolted to it.

 Next a faceplate is bolted through  the house floor joist (using packers,  a 20 mm space must be made between the house and the joist to prevent water retention and rot occurring) and bearers are fixed between the two to form the floor support. Then that is all clad with a cover plate to make it look tidy!

In the picture below,  I have nogged up below the floor for a storage area to be added

Now the floor is cut from a single sheet od 20mm treated plywood and fixed to the bearers, and the cladding is placed onto the structure, I have begun to frame up for the walls and roof of the covered cubicle. The storage floor is just visible.

 I have the basic placement for the windows and roof in place, and begin to add the cladding and windowsills to the structure

 Finally the roof sheeting in on.

 I decided to have a go at making the stairs myself to keep the budget within the client's retirement finances! I did some research on the web and found a useful angle calculator on my smart phone app to help calculate the dimensions for the stairs. Once the tread positions were marked I set the skill saw depth and made several cuts within the tread placement area and then using a chisel cleaned out the  rebate ( use a router if you have one, its much faster)

 After cutting all the tread rebates the treads are fitted and nailed in place.

 The handrail is attached and a gate made of leftovers to cover the storage area
Job done! It took me 3 1/2  days working on my own to complete,  and I used rough sawn treated timber which I dressed myself to build it with, which took more time, but vastly reduced the cost.

A new kitchen

This weeks project was a new kitchen installation. My Client wanted a new kitchen installed into a rental unit , and being a busy executive, he said to me , " Just do it!" Having a free reign over design, placement and color was great! The unit is a one bedroom open plan living area, so the kitchen had to suit the  contemporary minimalist style. The space has an unusually high 2,6m stud, and great natural lighting. One wall shares services with a bathroom behind, so I decided to start on this wall with a laundry/pantry area, as the extra stud height gave me a larger area for storage space. Also, the water supply was already there. One issue that came up was the state of the old piping. Black Buteline is now outdated, and prone to pinhole leaks after time, so I took the opportunity to upgrade this to the latest standard. The pic below shows the dry wall lining removed than the new piping and a waste line for the washing machine in place.

I needed to build a recessed services box to house the hot and cold supply taps, and create an access point for the washing machine waste too. Building this into the wall saved space as it allows the cabinets and washing machine to be fitted flush with the wall, and in a shared living area, taps sticking out of the wall are not acceptable! ( Even if they are in a cupboard...)  In the picture below, the taps are not fitted yet and the outlet has not been finished. This is so that we can place the final position of these when the cabinets are installed to give the best position for screwing on the washing machine's pipes, so that they are not awkward to connect...the cabinet will have a small square cut out of the back panel to display the taps and outlet point, and thus hide the grey pipes. 

Now the dry wall lining is replaced and painted, a hole for the stove's extractor fan and sink waste is cut. The power and water supply for the sink is in place. We are ready to install the cabinets.

Because the kitchen space has a services panel bringing the top floor's services in, it creates an awkward detail in the corner to have to work around. I originally wanted to use a kit set kitchen, but the cost of getting a cut down cabinet and  bench top made by the same kit set supplier to cater for this issue was too expensive. It was actually cheaper to shop around and get a local joiner to custom build the kitchen! So don't be lured into thinking that Placemakers, Bunnings or Mitre 10 always have the best deals. In my opinion this kitchen far exceeds the quality of the kit set version. It also came with soft close doors, and the bench top was supplied in one piece, so no ugly join! Because of the extra stud height, the joiner supplied a panel to close the gap between the top of the laundry cabinet and the ceiling. A small detail but something that makes this kitchen look like a much more expensive model. You don't get any of these extras with a kit set! ( and cheaper remember!)

So this is how the cabinets look installed. The result is a naturally lit, spacious, clean and modern look! There is heaps of floor space to accommodate an island or dining table if desired. There are 4 deep drawers and 2 utensil drawers. The fridge is located in the laundry unit beside the washing machine which is behind the closed door. ( see pic below) Note the oven utensil drawer below the oven, another feature seldom found on kit set kitchens. The storage cabinet on the left of the fridge has a pressure opening door, so no handle to damage the wall it opens on to.

My client was very satisfied with the finished result, and has peace of mind that he has also upgraded the plumbing in this unit for very little cost. Since the bathroom shares the same plumbing as the kitchen, he has effectively replumbed the bathroom at no cost! - Job done!

Front yard renovation January 2011

Job 6. I got married and my wife who is an artist (visually oriented) hated the front yard ... or lack of one! I decided to completely make over the front of her new home. She loves gardening, so we planned several small and easy to keep garden spaces. I needed somewhere to park my truck and trailers, and a space to work, so we also planned a useable open space where I could 'play'! The difficulty was that the land sloped in two directions and drainage would have to be part of the project design,  as it rains a lot in Auckland.

My brother in law kindly put my ideas onto a plan so I had a guide to work from in ordering the materials. This was to be my first big landscaping project... This is what I had to start with.

I began at the front most area. I wanted some privacy to work in and less road noise too, so I took out the hedge,

.

...and built a step paling fence 1.8m high and 30 m long.

The next step was to kill the lawn off to prevent regrowth

Now the fun part - digging and destruction!

In this shot I have had the timber for the retaining wall and privacy screen delivered. I have the post holes dug, and I am saving the existing path way to create an intermediate level, breaking up the sloping yard into two distinct areas, one level grassed area behind the privacy screen, and one gradient slope for the concrete parking area

 The shot above shows the 3.6m posts for the privacy screen in place, 

The drainage coil going under the path to join the lower retaining wall drainage system. This was sat on fine draining mix and covered with volcanic pebble which was laid over with weed mat to prevent silting up later.

 Top and bottom retaining walls are in and the privacy screen is up. My wife is itching to get the garden started and has the Bay trees in and some red Flax in the corner garden already!

Now I have used up the river stone from the previous path and some railway sleepers cut to form the feature garden on the old pathway. I am using the bits of concrete rubble that came out of the driveway wall as fill for the new path to make the river stones go further.

At this stage the old driveway had to go. That meant shipping it to the dump at considerable cost (concrete recyclers may not accept concrete with steel in) I had planned for this, using it as fill/ base for the free drainage parking area so we shifted it in slabs with the digger across to the right a couple of meters saving cash and putting it to good use.

Beside the concrete driveway, I wanted a free draining stone chip parking area where I could service my truck and machines without spoiling the concrete with oil spills etc. Here is the granite chip being laid over the concrete to raise the level by 400mm to meet the driveway level

Connecting the storm water channel at the bottom of the driveway to the main system via cesspit.

Concrete arrived at 6.00 am and took a morning to pour and level and expose the aggregate

The next pictures are about 18 months later. The concrete has weathered to an even tone, gardens are established and house repainted to better suit the new yard! The landscaping part of the project took about 3 months to complete.  I was doing it in my spare time before and after work and week ends, most of it on my own.

Thanks for viewing! Please feel free to make comments or ask questions.