Navigating the large bit of plywood solo was a little tricky, but I did manage to get the hang of it. I only had to haul it up here a few times, after hauling it back downstairs to do refinement cuts. Turned out pretty ok.
Liz is a very careful painter. When she explained things to me, I learned that this task especially, requires a very steady and precise hand.
Liz applied a cleaner to the living room fireplace. It’s a coating that needs to set for a day or so, as it hardens and does its thing.
They’re solar powered, and should recharge on their own. They also made a lovely little pattern, on our floor.
Well, this was a long time coming… and very, very overdue. Liz and I finally got around to painting the main hall area today. After an embarrassingly long hiatus of nothing.
While I did a lot of Asana and planning work, Liz was busy in the basement. In addition to her work refinishing a window… Liz also worked on repairing our front screen door (which has had a hole in it for what feels like forever).
This thing… was actually quite stressful for me to procure. It must be my planning and default stress, but the whole process was a bit daunting. The thing is around 300 pounds, and I was worried about transporting it to/from Home Depot.
Spent time tonight after work cleaning up the basement. We’ve let things go for a while down here, and it was time to do some sweeping and reorganization. It always feels like a tradeoff, doing just cleaning/organization. But with a little over two hours, we had some really nice results and a saner, more open basement area. Which we will…
Our goals for the arbor today were pretty modest: get in the bottom 2×4 cross braces (with pocket screws) and also get in the top 4×4 cross beams.
Despite it being a Friday, Liz and I opted to suit up after work to put in a bit more time getting the arbor in order. We wanted to get some concrete in for the posts (and to also figure out how much more concrete we needed to purchase, in the event we needed more).
At the end of the work day today, Liz and I headed out to do a bit more work on the arbor. The weather turned on us, and we ended up working a bit in the rain.
With our post holes dug, today we focused on getting the arbor posts situated and fixed in place (mostly). We spent a good portion of the morning talking at the kitchen table, going over our approach and how to best figure out the placement of things.
Liz, clearing out some roots and rocks. We learned that whenever the augur would bind and jerk, that was our cue to stop it and remove whatever obstruction was down there with a post hole digger.
This was a lesson I didn’t quite learn when I was going solo – I’d hit a snag, and just keep trying to power through. When what I should have done was stop and clear.
We had a lot of backwards math to do: start with the overall height, then reduce it down to where we wanted it to be. Then figure out the height of the posts themselves. And then also factor in how far the posts should go into the ground.
Liz has been talking about building an arbor in back, and the two of us have been researching a lot online. We’ve landed on an example we like, and I’ve been running over the specs a lot.
More to come.