Home

Friday, August 4, 2017

Backyard Project: Sorting, Recycling, Reusing - the Waste Materials



It is time to sort through the construction waste materials.
Josh took all larger pieces of plywood to use on his next job site. It is useful for making the form work. He didn't have to buy much more plywood for the form work because he reused a lot from the construction of the Green Shed.
All of the smaller pieces of plywood and all painted wood was piled up to be taken away in the garbage trailer. It is all the wood with glues and chemicals that are not safe to burn.

The garbage trailer also took away plastics used to wrap supplies, hold glue and cover curing cement.
I presume it will go to the local landfill where the trailer will be weighted and we will be charged according to that weight.

The left over blasted rock in the background will be used to edge paths.
I used some of the broken pavers as stepping stones in some of the garden beds but most of them, along with the waste concrete, was stacked under the Green Shed's Contemplation Room, there if we ever need it. Because of its weight, it would have cost a lot of money to dispose of in the landfill and there wasn't enough to warrant a dump truck taking it all the way to the quarry for recycling.

Taylor tackled the remaining waste wood pile. He and Josh had reused it so many times on the job the remaining pieces were just smallish off cuts.

I measured the sizes of our 2 fireplaces to find out the maximum length of wood each to take. Taylor then used these 2 numbers to make the best cuts in the remaining wood. Here he is making 2 stacks with longer pieces on the right and shorter pieces on the left.

It was pointed out to me we would be paying for Taylor's time to cut this wood. I pointed out how much it costs to have a pickup truck load of firewood delivered. Also, I was not comfortable with paying for this wood to go into a landfill when we could use it.

Josh used the forks attachment on the Bobcat to move the bundle of long pieces up to the patio area and put it as close as he could to where it was needed.

Ron then moved each piece and re stacked it beside the chimney. Notice the air holes he has left to help keep the wood dry.

The last couple of trees that fell during the winter storms have been cut up, some of it in suitable lengths for firewood. This called 'hucking' the log. These lengths are left to dry out for a bit or not (there are different schools of thought on this) then Ron splits them. He dumps them behind the propagation table and it is my job to crawl under and stack the wood. It will be protected behind the glass and the bottom part will allow air to circulate.
Locating the firewood stack here is another function of the Propagation Room and it solves the previous problem of there being nowhere to stack firewood near where it was needed. The fireplace is inside the house to the left. 
Plus I love the look of stacked firewood as a design feature and for other reasons.

When a tree falls or needs to be cut down for safety reasons we now have a standard order for cutting it up. If it is still standing we ask to leave about 15 to 20 feet standing and hope it will become a wildlife tree. The tree above fell over and its root area will be left as is because the disturbed soil stimulates all sorts of soil organism and plant activity. 
Next the widest part of the trunk is hucked into lengths to later be split for firewood. The next section of about 15 feet is left lying on the ground as a nurse log to support new growth in the forest. The next part is cut into 5 inch rounds and I use these for making 'gardener's paths' to give access into the middle of the wider garden beds. Depending on the length of the tree there may be another section for firewood. The last part of the trunk I use the small sections as edges for garden beds. The branches are cut off and left insitu to protect young plants in the undergrowth eventually rotting down to feed the soil. 
When I explain what I want to the most obliging forester it reminds me of giving the butcher the order when cutting up a whole animal.

Ron is stacking the shorter lengths of construction waste firewood under the inside of the propagation table. I didn't want to be able to see it from the outside thinking it would not look very attractive but he has done such a neat job I think it looks lovely.
So that is the story about managing the waste materials from the Backyard Project construction site.


Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Backyard Project: Gravel from a Quarry for the Paths


We are at the stage in the Backyard Project where we need gravel to make the paths. It is a stage I am more than ready for. With the construction in its last stages, I want things tidied up. I know having the paths in place will make a big difference to the look of the place.

While using my 3 different length sticks I have gone around marking out the edges of the paths.

Here is the engineer pacing out the paths and doing gravel quantities calculations.

We visited the first quarry but they are very short on stock and didn't have what we wanted.


We visited a much bigger quarry with a greater variety of gravel. 

It is all about the size of the rocks, measured as an average: 3/8ths crushed or 1/2" washed etc. There are many different types of gravel to serve different purposes.

This quarry recycles concrete and drywall from construction sites mixing it in with freshly quarried rock to make special mixes for the roading contractors. We found out the roading contractors are very busy this month and this quarry has a contract to have a certain amount of a specific type of gravel for the roading contractors to come and pick up anytime.

Old asphalt crushed and re mixed for reuse.

For me, it was all about the sound the gravel made when I walked on it. I stomped on a lot of different piles.
We found what we were looking for and went to the weigh office to place the order. The deliveries are scheduled for 3 days time. Whoo hoo.


Monday, July 31, 2017

Backyard Project: Soil Building, Shelf Building, Glass Installation

Now that Josh has moved in place the big rocks that define one boundary of the garden bed, I have started soil building. I am using the lasagne method of laying down a thick cardboard base, soaking it well then adding layers of 'green' and 'brown'.

But first I dug out all of the rocks and stones in the garden bed area. All of these came out of that one small bed.

This bed is west of the walk way to the pergola. I'm not sure what I will plant here but I don't need to do the research just yet because the soil building will take a while.

Meanwhile, Josh has painted the doors for the Garden Sheds. I like the clever way he has held the doors while painting them.

AND he has started the footings for the shelving in the sheds.

Whoopee, the Excalabor guys are back.

The sheets of glass were carried on the side of the truck with little cork spacers to stop the panes from touching and to absorb the travel vibration.


This safety glass has been cut to size then all of the edges ground smooth and rounded.

It took quite a while for all of the stickers to be taken off, the cork squares to be pulled off then all of it polished spotless before being installed.

Meanwhile, back at the Garden Shed site, Josh has set up several workstations for constructing shelving.

Taylor has come back. He has carried lots of loads of coarse gravel up to the site and is now levelling the base frames for the cabinets.

The first lot of shelves have been built. These are to hold small tools where they will be kept dry. This is the Power Tool Shed.

In the same location in the other shed, the Garden Shed, Josh has built a frame to hold gardening tools upright. 
Inside the 2 dry sheds, we are leaving all of the plywood unfinished so there is no maintenance in the future. It will take on the patina of a place well used.

Friday, July 28, 2017

Backyard Project: Soffits, Gutters, Downspouts and Fascias

Cutting metal soffit panels to size for the garden Sheds.

Soffits protect the ends of the rafter beams from the rain without which the beams would rot out.

We have gone with vented soffit rather than a solid material with vents. Either way ventilating the space above is important to prevent moisture build up which would result in moulds growing and wood decay. In this rainy climate, moisture management is critical for the lifespan of the building. This is looking good with no exposed wood and a tight fit.

Another team has installed all of the caps on the end walls. I wasn't sure about the flat metal. If I had been home at the time I would have asked to see what the corrugated metal looked like. But it is done.

Fascia metal has been attached covering the exposed wood.


This interesting truck arrived in the driveway. I knew what it did because I had watched it at work when my Green shed was being built. That is a big roll of flat metal.

The metal comes off the roll and is fed into this forming machine. It can be programmed to make differently shaped gutters/eavestroughs.

 The Mighty Exteriors crew arrived.

Here is the crew to make the downspouts. I like his plastic cowboy hard hat. It makes his tool belt look like a gun holster. He had steel-toed cowboy boots on too.

'A downspout, waterspout, downpipe, drain spout, roof drain pipe, leader, or rone (Scotland) is a pipe for carrying rainwater from a rain gutter.' (Wiki). And these are the tools needed to make them fit the gutter/eaves trough.


A downspout is fitted up into the end of every slightly down-sloping gutter. The crew also went around the house and put downspouts where we had water chains that weren't working very well. Living under trees the building's roofs catch a lot of  'litter fall, plant litter, leaf littertree litter, soil litter, or duff, and dead plant material, such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes; that has fallen' (Wiki)  that block the entrance to the chains causing the gutters to over flow. Ron has yet to find the perfect system to stop the gutters filling with litter.

Another crew arrives, the same one that installed the covers for the end walls, and installs fascia panels to cover the roof bearing beams.
A lot of different crews with specialised equipment and tools are needed to make a building water tight. We have all read the stories or know of someone who was unfortunate enough to have bought a leaky building or condo. 'The leaky condo crisis, also known as the leaky condo syndrome and rotten condo crisis, is an ongoing construction, financial, and legal crisis in Canada...it is the most extensive and most costly reconstruction of housing stock in Canadian history (Wiki).
'Build it tight, vent it right' is a building industry saying/motto.

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Pattern Language #175 Greenhouse - an essential garden design element

 Excalabor Glass & Aluminium has finally arrived after taking a number of weeks to make aluminium railings and to cut safety glass for the Propagation Room and Roof Top.

Installing the Roof Top railing posts
"...to keep a garden alive, it is almost essential that there be a "workshop" - a kind of halfway house between the garden and the house itself, where seedlings grow, and where, in temperate climates, plants can grow in spite of the cold." Pattern Language, p. 813

Levels and string lines
"Imagine a simple greenhouse, attached to a living room, turned to the winter sun, and filled with shelves of flowers and vegetables. It has an entrance from the house - so you can go into it and use it in the winter without going outdoors. And it has an entrance from the garden - so you can use it as a workshop while you are out in the garden and not have to walk through the house." Pattern Language, p. 813.

 The aluminium frame for the south-facing wall for the Propagation Room. Josh is working on the waterproof lining for the propagation table.
I have followed the guidelines for this pattern in that I can walk from my office (see the glass behind Josh) into the Propagation Room and I can walk from there out to the garden (see the entrance on the left). This is also how I get from my office to the Green Shed - my studio. There will be no door there so it is not going to be the usual hot humid greenhouse. In this seasonal rainforest climate when it rains so often 8 to 9 months of the year mildew and moulds are a problem if there is not enough ventilation hence the open entrance and the east wall of holey metal.

Top and bottom railing in place on the Roof Top.
The room faces south and will catch the low winter sun. The glass will stop the rain and so prevent frost from reaching the plants.


The guys have gone to get the big sheets of glass off the truck.
I will be using the room to grow cuttings until they are ready to transplant out to the garden beds. I  won't have the types of plants in pots that need overwintering in the greenhouse. That involves too much heavy work in the fall.

Glass installed on the west side of the Propagation Room.
"For someone who has not experienced a greenhouse as an extension of the house, it may be hard to recognise how fundamental it becomes. It is a world unto itself, as definite and wonderful as fire or water, and it provides an experience which can hardly be matched by any other pattern." Pattern Langauge, p. 813.

Glass installed on the south side of the Propagation Room.
This is the theory and the plan. We are looking forward to seeing how it works in practice this winter.