Ouch

 Its been two months since I needed to fill my truck up at a gas station. I stopped by yesterday and grabbed 26 gallons of diesel. 

Two months ago I purchased 26 gallons for $75.00 less than today's price. Thanks alot.

Round 1

It's been almost one year since I retired. One of my first purchases when I retired was a new pair of flip-flops. Yesterday, I blew out the first pair. Fortunately I saw it coming so I had a spare set in the closet. Diesel told me it was time to get some new shoes!

The Finishing Touches

 We finished the pergola project almost two weeks ago and have enjoyed our time relaxing and entertaining in the backyard. Our neighbors and friends are impressed with how we were able to create an "outdoor living room oasis". We love the smell of fresh cedar, especially after a recent rain. The project was definitely worth it.

I spent yesterday and today putting the finishing touch on the pergola, installing the speaker boxes. The original pergola had speakers installed in the upper corners of the structure. See below for some photos.

The boxes were in terrible shape. I took them down. and realized that while the speakers were in good condition, the box itself was destroyed.

I wanted to re-install the speakers because they are wired to our house-wide stereo system and we want to enjoy music in our new "backyard oasis". I decided I should put the speakers in a less obvious location and build them out of the same wood we used for pergola, which was cedar.

I started off by deconstructing the old speaker boxes and understanding the shapes of each piece of wood. I had some lumber left over from the project but needed some cedar boards for use with the walls of the box. Home Depot didn't carry 12 inch wide cedar boards so I ended up at Dixieline Lumber.

I made a couple of modifications to the design. First, I wanted to install the speakers vertically to help hide them. I also wanted to shrink the boxes down to the bare minimum required to house the speaker itself. I was able to make most of the cuts using my circular saw and a carpenter's triangle.

I used the table saw to rip down some remaining scrap wood to create the speaker box frames. My experience with the front deck taught me that wooden structures are rarely "square" so I measured and cut each corner by hand. Most were 45 degrees but a two had to be cut at 44 / 46 degrees to make the frame line up with the box. I purchased some black screen to use as a cover for the speakers. The end result looked nice. I love the knots naturally found in the wood.

This morning to installed the boxes in the pergola. I drilled a hole in the back to run the speaker wire into the box, then used some construction screws left over from the porch project to mount the boxes to the posts of the pergola.

The next step involved wiring up the speaker and sliding it into the box.

Finally, I used finishing nails to tack the frame onto the front of the box. One speaker installed!

I used the same strategy to install the second speaker box. This one will be "deep" in the right-hand corner behind some plants.

You can barely see the speaker once it was installed. I purposely left the wood knot exposed on this speaker to serve as a reminder to me every time I look at it.

The final speaker install look great. They don't stand out at all. Can you see the speaker in this photo? Look closely behind the palm tree in the corner.

We are happy with the final product and ready to enjoy the space with family and friends.

Pergola Day 18 & 19 - The Project is Finished

 We finally completed the pergola project, though it took a day and a half. We started off by installing the "privacy wall" on the south side of the pergola. The mini-wall provides us with some privacy from when our neighbors are standing on their back porch.

Once that was done, the construction phase of the pergola was complete. Take a look at the results.

The next step was to install the low voltage lighting on the posts. If you remember, we left wiring in place for the lighting. All I had to do was install the base of the light....

..then wire it up to connect to the existing low voltage system. Here is a photo of one of the lights installed.

The lights really helped bring the space to life at night. See below:

On day 19 we installed the plants and artwork. See below for the final decoration in action.

We now have a second living room to enjoy. Over the next few days we invited a variety of friends over to enjoy the atmosphere. Our pergola is a wonderful space we will enjoy for years to come!

Pergola Day 17 - Finish the roof and two of the walls

The first thing I accomplished this morning was finishing the roof. After that, I climbed up on the roof and used my circular saw to trim the boards on the south side of the pergola. Despite my best efforts, I still had variances of a quarter inch or so on the boards. The circular saw helped create a nice clean line.

The next step was taking a trip to Home Depot to purchase some stainless steel screws we plan to use on or "mini-wall" and a footing for a 4x4 post. The post will be used as part of a privacy wall on the south side of the pergola.

The photo below shows the completed roof but you can still look over the fence and see the neighbors.

Here is a photo of the fence from the neighbor's yard. Notice how they can see into our backyard. 

Michelle and I moved some boards over the fence and prepped them in our neighbors yard.

We used the same block and clamp strategy to install the boards but this time we used 1 inch spacers to provide us with a little more privacy. Here is the final product.

While cutting wood, Michelle found a scrap that had a knot that looked like the Virgin Mary. We decided to keep this piece as a souvenir.

The last project of the day involved installing 2 foot boards on the "mini-wall" between the pergola and our bedroom. We used the same two inch spacing on the roof because privacy wasn't really a concern here.

Tomorrow we will work on the final privacy wall on the south side of the pergola. After that, I'll install the low voltage lighting and outdoor speakers. Once this is complete, we can move the furniture back in and hang the plants! I'm hoping we will be finished in a couple of days.

Pergola Day 16 - Start The Lattice

Today I decided to start installing the lattice roof of the pergola. I started off the day as usual laying out my tools. I uncovered the cedar boards we plan to install on the roof and found a cricket chilling in the shade.

The next step was to use my dad's miter saw to cut a few 2 inch blocks. I will use these blocks to space out the boards.

I also set up three ladders evenly spaced across the pergola. I'll use these ladders to access the boards once they are on top. 

The next step involved trimming the boards to size. Each board was 219" long. I usually cut a dozen boards before lifting them up to the roof of the pergola.

Once on top, I used the blocks and clamps to hold three boards together at once.

The next step involved climbing up the first ladder, screwing the boards in, and climbing back down before climbing back up the ladder and repeating the process. I was able to screw in two boards at a time. The pergola needed 42 boards on top so I spend the entire day climbing up and down ladders.

Here are some photos of the pergola roof being installed in phases....

The shadows cast by the boards and joists are beautiful.

It took almost all day to install the majority of the boards. Tomorrow I will install the remaining three boards and begin working on the privacy wall.