The Garden Fence

Hey yall! We’re back working on the house again. Previously we had finished up the kitchen flooring. A week or two after the floor was done, our oven (which was in our makeshift kitchen in the dining room) tried to catch on fire, again. Something causes the heating element to stay on with full power even though it’s switched off. The heating element turns oranges and yellows while trying to catch on fire and before finally failing. After the second time, we decided to get a new used temporary oven. Moving forward, we’ll be getting a propane stove, but as we don’t have propane yet, we’re going to replace it with an electric oven, since we’ve already got the electric for it.

The dining room is a dining room again

The dining room has been our makeshift kitchen for months now. We had floor protection down and our fridge and stove in there as well as a small table for a countertop. Since the kitchen floor was done, it was time to put things in their proper place. This was a bit of a shuffle, as we were playing musical appliances. We got a new stainless fridge for the kitchen, so we put it in place. Our current fridge then went from the dining room to outside in the shop. The old oven went out to the trash pile. And lastly, the new oven went to its proper place in the kitchen. With the dining room cleared, we could finally take up the floor protection. With the cleared off, we rehung the light fixture and put the dining room table back in place. It’s starting to look like a house again!

Big truck repairs

Before we could get into more house projects, the big flatbed truck that I’ve got for hauling lumber needed some work. After my last trip, it started overheating slightly, which is odd. I checked the coolant and the tank was empty. I checked the oil level and found where the coolant had went. The coolant should never be mixed with the oil. I was fortunate to be near the house when this happened, so I backed the truck up into the carport and got to work. There’s a few different ways the coolant can mix with the oil inside an engine, so the first step is to determine where the failure is so you know what parts to replace.

Diagnosing the failure

To locate the failure, you’ve need to remove the oil pan on the bottom of the engine. To remove the oil pan, you have to remove part of the frame of the truck and remove the front engine mount (this piece holds the engine up). This means you need another way to hold up the engine. In my case, I used a chain hoist attached to the carport beam.

With those pieces removed, I was able to refill the coolant tank and watch coolant pour down the front of the engine. That’s good news, I think. That tells me that it’s not head gaskets and its not the oil cooler, but that it’s the water pump or front cover.

Removing everything from the front of the engine

To get to the water pump, you’ve got to remove all of the accessory items from the front of the engine. As I removed each item, I stuck the bolts into a piece of cardboard and labeled them. This will make my future life easier when putting it all back together.

Finally, I reached the water pump. With the pump removed, I could see corrosion on the front cover. With a little poking around, I found a decent size hole in the cover that was allowing the coolant to flow into the oil.

With a bunch more parts removed, I had access to the front cover. I was able to remove the cover and confirm it as the point of failure. I ordered new parts and as they came in, I put the motor back together little by little.

We do it nice ‘cuz we do it twice!

With all the parts out of the truck, I degreased them and gave them a good pressure cleaning. They were nasty. After they were clean, I gave them a coat of blue paint. It’s nice having a clean engine to work on. Once I had it all back together, I ran the truck and checked for leaks. I found 4 different areas that had leaks. Bummer. I never said I was a good mechanic! At least the second time is much easier. I pulled the parts, adjusted the gaskets, and reinstalled the parts. The second time was the charm. I drove the truck around town for a day to confirm all was well. The next day, I put on 250 miles hauling about 10,000 pounds of lumber. Back in business!

The birthday fence

With the truck back in working order, it was time to get started on Oceana’s birthday fence around the garden in the side yard. She recently cleaned out the beds and did another planting and asked for a fence for the garden so that her seedlings wouldn’t get eaten by the rabbits or by our chickens. With a little head scratching, I came up with a custom design that would add character to the house while looking awesome. The first step was to put in the fence posts. We laid out the two outside corner posts and set those first. Next, we set new posts between those first two posts and from those two posts up to the house.

Cutting the posts to height

With the posts in place, we pulled some measurements and snapped a chalkline on the posts to determine the height of each post. The yard goes uphill, and I want the top of the fence straight, not wavy following the ground. So we measured the bottom corner post, then the top corner post, and snapped a line in between them. Next up we cut all the posts at their proper height. Building a level fence is relatively easy. Building a sloped fence with plumbed pickets takes a bit longer, but the end result will be worth it.

The runners and top cap

After the posts were cut to size, we started filling in the 2×4 runners that the pickets would get nailed to. This was pretty straightforward. After the 2x4s were in, we installed a 2×6 across the top of the fence. This will make the fence be more like a deck railing than a fence, so it kind of makes it more inviting.

With the 2×6 top cap done, we got started on the pickets. We’re opting for two different width pickets to give the fence a little character. We also laid out the spacing of the pickets pretty tight so that hopefully chickens and rabbits won’t fit through.

The pickets

We did one small section first – cutting the pickets to size and then ripping half of them to the skinnier width on the table saw. We nailed up the first section and then stood back to look at it. Oceana gave her seal of approval so we started cutting more pickets. We got the pickets done across the back and down the long side of the fence. The pickets down the long side all had to be cut at an angle (since the yard and fence slopes) to properly butt up to the bottom of the top cap. We got the long section done and then called it a night. It’s starting to come together. This weekend we should be able to finish the front pickets and then build and install the two gates.

That’s all, folks

That’s all for now! Thanks for following along on our journey.