In my own little world
Re: In my own little world
This is the stump which vexes me.
We had hoped to be rid of it by now but wind and rain thwarted our efforts to burn it during the short period during which we are allowed open burning. It even prevented further chain-sawing of it because wet hardwood dulls a chain within minutes.
To provide a sense of scale: the two red dots indicate points which are four feet and four inches apart.
The blue line indicates the approx. size and shape at starting. It is approx. four inches shorter than what the tree service left.
It is not easy to see but there is a white stripe of paint on the root at the righthand end of the blue line. This paint marks the limit of where we must clear to a depth of two feet because a flower bed and its border will cross there. We must remove the remainder only to a depth of six inches to accommodate sod. It must be that low because the ground all around the stump is elevated and must be leveled once the stump has been removed.
We had hoped to be rid of it by now but wind and rain thwarted our efforts to burn it during the short period during which we are allowed open burning. It even prevented further chain-sawing of it because wet hardwood dulls a chain within minutes.
To provide a sense of scale: the two red dots indicate points which are four feet and four inches apart.
The blue line indicates the approx. size and shape at starting. It is approx. four inches shorter than what the tree service left.
It is not easy to see but there is a white stripe of paint on the root at the righthand end of the blue line. This paint marks the limit of where we must clear to a depth of two feet because a flower bed and its border will cross there. We must remove the remainder only to a depth of six inches to accommodate sod. It must be that low because the ground all around the stump is elevated and must be leveled once the stump has been removed.
Avatar: Vera Vasilyevna Kholodnaya
Re: In my own little world
This has been our major project of recent.
We have a quite passionate hatred for the deck. It is built mostly of what lumber the previous owner could scrounge. He saved considerable money on construction also by not buying a level, square or plumb bob. It is questionable if he owned a tape measure.
This remodeling of this end is not finished yet. We need to remove the remaining pickets and fill those spaces with the same black wire mesh of which the trellises use. That will necessitate building small frames for those pieces and replacing the handrail. We are temporarily stymied by logistical issue of material supply and city ordinance. We are allowed minor remodeling which does not involve plumbing or electrical work as long as the expense does not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars. To do more requires a building permit. The city building inspector has been by and informed us we must wait at least six months to do more if we do not want the time, effort and cost of receiving a permit.
We must wait also approx. six months to paint the new trellises because they are pressure-treated lumber and still quite wet.
My little Fuzzy built the trellises by sawing grooves into the sides of two-by-twos for the wire and connecting those with one-by-twos, The width of the saw blade was so much less than the thickness of the wire mesh that each piece required five passes on the table saw. He had the option to cut them using a router but he dislikes doing that with treated wood. They are quite solid and square for no more material than there is in them. The cedar board across the top will help prevent twisting in high winds and will allow us to hang a thing or two between the trellises.
Much of the work done is hidden. The site was not properly sloped away from the house and so the output of the downspout would pool. A rain of an inch or more would then seep into the crawl space. We had to grade from downspout to end of deck so that we could install: "Stealthflow" drainage system at the proper pitch. It was necessary also to dig a large reservoir at the end and fill it with gravel. The large stone at the right side of the 'bed' sits on top of that gravel. The drainage pipe ends at the original ground level and the reservoir is not nearly sufficiently large to handle a great deal of rain but at least the water will be twelve feet from the house where it can do little damage.
It is difficult to see them in this image but there is a: Trumpet Honeysuckle on each trellis. It is hoped that they will mostly fill the space by the end of the growing season. This is a good use of them because they are naturally forest plants which like their roots to be in shade while their leaves receive good sun. We planted them just inside the edge of the shadow cast by the deck. There is a stone in front of each and we may move those closer to the plants because that is an old trick for keeping the roots of vines cooler.
In the very center is a Powis Castle Wormwood. It is presently approx. one foot tall but should reach three feet when mature.
It is impossible to see the five Hosta plants in the bed because they are so small now. We wished to have some Hostas but to fill the bed with them properly is prohibitively expensive. These are from a pack of six bare-root plants purchased from: Aldi. We placed them in small pots and waited for them to sprout before planting them out because they are of three different varieties and we wished some idea of their coloration prior to planting them. I believe that it may take a year or two but I am confident that they will eventually fill the space.
We have to remove all of the plants from our present flower bed because of an infestation of nutsedge. Sending all that dirt to the landfill is the only reasonable way to control it. Most of the plants have grown to a size appropriate for dividing them. We had planned to lift and divide many of them to provide for the new flower bed. It is sad to say that the continuing presence of the dreaded stump means the new flower bed will not be built until next year. We will be able to use some of them instead to populate the bed under the trellises but this may prove problematic because that area does not receive the full six-hours-each-day of sunlight which plants preferring 'full sun' require.
We have a quite passionate hatred for the deck. It is built mostly of what lumber the previous owner could scrounge. He saved considerable money on construction also by not buying a level, square or plumb bob. It is questionable if he owned a tape measure.
This remodeling of this end is not finished yet. We need to remove the remaining pickets and fill those spaces with the same black wire mesh of which the trellises use. That will necessitate building small frames for those pieces and replacing the handrail. We are temporarily stymied by logistical issue of material supply and city ordinance. We are allowed minor remodeling which does not involve plumbing or electrical work as long as the expense does not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars. To do more requires a building permit. The city building inspector has been by and informed us we must wait at least six months to do more if we do not want the time, effort and cost of receiving a permit.
We must wait also approx. six months to paint the new trellises because they are pressure-treated lumber and still quite wet.
My little Fuzzy built the trellises by sawing grooves into the sides of two-by-twos for the wire and connecting those with one-by-twos, The width of the saw blade was so much less than the thickness of the wire mesh that each piece required five passes on the table saw. He had the option to cut them using a router but he dislikes doing that with treated wood. They are quite solid and square for no more material than there is in them. The cedar board across the top will help prevent twisting in high winds and will allow us to hang a thing or two between the trellises.
Much of the work done is hidden. The site was not properly sloped away from the house and so the output of the downspout would pool. A rain of an inch or more would then seep into the crawl space. We had to grade from downspout to end of deck so that we could install: "Stealthflow" drainage system at the proper pitch. It was necessary also to dig a large reservoir at the end and fill it with gravel. The large stone at the right side of the 'bed' sits on top of that gravel. The drainage pipe ends at the original ground level and the reservoir is not nearly sufficiently large to handle a great deal of rain but at least the water will be twelve feet from the house where it can do little damage.
It is difficult to see them in this image but there is a: Trumpet Honeysuckle on each trellis. It is hoped that they will mostly fill the space by the end of the growing season. This is a good use of them because they are naturally forest plants which like their roots to be in shade while their leaves receive good sun. We planted them just inside the edge of the shadow cast by the deck. There is a stone in front of each and we may move those closer to the plants because that is an old trick for keeping the roots of vines cooler.
In the very center is a Powis Castle Wormwood. It is presently approx. one foot tall but should reach three feet when mature.
It is impossible to see the five Hosta plants in the bed because they are so small now. We wished to have some Hostas but to fill the bed with them properly is prohibitively expensive. These are from a pack of six bare-root plants purchased from: Aldi. We placed them in small pots and waited for them to sprout before planting them out because they are of three different varieties and we wished some idea of their coloration prior to planting them. I believe that it may take a year or two but I am confident that they will eventually fill the space.
We have to remove all of the plants from our present flower bed because of an infestation of nutsedge. Sending all that dirt to the landfill is the only reasonable way to control it. Most of the plants have grown to a size appropriate for dividing them. We had planned to lift and divide many of them to provide for the new flower bed. It is sad to say that the continuing presence of the dreaded stump means the new flower bed will not be built until next year. We will be able to use some of them instead to populate the bed under the trellises but this may prove problematic because that area does not receive the full six-hours-each-day of sunlight which plants preferring 'full sun' require.
Avatar: Vera Vasilyevna Kholodnaya
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dianedebuda
- Posts: 168
- Joined: October 23rd, 2022, 9:49 am
Re: In my own little world
That must have been a huge tree. Stump removal sure can be a headache. Have several smaller ones here too. We could dig them out with the backhoe on our small tractor, but just need them down enough for sod, so will just hire a stump grinder at some point in time. That could be an expensive option for you too except for where you need to go down 2 ft. If you're wanting to plant stuff there long term, the chem options couldn't be used. Would a raised flower bed, maybe enlarged to completely cover the stump, be an option? Be a lot easier to hide the stump and easier to cultivate as your age. As an old coot, I like not having to work on ground level plantings now.
$250 max? Wow, these days that won't buy many supplies. Not easy to DIY where you are. I'm currently getting ready to get back to wiring a 2 story, mostly DIY, house addition. Sure glad I don't live within city limits and my county only requires permits for well & septic systems. Guess your deck must have been built before there were such restrictions there. DIY efforts like the previous owner's probably the reason for such tight controls now.Masha wrote: ↑Today, 2:29 amWe are allowed minor remodeling which does not involve plumbing or electrical work as long as the expense does not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars. To do more requires a building permit. The city building inspector has been by and informed us we must wait at least six months to do more if we do not want the time, effort and cost of receiving a permit.
Re: In my own little world
We had to have four trees removed because of disease and/or age. All were fifty-five to seventy feet tall.dianedebuda wrote: ↑Today, 7:46 amThat must have been a huge tree. Stump removal sure can be a headache. Have several smaller ones here too. We could dig them out with the backhoe on our small tractor, but just need them down enough for sod, so will just hire a stump grinder at some point in time. That could be an expensive option for you too except for where you need to go down 2 ft. If you're wanting to plant stuff there long term, the chem options couldn't be used. Would a raised flower bed, maybe enlarged to completely cover the stump, be an option? Be a lot easier to hide the stump and easier to cultivate as your age. As an old coot, I like not having to work on ground level plantings now.
The smallest was an elm approx. two feet in diameter. We paid $250 to have that stump ground to a depth suitable for a layer of dirt and some grass seed.
Tree services we contacted were not enthusiastic about removing the other three stumps. They were a variety of maple known for its particular hardness. Their size means that a larger than normal model of stump grinder would have to be rented and it would be very slow going even if the grinder had carbide teeth.
My little Fuzzy has long experience using potassium nitrate and epsom salt to remove stumps. Neither has a significant effect on these stumps. The only advantage gained was that the holes which had to be drilled to accommodate the chemicals aided in the first attempts at burning. We filled them with kerosene, let the wood absorb it and then refilled them. We then used a Sawzall to make slits to connect some of them to the edge of the stump. That allowed the fire to use the holes as little chimneys and it increased the surface area available to the fire. It is by this that removal of nearly half of one stump was removed. It is sad to say that the remainder pictured is virtually immune to being drilled. The natural hardness of the wood has been greatly accentuated by the heat treatment of previous burning. Breaking an $18 auger bit and having to resharpen a spade bit for every hole has significantly dampened our enthusiasm for continuing attempts.
The next flower bed must be a mirror-image of the one which I posted a few weeks ago. They will flank a path leading to an as-yet-undetermined landscaping/garden feature. We plant only perennials and so maintenance should be minimal. The finished bed would need only a little puttering now if it were not for the infestation of nutsedge.
I suspect the limit was written into the ordinance several decades ago and they have not seen a need to alter it.dianedebuda wrote: ↑Today, 7:46 am$250 max? Wow, these days that won't buy many supplies. Not easy to DIY where you are. I'm currently getting ready to get back to wiring a 2 story, mostly DIY, house addition. Sure glad I don't live within city limits and my county only requires permits for well & septic systems. Guess your deck must have been built before there were such restrictions there. DIY efforts like the previous owner's probably the reason for such tight controls now.Masha wrote: ↑Today, 2:29 amWe are allowed minor remodeling which does not involve plumbing or electrical work as long as the expense does not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars. To do more requires a building permit. The city building inspector has been by and informed us we must wait at least six months to do more if we do not want the time, effort and cost of receiving a permit.
I suspect also that the previous owner was able to skirt the restriction by salvaging wood and so had very little cost. There are two twelve-foot four-by-four beams which bear no extraneous nail holes, bits of nailing plates or other indications of previous use. All of the other boards and beams in the deck bear obvious signs they they were in a different structure prior to being usurped for this purpose.
It is possible that he did not worry about such things and simply went ahead with what he wanted. It is unfortunate that there now lives in the neighborhood a fireman who enjoys reporting suspected violations of building codes and/or city ordinances. Being reported is the only logical reason for the visit from a city official to inspect the work. It is not as if they cruise the streets and alleys looking for people to fine for unapproved work.
Avatar: Vera Vasilyevna Kholodnaya