The birth of Greenhouse No 2

Been a tad busy, trying to get the next greenhouse up and running beside the old one.

Once it is up, the older one will undergo Depot Level Inspection and Repair (DLIR) :-)

It survived, wind storms, tree falling, winter storms.

But it need some structural repairs.

No 2 is going up to the left of No 1

Yes, she set up one of her small portable greenhouse inside, 

which contained the covered warming bed I made.

First order of business this Spring was to relocate plants in the way then flatten the spot

Plants in the way, must await relocation.

Plants gone, starting to lower ground

Top soil is removed to the sand layer and spread wherever she wanted it.

When looking at it from the front (pic is from side)

the ground lower from R to L and back to front.

Had to dig down a few inches to find level undisturbed sand.

Got about half of my space flat and level

Meanwhile Jean set up a cooling station beside my work spot.

We were in the middle of a small heat wave, came in handy.

Divide and conquer the reminder, referencing from my level spot in front

Found a tree stump

The footprint of the greenhouse is 10X20 feet, so need to clear a bigger spot all around flat and level.

That means No 2 is sitting lower than the other one, but being a full 8 ft high, is still taller than the other one at 6 ft.

Final check with my electronic water level.

Works on the age old principle that water always seek it own level, 

but has circuitry to detect when level and beep, making it a one man operation.

Used it for levelling a friend's pool years ago, still level 

But first...  Have not used it in eons.  I wonder if I remembered to remove the battery??

Humm apparently not! 

Good industrial battery, no leak no damages done after more than 22 years.

I'm impressed, but replaced it anyway, works better :-)

But before we could move the frame of the soft skinned shelter it had to be empty.  We used it for temporary storage the first year.  

In the winter I kept path opened to the shelter and greenhouse

Empty and next was to remove power and security measures

Now that she got a few more plastic sheds to store her tools and supplies, it became possible to empty it.  Moving sale finds, so affordable, she got 3 :-)

With the arrival of Spring and numerous projects, the cap is off the truck.

So we can move big objects and take loads of soil, gravel, peat moss etc.

Recognize the one on the left?

Its the one that was hit by the tree.  Its sprung back to shape.

It was located behind the metal shed that got flatten and took a hit from the tree.

I saved the panels, hoping to be able to salvaged it later with a heat gun.  They spent the winter inside the old shed, it can get pretty hot in there at time.  This Spring when we made room in shed to empty the soft shelter found the panels had restored their shape.  Tried and lo and behold, went back together fine.  Even the damaged corner for the doors still works.  I'm impressed.  Definitively thermoset plastic :-)

Only damages left from its encounter with a tree is a puncture on top 

and damages to the corner.  Door still work.

Panel on right is the one that took the hit.

Not much traces left

Once empty shed frame was moved over in two sections.

Set in place, re-attached and pinned down once tighten all the screws...

 

Ended up with a spare bolt and missing 3 nuts.  Could not see where there was a blank hole???

And that is why you cannot see your own typos or missing fasteners.  Your brain ignore your eyes and make up its mind.  Which is why when errors could jeopardize safety we used Independent Checks (IC), someone not involved with the maintenance action to give it a second sober look and review of procedures used.

Next day found... 

3 nuts and one washer to go with my spare bolt.

Finally saw it...

Must have had the sun in my eyes :-)

With the frame in its final location and pined down, 

I can start to get a feel for the spaces around and earth work required

This shed will be raised on blocks like the other one besides.

But I still need to lower ground between and behind greenhouses

Next chop a few pointy sticks

Made my forms.

On this side I am using the sand bank as one side

Pouring concrete mix

Forms removed.

Footing is 4 inch thick, and about  8 inch average wide.

That was 9 bag of concrete mix of 25Kg ea, plenty of mass to anchored it 

The other side I am using wood forms on both side, 

would be a more even width

Meanwhile seedlings are coming out of the 

first greenhouse and being transplanted

Once both footings are poured and set, will be able to finish levelling ground around it to proper depth.

Also planning a retaining wall on the north side (toward house) between greenhouse and trees.  

The space in question between the greenhouse and the tree clump.

The metal shed floor frame, the only thing salvageable :-)

 I kept for now to represent the future space occupy by her upcoming She-Shed (Potting shed).

The red pole is end of balcony (4 ft wide) for shed. 

 Shed will be move back a few feet, 

a bit tight for tractor.

Yes, will take me a while to finish, but once greenhouse is operational I can move to other projects for a while... The original greenhouse will be stripped down and repaired before Fall.

I have started to gather material for framing both end.  Have a 36 inch screen door for front (removed from house front door) the back will get an an aluminum 32 inch storm door from house rear deck (soon). Probably will end up making a 36 in door ?? 

Visualizing the door in its future location.

I intend to put 2 fans in both front and rear frames.

One on each side of door.

The special track and wiggle wires have arrived, we have the plastic left over from greenhouse No 1 but we may need more?  She want to put down double layer with blowing air in between.  Does not have to be air tight, they usually have small blowers continuously blowing air.  Seen using bath exhaust vent for that purpose in my travels.  Yes, we stop at all greenhouses and plants nurseries :-)

Meanwhile, at the request of a friend, I am starting to gather up my carvings and tools to teach her carving. 

You are now up to speed on Casa Demers goings on 

My grand kids figured out my battery life ... :-)

Bob, napping in between projects :-)

The Post drill is finally hanging up in my shop

This week we have the visit of our son Levi and family.  With our daughter coming over with her two kids, we had a total of 2 kids (Son and daughter), 5 grandkids and 3 dogs.  Yes, the house is alive with laughter :-)

While he is here, I enlisted him to help me with my Post drill project.  Been getting ready...almost... for a while.  But low on my various priorities lists and definitively need some muscle to help.

The biggest hold up being the potato pretzel shape the back board took on.  Started to plane it by hand, but it is a dense hardwood and needs a lot removed to remove twist so need power.

Before they showed up, I made a planning sled and hot glued shims and board somewhat level and not rocking.  Ran thru planer until there was no twist showing on my winding sticks, then remove from sled and ran the other side to take twist on back side.   Of course that was a lot to take off if I was to make the board perfectly flat and twist free on both side.  In addition the post is not without twist also.

Open garage door, set up planer and chip collection.

Made a quick planer sled to secured the board without rocking.

Shimmed and glued with hot glue.

Once twist is gone, STOP.

Trying to keep it as thick as I can.

Unstick board from sled, turn over and run thru planer without the sled.

You do not need much hot glue to secure board

solidly to sled, just need to shim so board cannot rock.

Sooo I quit the planing early when I was satisfied it was flat enough and twist free enough to mate it to the post.

Lays flat on the bench with no rocking.

Now trying to line up holes and figuring how to mount.

I stained the board to blend the planed area with the rest, a tad prematurely, cause I spend about 2 days hand planing the post and the board to match, flat and in same plane. 

Glamour pic of shavings as I am sweeping :-)

The greenish ones are from the PT post

Finally came to the obvious conclusion that the board sit flatter better on its show side.

So decided to mount the board with old back facing up.  So...plane a quick chamfer on all sides and... Stained areas   

Then I realized there was some insect damages on that side of the board, so I dug it out.  That damages was not visible from the surface before being planed.  Filled with JB Weld wood epoxy, then once dry, stained board one last time :-) 

Then sanded and you guessed it; Stained hopefully for last time :-)

Then It was figuring out how best to approach this monstrosity to hang it up.

Once board is fasten to the beam, I no longer have access to the bolts or nuts behind it.  These must lay flat with the board not to interfere with the fitting on the post.

Another annoyance to be fixed soon.

How to easily raise and lower that big heavy table on the drill press.

After many trips to the hardware store, cause I keep changing my plans on how to best secured drill on post after board is up.  I finally had to... Ugh.. go with metric fasteners. The only frigging bolts of the right size and threads all the way to secured it.  Of course I do not have any Metric sockets whatsoever, only a basic set of Metric wrenches, I had to but a metric 13 mm socket that fit a 3/8 drive ratchet.

The bolts are ran from the back inside a shallow round mortise from Forstner bit with a washer and on show side, I tighten jamming nut (thinner nuts) until they bite in the wood and recessed.  Not going anywhere.  Followed by some testing on the ground, making sure all 4 bolts lined up with the drill.  A bit of tweaking and we were successful and confident it should work, so re-stained what was the back which is now the front.

Next day after stain was dry,  figured out how it will be possible to attach the solid post and table under the drill.   Quickly apparent that pre-mounting the studs up like we did for the drill is not going to work.

So instead recycled one previous attempts, using different bolts (SAE) and T-Nuts under the board so we could simply screw it in from the front.

Checked alignment to make sure everything will line up correctly with some play I will need for final alignment once up.

Using a dowel to verify alignment.

Once everything was tested to my satisfaction, time to screw in the board. 

That went pretty good. Only needed two washers spacers at the top corner and everything lined up pretty good, flat and level.

Then it was finally time to hooked up the drill to the post.

Following pics from my grandson Bentley.

And then install the missing bits, flywheel, column and table, crank handle.

And finally a test drilling.  Success!.. 

Need some lubrication, all the gears are scraped and cleaned of old dirty lube. work as is but will be a lot smoother once properly lubed.

Some mechanical alignment and maybe some timing adjustment and should be all cleared for going back to work.

But for now, it is off my floor and hanging on its post.  I am very happy.

Thank you Levi and Bentley for all your help, could not had done it by myself