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The bright spot is where the covered area will go. I have 2 pergolas on the way.
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Pressure-treated 6x6s (8 foot and 12 foot) to border the stone that will be under the pergolas. These things are HEAVY :-(
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Need to prep where the pergolas will go. Step 1 - stump removal.
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Tilling the ground so it can be leveled. Slow going with having to stop every 2 feet and dig or axe out roots.
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As much as I could do today. I know it is wide enough, it may not be long enough.
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Laying out the borders. Not perfectly flat but close enough. Lets make it permanent...
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Weed blocker down. I rolled each of the borders outwards a quarter turn, put the weed blocker from board to board, and then rolled each border back. So the weed block is fully under the boards.
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To keep me from moving the borders while doing the stone (and mowing, and walking) I am going to peg them into the ground. Half inch dowel, 4 foot long.
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Chopped the dowel in thirds and gave each piece a rough point.
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Drill 9/16 inch holes into the borders. Two each for the 8 footers and three each for the 12 footers.
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Start the dowel pegs ...
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... and whack them flush into the ground.
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Throw bags of rocks around enough to keep the weed blocker from blowing around. The middle width border is not in its correct spot but is there for maintaining width.
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Always buy good extension cords. They are expensive as hell but they let you do stupid things like run a 1/2 inch drill 200 feet from the house to put holes into pressure-treated 6x6s :-)
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First pergola up.
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Each post is anchored into the 6x6s with 3/8" x 1 1/2" lag screws. That should be sufficient and it helps to anchor the 6x6s together.
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Both pergolas up and anchored down.
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I calculated everything else well. Except how much rock I would need to give me a first layer. I was horribly short :-)
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Got more stone.
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Now to decide if i finish with this or something prettier
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The first of two islands. One for the fire pit and the other, which will be in front of the first, for the grills.
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Second fire area blocked out. First fire area cleared and weed block down
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Enough rock in the first fire area to keep the weedblock down
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Second fire area cleared, weedblocked, and partially filled. The far one has the least tree canopy so it gets the firepit. The near one will be for the grills.
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Three picnic tables from Lowes - ready to be stained and assembled.
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The first picnic table on the sawhorses. I had ordered stain with everything else but it wasn't scheduled to come until 2 days from now. Not wanting to waste a perfect weekend to stain, I bought another gallon, but Home Depot does not carry everything in store they carry online.
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It has been a while since I have stained wood. But I do not remember it going on like, and covering like, thin paint.
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It will work - a bit brighter red than I was expecting, but it will still look good under the pines.
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Two table parts stained and ready to put together.
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That night, the stain I ordered came :-) This was how I remembered stain.
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Smells like paint thinner and goes on like water. The first coat absorbs into the wood. And it still looks like wood.
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Note to self and others: Behr "stain" is really just...
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Thin paint - notice how the bottom of the bucket is relatively thickly covered compared to...
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an actual stain
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For future projects, this will be the stain I order (unless I can find some place that carries it locally).
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Nope. I did not stain the legs. They are treated lumber. But I will be staining the legs. My reply of "they are art-deco" was not accepted :-)
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Scenic shot
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Scenic shot
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