Digging in the corner of the yard

Not much to report for this weekend. I was able to dig for a couple of hours on Sunday. I'm starting in a new corner of the yard. The objective is to clean out this section of rocks, and upgrade the soil, so we can move the oak trees from the area by the box over here.




I'm starting in the corner and working my way out. I'm still a foot or so away from the actual fence line, so that it holds the fence in place while I dig. Once I get it in the condition I want, I'll pour an edge wall with rocks on top next to the fence, to keep things from digging in or out under the fence.

So far it looks like a classical dig. Lots of smallish rocks -- smaller than a watermelon -- and a couple of really big ones. I've pulled them out of the hole, but I still need to move them out of the way. I'm not sure yet how much dirt is under the big rocks; I'll work more on it next weekend, with any luck.

Changing the Stovetop

Ever since the house was built, it's had a Thermador electric stove top. It's showing its age. One light doesn't work any more, and the pans under the burners are in bad shape. I've replaced them at least twice, but still they get baked-on spills. And Linda believes that a gas stove is better, so we are going to switch it out for a gas model.



Consumer Reports lists the Sears Kenmore Elite 3249 as its top ranked 36-inch gas cooktop, and after looking at several places, we choose it. We were unable to find one in stock, that we could actually look at, so we went over to Sears to order one. As it happens, just the day before, someone had returned a new one, and so they had an open box of that exact model, in Stainless Steel, on display for half-off. So we took it.

As you might expect, things are not perfect, as it was missing the installation instructions. With some work, I found a PDF file of the installation instructions on-line and printed them out. I started the installation early on Saturday and finished up about 8 pm, so it took all day, and three trips to Home Depot.

The first problem was to remove the old cooktop and make the hole in the counter larger. The depth is okay, but we are replacing a 30 inch cooktop with a 36 inch cooktop, so I needed to make the hole wider.



Once that was done, I dropped the cooktop in place. This looks like it is almost done, but most of the work is still ahead.

The obvious work is attaching the gas line to the cooktop. The builder had put the gas line in, but just capped it off. I had to remove the cap and put a cut-off valve on. Then I could run the line from the cut-off valve to the cooktop itself. That was actually fairly easy. You have to be careful to seal all the connections, and then test afterwards with soapy water to look for any leaks (which will make bubbles).

The really difficult part was providing it electrical power. The electrical cooktop had a 220 volt direct connection. This same circuit runs the wall oven next door to the cooktop. It would be possible to use half the 220 to get the 110 that the gas cooktop needs, but not safe. Since the oven runs on the 220 circuit, I had to just cap it off and seal it away.

There are some 110 circuits that run around the counters to provide power for kitchen appliances, so I tapped off one of them and ran a wire down under the cabinet and put in a new outlet. That was the most difficult part -- running the extra wire down in the exterior wall behind the cooktop. But it didn't have to be pretty; it just had to be right.




So with these tasks complete, we now have a new gas stove top.



The next project in the kitchen should be new counter tops. Granite, I assume.

Another spot to dig -- the South Pit

I dug back to the fence line along the right side of the electrical box, getting all of the stump and it's roots out. Going all the way down to bed-rock, I found the trench that runs along the fence (from the corner of the Bamboo Grove that holds the electrical, telephone and cable wiring.

Then I filled it back in, at least partially.




This has accomplished the basic goal for this section at this time -- removing the stump, clearing out the rocks, and making the soil better by increasing its organic content. I've mixed a lot of last Fall's leaves into this dirt as it was shovelled out, and then shovelled back in.

It appears that we will want to move the remaining trees. These are Shin Oaks -- a small native oak for Central Texas. It likes full sun, has low water requirements and likes the limestone based soil. So it's a nice tree, and we don't want to lose it, but it's sort of in an inconvenient place. My idea is to move it over to the corner of the yard.



So that will be the next area to dig. We will dig this area up, to get down to bedrock, clean out the rocks and improve the soil, then move the Shin Oaks over to that area and see if we can get them to live there. That will allow me to continue the excavations by the electrical box.



This area is where the compost pile was -- we've moved it now to back by the Bamboo Grove. Also we have had a couple of trees planted in this area, so the soil is somewhat disturbed and uneven; after the trees were put in or out, the soil settled. So part of the goal is to even up this part of the yard. We will need to be careful, since it will settle after we are done.

Digging out the stump

Having gotten down to bedrock, the primary goal is to dig out the stump, so we start to dig back towards the stump. First we dig back to the concrete slab that the electrical box is on, and then we start to dig around the stump, counter-clockwise.

With daylight savings, it's lighter in the evening, so I've been coming home from work earlier and trying to dig from about 6:00 to 7:30 in the evening. After the weekend, and 3 or 4 evenings, we have dug our around half the stump.





Another weekend of digging and we have most of the dirt from the back side moved out. Once you get about 3 or 4 inches down, you hit the roots. I use the "axe" part of my grubbing hoe to chop at the roots next to the stump and at the edge of the hole that I've dug to get the roots out. This disconnects the stump from the roots out in the yard (which will eventually be dug up or die).



And this evening, having chopped my way around the stump, I could just reach down, and use the longest remaining root to lift the stump up and on its side.




It's really heavy. I can't think of any reason anyone would want a stump, so the next problem will be to break it down into manageable pieces and haul it out. I have a couple of wedges and a sledge hammer that I will try to use for that this next weekend.

Another weekend of digging

Not too much progress this weekend. I got the rocks out of the hole from last weekend, and dug some more.

I've put the rocks out on the curb to get rid of them. Craig's List seems like a good way to get people to come haul them off. They use them as landscape rocks, I assume.



After getting the rocks out, which required using the jackhammer to break several into smaller more manageable pieces, the rest of the time was just digging, and moving the dirt out of the way.



There is a solid layer of rock about 20 inches down. I expect several weeks of just digging, to get the soil cleaned up, removing rocks and mixing in compost.

Starting The Box

The next area to work on is a planter/bed area just off the porch. It was dominated by a large cedar tree, which we had cut down. So now we have a stump to remove. I've started by clearing off all the previous plantings, and removing the little stone edging around it.

Here's what the tree looked like before it was removed.



And that leaves me with the following to work on:





And in particular the stump.



I expect to dig around this until it's isolated and then break it up into smaller pieces to get it out.

After a couple of days of digging, I have exposed a couple of big rocks in a 5 foot by 7 foot hole. I managed to pry the small one out and put it on the stump to get it out of the way. I pried another larger one up on top of another. I may need to break these into smaller chunks to make them manageable.



Under these rocks, about 21 inches from ground level, it appears I have a solid, smooth unbroken layer of rock, so that's about as deep as I can go.

After this work, it has rained, so I can't really do anything more until it dries up. And Spring Break is over, so it's back to digging only on the weekends.

Last work on the Bamboo Grove

I'm off work on Spring Break, and it's stopped raining for a few days, so I was able to go out and shovel more dirt into the bamboo grove. This should fill it back in. The wall is done, and other than needing to bring in more dirt as things settle, the Bamboo Grove is done. All the dirt has been dug up, the rock removed and the dirt quality improved. As the dirt settles, I will probably need to bring in a bit more.

Finishing the Bamboo Grove Wall

I was able to get back to work on the Bamboo grove -- the Cedar Allergies are gone, it's above freezing, and there was a break in the rain. It's been since like November that I was working on this. So first, we have to establish where we were. We need to put a concrete wall, with rock topping under the back fence. We will use the jackhammer to go straight down under the fence. That will provide one side of the concrete wall.




It turned out to be easier to just use the pick axe (really a grubbing hoe) to even it up under the fence. Then it's the standard approach. Staple black plastic on the fence, to provide a water proof barrier on one side. Use a high pressure water hose to spray the bedrock down, to get it as clean as we can. Then put up a masonite form for the other side, keeping them separated by a 1x4 piece of wood. I have all these bags that used to hold compost that I've filled with rock to use as sandbags to keep the forms in place. Then mix up the concrete (I use just 80 pound bags of ready-mix) and shovel it in, removing the 1x4's as each section is filled with concrete. After a couple days, remove the forms.



Another day of mixing up just mortar and using it to put cut limestone rocks on the top, to make it look better than just concrete. Let that dry and we are done.




Now we are ready to fill the space in with dirt. We have a big pile in the bamboo grove, but given the amount of rock we have taken out, we will need to bring in more.

March 6 and 7, 2010

I spread the dirt pile around and filled in much of the area, but still need more for the complete area. I've been mixing in all the leaves from last fall as I shovel the dirt back, so there should be some organic matter mixed with the soil. It's a very heavy clay soil and still very wet. It was marginally reasonable to shovel it in this condition -- it seemed with every shovel full, more stuck to the shovel than was moved. But the forecast says more rain tonight and tomorrow, so this is the best opportunity in a while.

Winter 2010

It's been really wet this winter. And cold. So not much done outside during this time.

I put up a ramp for the dog, to get down from the back porch to the ground. The dog is getting very old (16 or 17 years old) and has developed a limp. She is now having difficulty going down the stairs. So this should make it easier for her. I made it out of two 12 foot 2x4's from Home Depot, plus some leftover siding/plywood from the attic. I ripped the plywood into 18 inch pieces and screwed it down to the 2x4's. Then to keep her from jumping off the side, I put a short piece of siding on the side, Since I had the siding and screws, the total cost was just the $9 for the two 2x4's.




March 2, 2010

The other activity was to trim the trees. The trees are so thick, especially in the front, that the grass is dieing (or is dead). We went with Crawford's Tree Service (http://www.happiertrees.com). $750 to have most of the trees trimmed. Below is the live oak in the front (named Fuzzy), before and after.

First half of concrete wall

Now that the digging is done, the next step is the concrete separating wall. We are going to put in a concrete wall, down to bedrock, to keep the bamboo in (or out) to this specific area. To be a bit more attractive, we put a rock edge along the top.

So the first problem is to get the rock. Whittlesey Landscape in Round Rock has some 4x4 rock for 7 cents a pound. I got 520 pounds for $39.40 (27 November 2009). This should be 50 linear feet or more. In the photo below, I just laid them at the base of the fence to get an idea of how much length I have, and what it will look like.



In addition, I will need concrete and mortar mix -- the concrete for the wall and the mortar mix to attach the rocks to the top. The process is fairly simple. I put a black plastic sheet on the "dirt" side, to keep the concrete from mixing with the dirt. I use 1x4's to keep the forms 4 inches away from the dirt, and then put the forms on the outside. For the forms, I just bought a 4x8 sheet of masonite from Home Depot ($12) and cut it down to 3 16-inch tall pieces. I use the plastic bags of bad dirt as sandbags, to hold the form in place. Then I mix up a bag of concrete and shovel it into the space between the plastic on the far side and the form on this side. As I shovel the concrete in, I can pull out the 1x4's -- they are just there to keep the form from collapsing next to the black plastic.




It's a dirty messy job. Part of this is because the weather was sort of wet, but also just the water to clean the bedrock, and to mix the concrete.

Once the concrete is firm, the forms can be removed (and re-used for the next section). The black plastic can be trimmed off (but you can't get it out from behind the wall -- that's intentional; it should help seal the wall from anything coming thru it). Mix up the mortar mix and use it to put on the top edge of rock.



In the photo above, I don't have all the rocks attached yet, but the part that is done looks good. I have to finish all the way around to join up with the first separating wall, and close the wall around the bamboo grove.

But there will be a delay -- I seem to have acquired "tennis elbow", and the doctor says to lay off this work until I get better. I would still hope to be able to finish by the end of the year, but there is no rush. And with the wet winter weather, it's difficult to work. And cedar allergy season is about to start.