Jason’s Bush Block and Self Sustainability Ramblings - Ready for Roofing

[mjrstar]

1 hour ago, j.e.d. said:

thanks again man.. yea I'm not that keen/confident to go blowing air into the tank.. I think I'll let water do the job

It'll happen pretty slowly given the volume supplied by a small air compressor, and it's not like you'd dial up some air pressure and head off for lunch..i spent a few years pressurising aircraft fuel tanks and fuselages without getting on the news..

 

It might even start to take shape on a hot day in the sun if it's all sealed up..

[NickJ]

Water is roughly 0.5psi/foot of depth, if you ran a compressed air line to the tank on a warm day, an outlet into a suitable column of water will give you a very accurate pressure.
A rubber glove taped over a pipe also makes a suitable low pressure relief valve just don't ask for ASME certification.

In all seriousness, large pressurised volumes are why certain regulations exist, tread carefully (or go full Wile E Coyote)

[jono007]

I had a similar issue when I installed my 30,000l tank, the digger operator dropped a load of sand on the top thinking it would fall off and fill in the hole it was sitting in. Instead it collapsed the top....

I got in there with a 6x6 post and a scissor jack and slowly wound the jack up in a couple spots and it pressed out sweet, after a few hot days any sign of any crease etc is fully gone.

 

[j.e.d.]

Time to plant some trees for the orchard area.. normally I’m good at buying trees and leaving them in their bags for months on end, but this time bought and planted within the week, so winning there.
Picked up 12 trees.. x2 apple, x2 pear, plum, apricot, peach, nectarine, orange and mandarin.. also got a macadamia and an almond tree for something different so will see how those two go.

Still to add are a couple of avocado trees my mates mum has for me, a couple of feijoas in my back yard I want to relocate along with a lime tree and a big lemon tree.. I also have a guava but that’s a big old knarly thing I’m not sure if I can get out.. will see how the digger goes with that one.

[j.e.d.]

Well bugger me, that escalated in a hurry.. I wandered into Rainbow Nurseries in Ramarama to see when their next sale was on, got told hasn’t been an open door sale for the last few years due to covid and new buildings being built but she remembered me from last time a number of years ago so showed me around and then emailed me a list of trees they had for sale online. 
All I wanted were a few trees to go up my driveway as I like the old “tree lined driveway” look.. I ended up getting a bit carried away.. bought 16 prunus awanui (cherry) trees for the driveway and 21 Betula jaquemontii (birch) just cos they were cheap and should look nice when established.. $40 plus gst per tree ain’t bad considering they’re 2-3m tall.. 

Anyway, 2 days and 37 trees later they’re all in the ground.. note to self.. no more trees. And, move those mounds of dirt before they become permanent features.

 

[yoeddynz]

It already looks lush but those trees are going to look cool when big. Very posh. You'll have to buy some nice old English car for the max photo ops. 

Plus the oil leaks can be used to kill the weeds. 

[j.e.d.]

Indeed.. going for the stately look, so an old jag or rolls would look right at home.. its funny you say that though, I was just perusing through Range Rover Vogue's during my lunch break for some strange reason.. damn expensive luxury though.

These birch trees apparently have the whitest bark of them all, so I'm looking forward to seeing the results in the following years as I plan to be here for quite a while (maybe even long enough time to own an old British car for once in my life).

[j.e.d.]

Finally managed to pick up the fence rails from a mates yard. Got a whole packet in the end cos my boss gets a good rate directly from the mill down in Nelson. Was waiting for a while as my boss said I couldn’t pick it up due to the weight of the pack being near on 3 ton, so the initial talk was to split the pack so I could. Turned up expecting to get half the pack only to discover said mate has a she’ll be right attitude like me and said ahh that pack is only about 2.5 ton so should be fine.. hmm..  50 PSi in the tyres and I was away. Got there in the end with a few more grey hairs on the head.

Made a couple of jigs which proved to be a game changer when you’re doing it all yourself.

 

Got the easy part done last weekend.

Also had my free frames from work turn up that I’ll be building my shed out of.

This weekend I finished up the front fence and I’m pretty rapt how it’s all turned out. I checked the rails into the gate posts.

Ran the rails down the left side and trimmed all the long post tops down.

 

This is my favourite pic of the day..

 

[j.e.d.]

Minor work done, but it is getting slightly warmer albeit raining quite a bit still up here. Daylight savings is gonna help a lot in the next few weeks I feel.
Borrowed my mates drop saw to help cut things straighter and did a little job making the top of the letterbox support. Measured the height of the post by parking the ute beside it and eying it up for perfect reach out height. No tape measures were harmed in the making of this structure.

Cut the top and angle brace out of the same 125sq senton pile, then decided the brace needed to be ripped down to about two thirds to look better balanced.

Sitting on an offcut to see what it looked like..

And now fixed in place. Not sure how useful the box is as it lets in a lot of rain, but it’s just for show really. Locally made by an old fella from Galv sheeting then powder coated.. I like it a lot.

Nice to see the trees in bloom and leaves coming out.. spring is here.

[j.e.d.]

Painting.. hmm, don’t enjoy it.. that and digging holes, so finishing off this front fence is a pretty good achievement.. may need to add a couple of posts on the left but I’m calling it job done, tick that off the list.

I always wanted to paint the fence black (using old diesel oil.. read: tight arse), and also always wanted to paint the gate a different colour that accents the black and will carry through to the shed and house.. I had a colour in my mind but didn’t really know until I looked at samples what would actually eventuate. Funnily enough this is not what I was thinking of as I originally was thinking a honey colour, but I’m super stoked how it turned out.. Couldn’t be happier.

Saturdays effort just before the rain set in..

And todays result.. super happy to get this done.

The other day I picked up a bridge. I was gonna build a bridge to access the orchard from one end, but I couldn’t build one for the price I picked this up for. Still gotta smash some steel rods into the ground to anchor it  permanently, but it’s where it’s gonna be.

[Unclejake]

Impressive.

The wharf piles will almost certainly be H6 treated. A couple of gargoyles would look pretty mean on top of them.

[j.e.d.]

Scare off the door knockers if they ever venture out this far

[yoeddynz]

We had the bloody JWs drive all the way up or driveway the other day, park in the yard and come up to try and convert us. They got told where to go very promptly.

I need to build a gate. 

[tortron]

You should have robbed them. Allah would have stopped you if he didn't will it 

[j.e.d.]

22 hours ago, yoeddynz said:

We had the bloody JWs drive all the way up or driveway the other day, park in the yard and come up to try and convert us. They got told where to go very promptly.

I need to build a gate. 

Crikey. I think if they're determined enough a gate won't stop them.. especially if it's not locked.

No closed gate, but I had a nice elderly couple hovering around the front of my place in Tuakau a few weekends ago as I was taking stuff back & forth to my ute, then the husband finally committed & headed thru the gate looking full of promise. Barely got good morning out of his mouth before I cut him off and said "now is NOT the time"

For my new place I have a solar powered automatic gate opener about to be installed.

[j.e.d.]

Been a minute or two.. had shoulder surgery late last year which slowed me down a bit. Just prior to that I got dad to come up and help me build a retaining wall.

Still got the ends to finish off but it turned out pretty neat for a first timer.

Moved the bus up to the building platform and built a sketchy roof over it so it could dry out better. I’ve since removed the tarp.

I’ve also got my container down there now and the place is looking more like a builders storage yard.

 

[j.e.d.]

Since the last post I’ve been waiting patiently for my builder to make a start. I felt good about teeing it up with him as he built my last shed about 8 years ago when I lived in TK. Mid March was when my consent was approved, was told he could start in two weeks. 

Cool.. that 2 weeks felt so much more like 2.5 months.. so weird.

Anyway, after unanswered calls and a couple texts, I decided to sort it out myself.. these things happen for a reason.

Got a couple quotes, then decided to call a mate of mine from school I hadn’t spoken to for a number of years, just to see if he was still in the concrete business.. yep he is and yep he’s more than happy to make it happen for me.

I started by getting all the steel and polythene thru work.

Mate made a start last week, setting out the back board and partial side board for the Drainlayer & Plumber to come along and do their thing.

Clay is good for water retention when it pisses down with rain.

Inspection done and a little fine tuning of the shower waste, all back filled.

Mate back at it today, all boxing done and perimeter footing started.. happy days.

[j.e.d.]

More progress.. trenches all dug out, polythene and steel laid with a thicker area for the hoist.
Inspection passed and now ready for concrete. Inspector commented on the over engineered foundation.. I might of designed it a bit bigger than it needed to be, oh well.

 

Hopefully we’ll have a slab down just before the long weekend.

[j.e.d.]

Found out concrete won’t be til next Wednesday as they needed to sort a pump as well.. damn tight building site with the bus and storage shed in the way.. shed will be going but it’s handy to keep things dry at this stage.

Decided to finish the ends of the retaining wall off in preparation for many cubic metres of top soil for my raised garden bed.

A few weeks ago I finally managed to complete a project I had in my brain for months. I needed a temp water supply for the site and also for topping up my water tank/watering the garden. Got a 910 litre tank from dad a couple years ago which is a good size for dragging thru the bush without too much hassle. Set it up at the top of the waterfall with a feed from the creek (takes less than on hour to fill).

Ran about 150m of 25mm pipe and hooked it all up. Took just under a minute for the line to purge all the air before the water came thru at a nice rate. Not massive pressure but perfect for my needs.

 

Action shot..

[j.e.d.]

Well today was a big day.. slab is done!

Mate started at sun up prepping for the arrival of concrete like setting up the rebates and conduit locations while concrete pump guys were there doing hose things.

Ordered 20m3 and it used all of that with only what was left in the hoses as leftover.

 

After 3.5 hours of pour and laying, mate and his son spent the following 5-6 hours doing concrete magic to the slab.