Until Christmas

Won't be doing anymore work on the property until Christmas - hopefully will be able to built our pavillion over the two week break.

Ta Da

Have finished the decking and platform. Wow!

All trimmed up - and solid as a rock.

I am really happy with the way its turned out.

One of the wonderful huge old trees on our property.

Nine boards short

Yep, nine boards short of completing the deck - bugger!

I really should measure these things - rather than rely on my man instinct.

Anyway, got most of the deck done.

Nearly 1000 nails later - all by hand!

Roughed out how big the pavillion will be 3m x 6m. All that's left to do on the deck is 9 more boards and trim up the edges. Then start the easy part - building.

We nearly lost Eric - he and Steve decided to go for a wander - calling, calling and only Steve came back and Steve's like I don't know where he is! 

Luckily our neighbours found him and dropped him back to us - he spent the rest of the day tethered to the trailer.

Here is a disturbing image of the dogs spooning.

A deck for all seasons

Started decking - using 150mm x 25mm treated pine plinth boards - I think they give a nice rustic feel plus they are cheap at about $1.25 per metre. Decking should be finished after Easter (fingers crossed).

It's hard work and a lot of nails (all by hand) but I like the results.

Foundation for deck and pavilion finished

 Over the xmas break I was able to finish the foundations for the deck and pavilion.

Plans have changed a bit the deck is now 9 m x 6m with a cut out for water tanks also the cooking area is being moved to incorporate the existing brick fireplace (more on that later).

Still using the 3m x 200mm x 50mm treated pine sleepers as my base - these things are not going anywhere, nice and solid. You can see my shed in the background (still standing), it's great, nice and water tight and the amount of water collected of that small roof is amazing.

Kangaroos ate a couple of Tara's trees so I added some more fencing - now have a post hole digger - fun and easy to use, once I get it started! 

So that made digging holes a lot faster.

Hoping to get the deck on in the next month or so - also want to start working on the fireplace BBQ area.

We have a new addition to our family - this is Eric - a Jack Russell and friend for Steve our other Jackie.

Starting

Started the deck - approx. size is 18m x 6m (huge). Making it up of 3m x 3m sections - easy for me to manage by myself.

Decided to build using H4 treated 200mm x 50mm x3M pine sleepers. Building a deck then building the pods on top.

First post in! Soil is a bit clayey which is good for the posts and about 800mm down it is starts to become rocky (great!) each post hole takes me about 15-20 mins. Buying a post hole digger!

A 3m x 3m section joises are 50mm apart.

Going up pretty easily - considering its a one man show.

Anyway it's not all work.

Brought myself a professional yabbie pot.

And its works - got about 12 of these little guys and they were delicious.

Won't be doing anything for about a month - working on my suburban house.

But stay tuned for completed deck and a 30m flying fox!

The Idea

The old shed is gone - it was built well!

Hopefully the project will look something like this.