When we replaced the siding around the house with new vinyl siding, this wall of fiberglass paneling seemed ugly by comparison. But we didn't want to replace or cover it, because it is translucent, and lets light into the shop and storage area inside. We decided to hide the wall and the air conditioning compressor behind a trellis.
We had potted herbs and flowers along the wall. These have been relocated.
This 3D plan, made with Google Sketchup, shows the trellis. In front of the trellis will be a raised bed to replace the string of potted herbs and flowers that we had along this wall. The strip of stones between the lawn and the house will also be widened and reshaped. The trellis will rest on the back edge of the raised bed. We can grow clematis on the trellis and herbs and flowers in the raised bed. The white at lower right is the neighbor's fence.
The stones have become mixed with dirt over the years so the dirt needs to be separated and the stones washed. Here is a temporary pile of washed stones in front of the firewood under the deck at the rear of the house.
A cage of 'hardware cloth' that had been used to protect potted lettuce from rabbits was converted to a sifter by turning it upside-down and adding handles. After sifting out the dirt, the rocks are washed at this table with a hose and spray nozzle. Some of the fabric used under the rock to block weeds is used here to catch the pebbles and dirt.
A ramp of plywood leaning on a saw-horse makes it easier to dump the washed stones onto the middle of the pile. Here, the pile has been moved to an area where dirty stones have been replaced with washed stones (over new weed-stop fabric). Bird seed had fallen in this area, but the bird feeder has been removed. The black barrel is for discarding junk found mixed with the stones.
The area of cleaned rock is 'growing' towards the corner of the house and will proceed past the air conditioner to the area where the raised bed and trellis will go. The dirt triangle will be filled with sod to be taken from grass areas that be become stone. A new black plastic 'fence' separates grass and stone, to prevent the grass from spreading into the stone area.
Some grass area will become stone, and some stone area will become grass at the reshaped corner area, so sod will be cut and moved.
The pots of flowers and herbs that were where the trellis will go have been moved north (along the wall left of here). Here is the new rain barrel (blue) that now waters these pots via a drip system. The white box raises the rain barrel higher than the tallest pot. When the rain barrel is full, the diverter on the downspout sends the extra water down the usual drain.
Some of the sod has been moved, transforming the square corner of the grass/stone boundary to a diagonal path.
The diagonal grass/stone boundary is now complete, and three pots are now positioned along this diagonal. The 3/4-inch main line of the drip system runs along the base of the house wall, turning the corner and running under the stairs up to the flower boxes on the deck. A 1/4-inch side line runs under the stone from the main line to these three pots.
More sod is removed further north past the diagonal 'corner' so that the stone can extend further from the house. But since the raised bed will replace some of the stone area, additional stones will not be needed.
The extra sod is temporarily stacked here next to the neighbor's fence. Dirt sifted from the rocks is piled to the left of the sod stack. In recent years I have developed good soil here from compost, to the depth of a shovel-blade.
New weed-stop fabric and round 'stepping' stones proceed along the new diagonal past the air conditioner. At this point, I have used up the roll of white weed-stop fabric, which was four feet wide.
The round 'stepping' stones proceed further north. SInce this strip is three feet wide, I changed to three-feet-wide weed-stop fabric, which is black.
The rock-washing table has been moved to one end of the area where the sandy soil and pebbles sifted from the rocks has been piled on top of the compost-enhanced soil. The mix of these two kinds of soil will be good for the raised bed.
I don't want to put clean rock too close to the area of the raised bed until the raised bed is constructed, so I've started a new pile of washed rock that is closer than the old pile.
I have dug out the clay soil under where the raised bed will be, because I want to replace it with good soil. The clay soil is piled up next to the house.
Here I have started to take from my supply of good soil, both below ground and piled above. But first, I put the extra sod upside down in the bottom of the hole where the raised bed will be.
The storm drain line is broken and plugged up with dirt. I'm getting a contractor to put in a new line from here to the street, also connecting to another downspout.
Good soil has filled the hole where the raised bed will be, up to ground level.
Decking lumber has been cut for the raised bed, and propped up to show what one level of the bed will look like.
One level of the raised bed constructed.
Both levels of the raised bed now constructed, for a height of 11 inches.
The design includes four verticals to join the horizontal pieces, and four stakes to anchor the bed in place and also to help join the two levels. This view shows half of them.
This closeup shows one stake and one vertical that helps three kinds of joining.
The good soil has been moved to fill the raised bed, and next the clay soil will fill this hole. But the good soil at the far end is reserved to go on top, for growing new grass.
The raised bed is now filled with good soil. The clay soil piled next to the house will be put into the hole where the good soil came from.
The clay soil is tossed over the raised bed into the wheel barrow, and some of the weed-stop fabric is used to keep the clay out of the raised bed.
Now that the clay behind the raised bed is removed, I have moved clean stone next to the raised bed (after cleaning up spilled dirt).
Here, some good soil that was set aside has been put on top of the clay soil.
We still have a supply of clean stone, in two piles.
Nine new 1/4-inch drip lines are installed, running from the main line (along the wall on the left) over to the raised bed. Each of the 9 lines has a 2 gallon-per-hour flow-control button at the main line and ends with a tee going to two dripper stakes.
Here is a close-up of a few of the drip lines going from the main line on the left over the weed-stop fabric to the raised bed. Fabric staples are used to hold down these lines before putting the stones on top. Eventually, the drip lines will be threaded through the bottom of the trellis.
Stones now cover the drip lines between the wall of the house and the raised bed. Bags of compost on the right are ready to be added to the soil in the raised bed.
2 x 3 lumber has been cut for the framework to support the trellis. All 23 pieces will be painted with primer before assembly.
Four frame units are assembled.
The four frame units and other pieces are now painted the final coat, except for the bottom edges.
Two units of the trellis are now completed and temporarily in place. You can see how light passes through the fiberglass panels.
Four sections of the trellis are assembled, with two of them in place.
From this angle, you can see how the frame of the trellis rests on one edge of the raised bed, and how support pieces connect the top of the trellis to the wall of the house.
The trellis is now completely assembled. From left to right, there is a 2-ft. wide hinged wing, an 8-ft. wide section, 4-ft. wide section, 7-ft. wide section, and (not easily seen) a 4-ft. wide hinged wing. The 4-ft. wide middle section is not pre-assembled, but assembled last with three horizontal pieces.
The 1/4-inch drip hoses are threaded through the bottom of the lattice like this. Each one branches to reach two dripper stakes.
To keep dirt from spilling onto the rock when working in the raised bed, scraps of plywood are temporarily screwed on to make a higher wall. Also, the drip hoses are temporarily inserted into the lattice to keep them out of the way.
From this angle, you can see the 4-ft. wide hinged wing at the right end. This wing functions as an access door for the air conditioner. For more complete access, the lattice of the 7-ft. wide section can be removed.
This view shows how the three flower pots are centered along the beveled corner of the grass/stone boundary.
This view shows how the right end of the raised bed and the right wing of the lattice are colinear and parallel to the grass/stone boundary.
This view shows how the left end of the raised bed and the left wing of the lattice are colinear.
These five large pots of flowers and, between them, four smaller pots of herbs were previously in the lattice area, and are now watered from the rain barrel.
Here is the raised bed about a year later, with herbs planted and a clematis growing up on the lattice.
Looking down at the hinged edges where the left wing is joined to the stationary frame, you can see how the vertical frame pieces are cut at a 22.5 degree angle. You can slso see the U-channels that hold the lattice and one of the straps that connect braces.
I first tried door hinges for the trellis wings, but they weren't wide enough. These strap hinges had more than enough reach. I needed to cut off the ends of the straps, and drill another hole on each strap to make it work.
Because the wood is thinner toward one edge, some hinge screws come out the back. Screw tips like this will be cut off.
Each wing has a bracing wire on the back like this that keeps the unsupported outer edge from sagging.
Each pre-assembled frame section has two bracing wires that cross like this on the back side, to keep the corners square.
The horizontal pieces for the middle section (between the two pre-assembled sections) are connected by steel straps like this.
Each wing is latched in the closed position by a bar at the top, like this. Lifting the end of the latch-bar releases the wing.
Some of the 22.5-degree wedge cut from the frame vertical on the hinged side is fastened to the top edge of each wing. This allows the end of the latch-bar to slide up the wedge.
Each latch-bar has a notch that catches the edge of the wedge on the top of the wing. An eye-screw a little further back on the latch-bar keeps the wing from going too far.
Looking down (from a window) at the latch-bar reaching out to the left wing.
Looking down (from a window) at the latch-bar reaching out to the right wing.
Now that the stones, raised bed, and lattice are done, it's time to build two shelf units for the shop/storage area. (The lumber for all projects was obtained at the same time.) Here, two 4' x 8' sheets of 1/2" plywood have been cut into eight 2' x 4' shelves.
A notch is cut from each corner of each shelf to make room for a vertical 2-by-4.
Four notches cut from each shelf, four shelves for each of two shelf units -- that's 32 notches, making this 16-inch stack of scraps.
Eight 10-foot 2-by-4's are lined up for cutting. Square up the ends, and cut 2 feet off all eight pieces with one saw cut. Repeat at the other end.
Eight 2-foot lengths cut from each end. That should leave eight 6-foot lengths, but the lumber isn't that precise or uniform. I needed to trim the remainder to 5' - 11 1/2" to get all the same length.
Now we have eight 6-foot vertical supports and 16 2-foot horizontal supports.
A notch needs to be cut from each end of all 16 2-foot horizontal supports, as marked here.
All 16 2-foot horizontal supports are lined up for cutting. Two saw cuts, with the right depth adjustment, will make the short cut of all notches.
All notches are now cut from the 16 2-foot horizontal supports.
Four horizontal supports are fastened to two vertical supports by screws, making a ladder-like structure for one end of each self unit. The positions of the horizontals set the shelf heights.
This side ot the 'ladder' will face the interior of the shelf unit.
All four 'ladders' are assembed. The shelf heights of one shelf unit will be slightly different than the other.
Here is a practice assembly of one shelf unit, without screwing the shelves in place. (Supported by the two saw-horses) The shelves can be inserted from bottom to top by leaning the ladders slightly away from each other.
At each end of the top shelf, a bracing wire is anchored like this, and ...
... at the center of each end of the bottom shelf, the bracing wire is anchored like this.
Slots like this are cut in the second and third shelves for the bracing wires, half-way across the width, and one-third and two-thirds along the length.
Here are the two shelf units, completed and in place, allowing the shop/storage area to be better organized, with the help of some new storage boxes. Older steel shelves at the left are small by comparison.
