What are you working on?

[paddlenbike]

Things are a little slow on the forum, so what home or automotive projects are you currently working on?

I am taking a break from working on the house and just got started on some 4Runner projects that are lining up. I am currently in the middle of stripping the clearcoat and paint from a set of 17" Sequoia wheels. I will paint them graphite gray and go up one size tire--my current 265/75R16s look a little small with my 2.5" lift.


And you?

[Seanz0rz]

I am trying to find a job still, so I end up dedicating a couple of hours every other day to that. Otherwise, I am trying to finish up all the heavy landscaping at my parent's house. Installing retaining walls, landscape drains, paver patio area for the bbq. Not to mention planting a new hedge after ripping the old one out with my winch, planting a new tree in the front yard, and then the front yard needs some TLC, not sure what to do with it yet, but I will have to wait on that until after I run a great big trench through it for the drain system.

Hard labor, hot sun, and bad back and shoulders are preventing me from getting it done quickly, not to mention digging in the city's namesake clay/concrete soil.

[4x4mike]

Lately it's been a lot of stuff that comes with a family of 4. We've had 2 camping trips, 2 mini road trips, hiking, birthday parties, swim parties, zoo, children's museum, swimming, reading, eating, etc. Both kids start summer swimming lessons tonight and soccer for Maggie starts Friday.

Home has been neglected other than gardening, yard work and general maintenance.

I did break out the welder last week to build a pull up type bar to help strengthen my back and shoulder, both seem to be reoccurring problems. Having a younger sister that is a physical therapist is both a blessing and curse.
I'll tell you gravity is a biotch, who invented pull ups anyway? My back is feeling better but if I rip this thing out of the ceiling of my garage I'm going to have a new host of problems.

This are some 'day in the life' (of Obi era) pics of late. The kids are pretty much my life so they are included.

Max is 14 months old, pushing out 6 additional teeth and he is a Tasmanian devil.


Maggie is 4.


May saw a lot of bike riding miles (1002 miles). Half way through I noticed this on one of my bikes.


Called in a favor to a childhood friend that's high up with REI and got a really nice upgrade, frame and fork.




I built my Dad an LED array with battery, solar panel and controller for his new Tuff Shed. Turned out really nice.



Spending some time in the backyard.


Test driving a tortoise.

My wife is a wildlife biologist and works with a bunch of people that are really into reptiles, birds and all animals come to think about it. As a result we have access to all kinds of exotic animals as two of them are breeders of all things wild. Maggie wants a new pet and the cat hasn't died so for some reason we're considering an animal that will out live us (100 years) and if over fed can get to be 100 pounds. Our friend currently has 5 or 6 eggs with baby tortoises coming soon and Maggie is addicted. We go over to their house where they have geckos, turtles, tortoises, fish, carnivorous plants, snakes, etc. On the plus side they are quiet, take care of themselves and can be left alone (complete opposite of children).

[DHC6twinotter]

Aside from the ongoing job search, I've been house sitting for my uncle down in Temecula, and I"ll be house sitting for my cousins for a week or two as well. I've also been working on a video of our Whole Bernadino run (been slacking on that lately though), and I've been working on a new LEGO project.

Not really a whole lot else going on.

[paddlenbike]

Sean, I feel your pain on the drainage work. My ground is also hard clay and I dug up my entire yard adding drop inlets where I had drainage problems and replacing 4" pipe in places where tree roots clogged them.

New drainage:




And you will like this hack--had to tunnel under a tree root to replace some root-bound drainage pipe:


While I was at it I completely re-landscaped from grass to native plants, replaced all of the leaky solenoid valves and ditched the 16 year old worn-out sprinkler heads for high efficiency ones.


Who plasti-dips their irrigation valves?


Isn't it amazing how one stupid project leads to another?

Now I have a combo fence/retaining wall that needs to be replaced. When are you coming over?

[Seanz0rz]

When you pay me! ALOT!. I have to do about 100 feet of drain. the problem is I am not sure that I lose enough elevation from the back yard to the front yard to have it properly drain! I thought about building a dry well, but it would have to be HUGE!

when they did the pool and patio, they put a drain under the slab, but where it ends, it is 12 inches below the slab already. I figure over 100 feet, i can drop it a minimum of 1%, or 1 foot. so all of a sudden I need to be 2 feet lower than that point. probably more. I'll probably end up shooting a laser to see if I can even do it before I go digging. Otherwise, I will have to either put a pump in or dry well that area and direct the rest of the gutters and such to a drain with a higher starting point.

This is the portion of the retaining wall along the green house. It doesn't retain much, just really there to finish off that spot between the green house and the patio slab.


Here are the steps I am doing up to the top level of this area. There will be one more course, with another step, above what is here. at the top of this terrace will be a small patio built from pavers for the BBQ, plus a ring around our lower-than-grade plum tree, and a place for the dog to do her business.


That large amount of gravel at the bottom covers a french drain, as all the water from the patio flows to this point. It drains down to meet up with the drain the pool contractor installed last summer. That is my starting point for the 100 foot run to the front of the house/driveway.

[paddlenbike]

Looking good Sean! I don't have a complete grasp of the distance and slope you are dealing with, but the bottom of my drainage pipe to the pop-up emitter on the street only has 1" of vertical drop. When water starts to pool up, it creates enough head to push the water out of the system. It's ridiculous I have photos of this, but I went out in a heavy storm and took pictures because the neighbor's backed-up drainage is what causes flooding on my property.

Property line--my property on left, hers on right.


The area that now has the green inlet grate used to flood a foot deep. And even though the drainage pipe is nearly flat, pooling water creates enough head to pop up the emitter at the street and drain really well. (Hard to tell but the pic below is where water exits to the street)


I added the drop inlet there because it flooded so often it was causing the concrete walkway to subside and fail.

[Seanz0rz]

looks good! I think I won't have too much of a problem. In a storm, this drain line will get about half of the roof area going through it, plus the patio and terraced area will feed into it, along with our 60x10 foot side yard. In the summer time, the drain will get bleed off water from the swamp coolers as well as water from hosing off the patio/splashing out of the pool.

Since I'm not doing anything right this moment, I might set up the laser level and see if its even doable!

edit:

Ok, set up the laser level, I measured a 16" drop from the back patio slab to the end of the driveway (where I would put the emitter). Since the bottom of the existing drain is already 12" below the slap, that gets me 4 inches of drop. But i suppose with those pop up emitters, the bottom of the pipe would be about 4 inches below grade anyway. I don't think in the summer time It will have the pressure necessary to pop up that emitter very often, but I am really looking to shed the storm water, so it should be ok. What do you guys think? ~8" drop over ~100 feet?

[paddlenbike]

Better to have it then not. Use perforated pipe for all or part of it, then there will not be standing water in the pipe.

[Seanz0rz]

I could dry well the portion I have and start anew with the rest of the landscape and downspout drains. Our soil is so terrible. I think perf pipe with a doubled up sleeve should do well to allow the water to soak in though, and then only expel what the soil can't take.

/total hijack