It is June 10, 2021, and it is time to break ground on our shade sail project! We will revisit some of the work we overlapped with our roof replacement so you don’t have to go back and filter through that entire project.
Our rough draft sketched out, we plan to use three 24′ triangular sails in total. Two will form a square on the left, and one will be on the right. Anchors on the house were located through the roof and into the top plate of the exterior wall. We will be using six by six inch pressure treated beams as anchor points in our planter bed.
The anchors had to leave enough height above to clear the tiles and allow proper installation and drainage. Here is one of the anchors pre-tile. It is flashed and sealed on both surfaces, and sealer added again with the tile.
During another material run to our pro lumber yard Dixieline, Eric inquired as to the cost and availability of said 6″x6″x8′ pressure treated posts. 8″ Schedule 40 pipe was recommended, but quoting out at $53 per foot. Not going to work here! There was a lull in lumber pricing, and these were on hand for $55 each. Eric bought them on the spot, and saved them for months on the side of the yard.
Of course we needed more concrete, and 15 more 60# bags were bought, making our total count at 16 as we had one leftover from the coop. Once the first post is set, we will adjust up if needed.
We tried a new landscaper for this project, as everyone we had used prior was booked longer than we wanted to wait. Some drama on that front, but the work was completed on time. In search of another… On top of removing the oleanders to make way for the posts, we are also going to convert this into raised planter bed. Our good friend Scott from the chicken coop build had moved out of state, and we attempted to stump grind these clusters ourselves.
Off to the rental yard, and the smallest stump grinder available is this model. Eric is hoping he can use our ramps to get it up into the planter.
It was a little precarious, but it worked!
At least Eric is in the shade, with eye and ear protection.
We broke up two sections of sprinkler lines, which is common and unavoidable.
Second section.
Be careful with full cans of primer and glue, this stuff stains for days!
The time to locate the posts has come, and we started by stringing up guidelines across the yard.
Line two. These were also measured apart from each other on the planter end to make sure we stay square.
X marks the spot! Phillip was asking how much treasure we would find, and if you are looking for dirt, it is a treasure trove.
Both hole digs were plagued with multiple roots, and this large cluster was a doozy.
A package of hedge blades was used to placate Phillip at the hardware store, and we are glad they were on hand. Seems odd to be sawing in the dirt, but there aren’t many other ways to go about it.
Hole number two is completed.
Hole number one is done, and we narrowly missed these abandoned irrigation lines.
We aimed to make these 22 inches wide, and got close.
Hole two is 36 inches at the back.
Cleaned and cleared planter bed with concrete staged for a new day of work. We used eight 60# bags for each post, giving us three feet of post and 480 pounds of concrete buried. That gives us a ratio of 37.5% buried versus post height, which is slightly above the recommended 33% that we found in nearly every article online. Better to be safe than sorry on this one.
In our emergency water supply 1.0 post, we failed to pay attention to grain direction on a number of 4″x4″ supports, and had some major bowing due to that neglect. This time, we wanted to have the load fall towards the concave part of the grain. The speed square helped this task go by in seconds.
3/8″ eye bolts were the largest we found locally, and these were sunk nearly to the eye.
Due to the sometimes unpredictable loading of the sails on the anchors, it is recommended to add bolts to the base of the posts to prevent them from lifting out of the concrete base. We used five inch structural lags on all four sides at various heights to help accomplish this task.
The time has come to right the posts in their new homes, and get to the task of plumbing them for concrete.
Hole two is right on the money on the X and Y axis, and only a tad bit high. The difference in height is of no consequence on this one, and this was close enough. Dry packing the base of the post with concrete was used during the level and plumb phase, so the post could be safe from movement of wet concrete during loading. Two bags were used as a floor and base, tamped firm with a wrecking bar, then wet down to start the curing process.
You aren’t really plumb unless the six foot level says so. Our torpedo was used to get close, but this was used for final placement.
About as close as you can get, and after many attempts to trim the hair gap on the left, we left well enough alone.
One bag was mixed at a time in a wheel barrow. This made for a slow, but thoroughly mixed pour.
Hole one is finished! All eight bags were used, which was more than anticipated; but more is better for this application.
Hole one also spot on in relation to X, Y, and Z axis.
Hole two is finished as well. Time to call this a day, and let it dry.
Speaking of drying off, Eric was soaked in sweat after the concrete work. The heatwave that was forecast for the third week of June hadn’t even started yet.
After a day of curing, it was time to fish our sails out of storage, where they had been since the prior November. The work and excitement are building in tandem right now.
The first stage was hanging our bistro lights, and we opted for a V pattern beneath the sails. These were mounted lower than the sails, so any wind movement won’t put pressure on the wire rope.
A trip to the big box yield all sorts of supplies, and we used every single one. 1/8″ stainless wire rope was used for the sails, and 1/16″ was used for the lights and misters.
One foot lengths of chain were used to set the sails off the anchors on the roof.
It was a little bit of labor, but Eric navigated the first sail above the other wires.
It was hot, and work was moving. No pictures were made of any of the wire rope assembly, tensioning, or the like. Sorry!
Eric’s hands tell the tale of the missing pictures, and a little Jacuzzi time is easing the prior three days worth of work.
Misters in action, they provide good coverage around the seating area.
Another action shot of the misters in action. Even though it is 98F outside, our new misting system is providing some serious relief. A little test earlier at 96F showed a drop of 0.7F in five minutes, and 1.4F in 10 minutes as measured from our table in the seating area. I don’t hear you asking, but I did check water consumption on my secondary meter: 0.6 gallons per minute.
A little SNAFU meant we have three equilateral triangle sails for now, and these will be replaced by a rectangular single sail in the 2.0 version of this project, stay tuned!