Building a fence

When building our garden, the first project was to erect a long fence to separate our garden from the neighbour’s and to provide privacy.

The plan and material for the fence had been provided. I modelled the fence using Google SketchUp to visualise the number of panels and height.

Model of the fence

Fence modelled within landscape

I marked out the fence with sticks and line, measuring the exact half-way line between our houses and where the fence posts would go. The latter turned out a bit tricky, as we had to dig to find out where the forest rock foundation started, which would mark the start of the fence. I confirmed the measures with the neighbour so that there would be no reason for later complaint about the position of the fence. Following the supplied design, we dug out the holes. In the process we found plenty of lovely coloured granite rocks of up to the size that you cannot lift on your own, that had been used as filling for the building site. I kept the larger one of those to use later for dry walls. The holes where filled with a base of gravel, insulation material and then the fence posts where sunk into the hole in exact position (kept in place by diagonal timbers) so that they where correctly spaced and in line. Then they were anchored in place by filling the holes with concrete, including drainage and insulation at the bottom to prevent water gathering below the foundation and lifting the foundation when freezing in winter. Once the concrete was set, we outlined the height of the panelling of the fence with lines, actually realizing that a 20 cm gap at the bottom and 130 cm panels (resulting in overall height of 150 cm) would be heigh enough to provide perceived privacy on either side. Originally we had planned a 30cm higher fence, but in hind-sight I am glad we left it lower. Some other neighbours built as similar fence to that height and the fence looks very overwhelming, while ours has received spontaneous prize by passers-by. Once the height was agreed and the concrete had settled, we started building the panelling. The panelling material was cheap sawn timber that we treated with suitable wood oil for outdoor use that coloured the timber brown. The fence-posts got the same treatment. Building the panels involved measuring and sawing to length, and screwing into place (levelled.). As “roof” for the panels we screwed a treated wood that would better endure rainwater and protect the cheaper wood underneath. As the fence covers some height difference, we made small steps after each panel so that the fence softly embraced the lay of the land.

The completed fence

Building a front-entrance terrace

When building our garden, the front-entrance terrace was one of the initial projects that I took on, right after completing the  terrace in the back.

I modelled the front-terrace using Google SketchUp, providing me with a means to calculate material needs, visualise the result and as blueprint during the work. I actually showed the model to my neighbour before starting the work and asked him if he would be OK with the design.

Model of the front-entrance terrace

I built the front-entrance terrace following the same pattern as for the terrace in the back: digging to the depth of the concrete slab foundation, placing and levelling the slabs, fixing the supporting beams, creating a 10% sloping gravel plane to drain water away from the house’s foundations, fixing the top layer beams of the framework and then the decking boards. There was a one-step stair that I needed to build with the decking, I opted to just leave out the top framework layer for this 60 cm x 2 m area. There is  also a post supporting the roof that protects the entrance area, with a rather ugly concrete foundation rising about 30 cm above the level of the step. For this I had design to build a 60 cm x 40 cm sized box out of decking board high enough to cover the ugly concrete bit. The box has the second purpose of proving a side wall for the step, rising higher than the terrace. To make it look less of a strange design feature to hide something and more like a purpose-made add-on, I left an area in the box open that could be used for plants. We ended up putting pretty stones there, as they do not need maintenance. We learned, however, that small children love to pick and throw those stones… Originally I had planned to have the terrace narrower and a larger area for the flower bed, but my neighbour talked me into making the terrace area larger, and I am glad of it as now we have a front terrace were I can sit in the morning sun, when the back garden is in shade. To tie the flower bed into the front area, I framed it in using decking board.

Building a terrace in the back

When building our garden, the most anticipated project was to build a sizeable terrace in the back, effectively extending our living room into the garden.

I modelled the terrace using Google SketchUp which allowed me to visualise the result and to plan and buy the needed of material. It also served me as a blueprint during the work.

Model of the terrace

I also modelled a view of the entire terrace area, using Google SketchUp, which later served me to decide the size and position of the sun-sail shade. For the terrace, this mainly aided me in visualising the final result.

Model of the terrace area

I dug up all the earth and moved it aside to use later for levelling the new lawn and landscaping the area of the path. There was a lot of earth, 20-50 cm deep over an area of about 25 sqm, which I happily moved with shovel and wheelbarrow. I also removed a number of square concrete slabs of the original paved “terrace”. Under the layer of earth I found gravel that I dug up to the depth of the foundation for the framework on which the decking would rest. As in the fence-post holes, I found plenty of lovely granite rocks of various size that I put aside for later use in the garden. Once deep enough, I placed for each of the supporting lower layer framework beams a foundation of four concrete slabs, each on a sand bedding (recaptured from the originally paved area). Those slabs I carefully levelled out so that the framework would be exactly even. Then I screwed the supporting beams onto the slabs. Once the bottom layer of the framework was in place I covered the slabs and the bottom half of the beams with gravel ensuring a sound foundation. Reusing the concrete slabs this way saved me the trouble of messing around with concrete for the foundation. The beams are of best quality impregnated timber that will last for decades even when touching moisture-transporting earth and gravel. Then I moved and levelled the gravel in the area of the decking such that it was sloping 10% away from the house, ensuring that water would drain away from the house and would not damage the foundations in the long run. Then I added the top layer of the framework, which were beams with 30 cm gaps, as I did not want the rather thin decking boards (19 mm) to swing. This was also the time when I dug out the hole were I would plant the tree on the terrace, digging 80 cm deep from the level to which I would fill up with earth and 70 cm diameter. This hole I filled with earth. I added additional cross-beams to the top-layer of the framework around the hole, creating a hexagonal frame to support the decking edges around. I also added a cross-beam along the house wall and cross-beams along the rock wall towards the forest, as close to the rock as I could manage. I added water-permeable covering sheet over the gravel to prevent weeds to grow out of the gravel through the gaps of the terrace and stapled them to the framework. Then I started to measure, cut and screw tight the decking, starting from the side of the house. To create the hole for the tree I selected suitable bits of board to fit the area around the whole and placed them on an even plane (previously completed decking), laying them relative to each other just as they would be fitted. I took an excess piece of wood, fixed a screw and placed this with the screw exactly in the middle of the to-be hole. then I took a string, made a hoop at one end and slung it over the screw. I knotted a pencil to the string at exactly 30 cm from the screw and keeping the string tight drew an exact circle with 60 cm diameter on the decking boards. With my electric jigsaw it was easy to get the exact round cuts and I could fix the tailor-made pieced leaving a perfect hole. As my gap between framework beams was 30 cm and the beams themselves 45 mm thick, the decking was standing out about 2 cm from the supporting framework, being well supported but covering it from sight. The decking along the rock I measured and cut with the jigsaw leaving just a 1 cm gap between rock and decking. Around the post supporting the balcony and the rainwater drainage sewer and pipe I build neat square housing hiding a concrete foundation in case of the post and creating a cover that can be removed to clean the sewer from leaves in autumn hiding all but the pipe. I treated the decking with uncoloured linseed oil (this is actually yellow and has a darkening, browning effect on wood, but there are also linseed oils on offer that have extra added colour). The so-treated thermo-ash decking turned into lovely chocolate-coloured darkish brown with a tiger-like pattern of the wood.

Chocolate-coloured thermo-ash decking