Creating an Entrance

[EddieWalker]

Jim,

I haven't seen anything like your flag holder. I was thinking one of the advantages to the pipe being schedule 40 is it's thick enough to drill and tap so I could add features to it.

Your flag holder looks perfect! Where did you get it?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[jinman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Your flag holder looks perfect! Where did you get it?
)</font>

Eddie, I got my flag holders from Monterrey Imports in Grapevine, TX. It's one of those Mexicana-Texicana metal works places. I think I've seen these flag holders at other places too. When I bought mine, I believe I paid $20 for two (maybe it was $20 each). Now they want $44 for them on their website, but I would not pay that at all. I know they will negotiate prices with you in a heartbeat. They would also be simple to make. I think there's only 5 or good tack-welds in the whole thing. Check out the link below. Sometimes browsing this stuff can give you some good ideas, but from what I've seen, you have plenty of good ideas of your own. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Monterrey Imports/Lone Star Limited

 

[HuckBB62]

Perhaps folks just weren't aware that you CAN do it all?

Great lighting fixtures!

Before shield:

After shield:

This is a fixture just like Eddie's, just with a shield. The biggest benefit is that the light works BETTER because the bulb is hidden from the eyes so that they can see the lit area and not be blinded by the fixture itself. Again, it's not about NOT lighting the area, quite to the contrary, it's about having better lighting AND saving the dark sky for everyone.

Making dusk 'til dawns work much better and getting the most for your lighting dollar.

 

[EddieWalker]

Since I've been messing around with vinyl fence lately, I decided to extend the fence along the highway. Back in November, the gas company came in and cleared their right of way. This left me with a 50 foot hole in my natural wooded barrier.

I called Dig Tess to locate the lines, put up my Locate Lines Here sign and waited three days for everyone to clear me.

Then it was a simple nigtmare of digging through the roots they left behind when they shreded everything.

Since the gas company has an easment for their gas line, I have to leave them a way in. I put in this 16 foot gate.

 

[EddieWalker]

The green paint of the gate really stands out and draws your eye away from my entrance. To eliminate this, I added three rails to the fence to make it blend in.

 

[EddieWalker]

The vinyl posts are hollow and don't have any strength to support a gate. The manufacturer recomends filling them with concrete and two lengths of rebar to make them strong enough for a gate.

I have no experience or proof that this isn't the best way to go, nor can I say if it will work or not. Saying that, and realizing that this gate may go years without ever being used, I decided to put a PT 4X4 post inside the vinyl post.

I cut the vinyl off so it only goes into the ground six inches. The concrete will get a better hold on the wood post this way. Then I filled up the remaining space in the post with concrete.

I drilled a hole into the post and attached my gate hangers just like I do in round PT wood posts.

The railings are attached with 2 inch self drilling metal screws.

 

[EddieWalker]

My first thought for securing the gate was to just wrap it with a chain. Of course, that's not a look I want for my fron entrance. My second thought was using a gate latch. I went to Home Depot to buy one and saw these slide latches on the shelf.

This worked really nice. I drilled a really tite fitting hole into the post and attached the slide to the gate.

There is zero slack and movement with this setup.

I used this setup because the gate will only get opened on very rare ocassions. For my other gates that will get used my oftern I have another method that I'm going to use.

 

[Scozz]

Eddie, my first thought when I saw the green gate was "wow that looks ugly" (in contrast to the white). The the next picture you had it all dolled up and looking good! Great work as usual ... Scozz

 

[jinman]

Eddie, adding those rails really masked the green gate. If I didn't know the gate was there from the previous picture, I might not even see it. Nice job! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Dargo]

I'm not real sure if PT wood inside of the vinyl would have been better, but I've had some concrete (and 2 half inch rebar sticks) filled posts bend during a severe storm. My posts are 10' tall (7' out of the ground) and 5" in size. I used 5000 psi concrete and the rebar as suggested by the vinyl fence manufacturer. I filled every post to within 1" of the top with concrete and rebar even though they said for "non corner" or "non gate" posts that I only had to come 3' out of the ground with the concrete fill. I still wonder if using PT wood in them would have been better, or if the wood would have snapped?

Each post took 5 eighty pound bags of concrete mix and two 10' half inch rebar sticks. I used two bags of concrete on the outside of each post, and it took 3 bags to fill each post. Other than using 4X4 PT wood inside the vinyl posts, I don't know how I could have reasonably made them stronger. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I guess that a 7' tall privacy fence just catches a lot of wind. I used a come-a-long and a chain with my tractor and was able to bend the posts back upright after the storm last year. So far, they haven't moved again. Attached is a picture I took just after putting up the fence, before I did any landscaping.