Gate status - A Suburbs Boy Living a Country Life
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10:07 pm
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Gate status
1) Inner gate: Mechanically and electrically complete in all particulars. All that remains is to close the last of the trenches. Q was helpful in that last. He likes playing with dirt. I'm a little worried about the external push-buttons. They don't seem particularly waterproof. Am I supposed to build a little roof over them? If so, how cute--but, oy, another pain in the neck. How many layers of cross-wrapped electrical tape is sufficient to make a below-ground splice of direct burial low-voltage AC wire? I freaking mummified the thing, to a point which I hope qualifies as "overkill." I had a bit of a scare when it started "faulting" constantly; I'm guessing that one of the wires was improperly seated. I had to re-set the closure set-points, but it now works great.
2) Property-line gate: Kicked my tail today. First, it didn't occur to me that the gate-posts would be bigger. I had forgotten that these two sections of fence were put up at different times by different contractors. There are four carriage bolts that attach each gate arm to the post. I had already gotten 24 10" carriage bolts to replace the 8" bolts that came with the kits. I think I was a little addled by the heat, because instead of asking  prettypammie for 8 12" bolts, I asked for 4. Then, my extra big wooden clamp--which works around an 8" post plus a fence board and the bracket, was blown out by the 10" posts. I'm just now realizing that I should probably counter-sink these bolts, both for looks but also for horse safety. Oy. That'll be a project for another day, too. I got the arms mounted to the posts, got the control box mounted, but it's going to take another day af blood, toil, sweat, and tears to get the electrical box at the well-head replaced with one big enough for the transformer to fit in it, get the rest of that trench laid, and then carry on.
3) Gate To Nowhere: Kit still in box. Trenches mostly dug and posts set.
I think it will be many, many years before the energy expended in getting these gates put up will be paid back in time and effort saved opening gates. On the other hand, they are pretty cool. Pictures to follow.
Speaking of pictures, all of you need to pester prettypammie until she puts up before and after pictures of Coal. Let's jut say that his "summer cut" is pretty darned severe.
You know what else this gate cost me? Another weekend where I didn't get on a horse or get in the pond. I've decided that in the warm months those shall be measures of success for a good weekend. So, aside from getting one gate fully operational and getting a start on the second, this weekend fails the fun test.
Current Location: 39.259506,-77.744408
Current Mood:  exanimate
Tags: gates, house, projects
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| | I resolve not to complain about my weeekend working on our yard planting the azaleas and hacking through the brush! Hope we get the pics soon. |
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