Thursday - May 29, 2008

Ok, so I’m slow. Sue me.

It took me two full days to figure the easy way to handle lattice frames. See, theses things are milled from 2x2 stock, and then given the new copper salts PTL treatment. So what was soft spongy wood to begin with gets even weaker when it’s chemically saturated then steamed. Cutting the miters isn’t much of a big deal. Sure, a compound miter saw would be great, but I’ve been getting by with a saber saw. And when you cut anything with a saber saw, the blade always bows a bit to the side. So there’s been a lot of finesse work. And nailing the corners together with 6D finishing nails has been an exercise in frustration, as this wood splits easier than anything I’ve ever seen.

Here’s the tips: Cut the miters with you saber saw. Start from the side of the frame board and cut towards the corner. If the end of the cut leaves a little chunky at the point, don’t worry about it. Screw 2 2x4s to your sawhorses to act as a jig. Space them just far enough to let a piece of framing fit between them. Cut your pieces and their miters. Now get out a 6” C-clamp, and clamp down the longer piece of frame. You are going to be nailing into it. Find a drill bit that’s just the size of the nail, put the 2 frame parts together, and drill right through the shorter piece and just a little into the longer one. One hole on each side. Man handle the damn bits of wood so that they’re lined up, and slide a nail down each hole. Now take your hammer and gently tap both nails in at the same time, while holding the damn thing together. Use your roofing square to force a right angle while nailing. Now go do the other end. Next step is to unclamp the long piece, and lay it on it’s side. At this point it looks like a big wide “U”, which is just what you want. Clamp the short pieces and drill and nail from the long piece side. You now have a mitered corner held in place by 4 nails.

Lattice is awful stuff. If it isn’t made out of reject balsa wood I’d be amazed. The intersections aren’t glued in place either. Nope, every other intersection gets one pukey little wire staple. Whoop-de-do. But to properly fit this wobbly crap into the big “U” frame you’ve just made, you have to cut it smaller. If you cut both the height and the length short by 1 1/2” inches, you’ll have a just-barely-fits situation. I think 1 3/4” might be even better. Drop the lattice into the “U”, wiggle each and every single edge board down into the groove, and then put the top frame piece on. If you rock that one forward and back, as if you’re doing wrist curls, it will pop onto the lattice edges. Now man up, and grab the damn corner and have at it. You ain’t taking no shit from some crappy piece of wood. Force it, squeeze it, drill it, nail it. And sunuvagun it goes together and the corners look decent. Now push the frame together from top to bottom, and pre-drill and then tap in a 1 1/2” finishing nail every 5 intersections, through the frame edge. This keeps the lattice from wobbling around, and stiffens up the whole thing.

Done right, it only takes about 1/2 an hour to make each frame by hand. With the right tools, some know-how, and an assistant, you could practically set up factory production. In 2 full days of work I’ve managed to make only 5 of these little bastards. But ... I went and bought the wood and had to hunt through hundreds of junk boards. That’s 2 hours right there. I got all the screws, nails, brick ties to use as end straps, etc. I even bought myself a heavy duty 100 foot extension cord, and I’m glad I did, as the only power outlet in this yard is back under the pool deck by the filter. The first 2 frames I built had to be taken apart and redone; the ground tapers under the one side of the deck and it turns out that they have something under the mulch like a cross between tarpaper and canvas. Keeps the weeds out I guess, and stops little animals burrowing. It’s just about impossible to even stab through with a trowel too, so my bright idea of “build it square and just dig one end into the ground a bit” went right in the trash. Also those 5 frames are fully stained and installed, and lemme tell ya, sliding around on your back over old mulch and razor sharp pine needles while you try to fit into a 14” clearence to figure out how to screw some PTL blocks in place to mount the frames to is not exactly fun. Which is why I’ve now changed my mind: I was only going to bill these folks 8 hours for each day, even though I was there 9 yesterday and 10 today. I figured they shouldn’t have to pay for my learning curve. Yeah, but I shouldn’t have to find solutions to all their deck problems and ground issues, and that’s exactly what I’ve done. So I figure another full day tomorrow, and it just might be done. I think I have the hard parts out of the way now. Even though saying that is tempting fate with the gods of home projects. But hey, I’ve already made my second trip to the hardware store, and I have plenty of extra wood, screws, nails, etc. on hand. I think I’m good to go. (fingers crossed!)

Posted by Drew458     on 05/29/2008 at 04:57 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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