Outdoor Projects

The long hot days of summer are drawing to a close, but things have been far from quiet outside.  Our small stand of 200 plantation Pinus radiata trees were logged by a very competent Ted Martin, who managed to preserve as much of the native undergrowth as possible.  The trees were starting to shade the house in winter as they got taller and taller.

Then we laid about 1200m of FSC Kwila decking around the house, using around 7000 pre-drilled screws.  This will bleed its tannins and weather to a silver colour before I stain it in a year or so.

When I say 'we' I mean I was 'junior apprentice' to John Funnell from JF Building and his guys.  I've known John for quite a few years now and have enjoyed working with him on a couple of much larger (and more challenging) projects, so this one was pretty straightforward.

Next, I laid a hexagon of decking and assembled a kitset gazebo that we bought nearly a year ago from Cameo Gazebos, with some help from John and Hamish again to get the roof onto the frame.

The end result looks pretty good I think, and now benefits from the views created by the removal of the pines.

Of course, we now have some planting to do to help the native bush regenerate, but this time nothing too tall!