Building An Outdoor Kitchen: #2 Framing The Walls And Roof

In the last post I showed how we put in the block walls and concrete counter and integral sink,

now we will start framing.

This 3 part series to date:

Building An Outdoor Kitchen:#1 Concrete Sink And Countertop,

Building An Outdoor Kitchen: #2 Framing The Walls And Roof,

Building An Outdoor Kitchen:#3 The Finish.

Please read on.

Building An Outdoor Kitchen: #1 Concrete Sink And Countertop

This is the first of a 3 part series on building the outdoor kitchen that you see above.

In this first post we will take a look at the block work 

and forming and pouring the concrete countertop.

Please read on.

This 3 part series to date:

Building An Outdoor Kitchen:#1 Concrete Sink And Countertop,

Building An Outdoor Kitchen: #2 Framing The Walls And Roof,

Building An Outdoor Kitchen:#3 The Finish.

Please read on.

Make Your Own Solar Oven- A New Improved Oven

It was over 3 years ago we made our cardboard solar cooker 

as a prototype for a more permanent cooker as we profiled in the post:

Make Your Own Solar Oven

This past spring we finally made the permanent one (above).

We adopted the plans from:

williamgbecker.com/ Make a Solar Oven

and plans included in the 1992 book,

 Cooking With The Sun (Morning Sun Press)

 by Beth and Dan Halacy.

(As an aside, as I was researching for this post 

I noticed that Beth Halacy died earlier this year,

Dan had died some years earlier.

Many thanks to them for there contributions to the passive use of solar energy.)

Building An Adobe Wall: #7 One year On And A Companion Fence

Now that our adobe wall is just over one year old 

I thought it would be nice to give a look at how the adobe plaster has held up.

We had couple of hard driving rains this past summer 

and as expected they left a nice texture to the plaster

but also washed off much of the pigment in the exposed designs.

All of the posts to date are:

Building An Adobe Wall: #1 Stone Foundation,

Building An Adobe Wall: #2 Getting Started,

Building An Adobe Wall: #3 Putting Up Adobes,

Building An Adobe Wall: #4 Putting On The Cap,
Building An Adobe Wall: #5 Hip Roof For The Gate,
Building An Adobe Wall: #6 Plastering And Creating The Designs.

Building An Adobe Wall: #6 Plastering And Creating The Designs

In this post of our series I want to take a look at how we plastered the wall 

and Allison will explain how she and her sisters made the designs, such as you see above,

 out of adobe mud and mineral pigments.

 In the photo above Cynthia used caliche, a clay slip, and oxides on her burrowing owl 

with earring eyes hiding under the Mexican Hat flowers Allison created earlier.

All of the posts to date are:

Building An Adobe Wall: #1 Stone Foundation,

Building An Adobe Wall: #2 Getting Started,

Building An Adobe Wall: #3 Putting Up Adobes,

Building An Adobe Wall: #4 Putting On The Cap,
Building An Adobe Wall: #5 Hip Roof For The Gate,
Building An Adobe Wall: #6 Plastering And Creating The Designs,
Building An Adobe Wall: #7 One Year On And A Companion Fence.

Building An Adobe Wall: #5 Hip Roof for the Gate

In this post on building our wall, after having looked at how we put the metal cap on in the last post,

I want to now look at the standing seam hip roof that will protect the yet to be built gate.

All of the posts to date are:

Building An Adobe Wall: #1 Stone Foundation,

Building An Adobe Wall: #2 Getting Started,

Building An Adobe Wall: #3 Putting Up Adobes,

Building An Adobe Wall: #4 Putting On The Cap,
Building An Adobe Wall: #5 Hip Roof For The Gate,
Building An Adobe Wall: #6 Plastering And Creating The Designs,
Building An Adobe Wall: #7 One Year On And A Companion Fence.

Building An Adobe Wall: #4 Putting On The Cap

In this fourth part of our series on building the wall you see above

 let's take a look at how we did the metal cap that will protect the wall from the elements.

An adobe will not last without protection from rain.

All of the posts to date are:

Building An Adobe Wall: #1 Stone Foundation,

Building An Adobe Wall: #2 Getting Started,

Building An Adobe Wall: #3 Putting Up Adobes,
Building An Adobe Wall: #4 Putting On The Cap,
Building An Adobe Wall: #5 Hip Roof For The Gate,
Building An Adobe Wall: #6 Plastering And Creating The Designs,
Building An Adobe Wall: #7 One Year On And A Companion Fence.

Building An Adobe Wall: #3 Putting Up Adobes

In this post of Building An Adobe Wall we will start putting up adobe bricks.

In the previous post we made our "gringo blocks" and set up our mud mortar mixing pit.

All of the posts to date are:

Building An Adobe Wall: #1 Stone Foundation,

Building An Adobe Wall: #2 Getting Started,
Building An Adobe Wall: #3 Putting Up Adobes,
Building An Adobe Wall: #4 Putting On The Cap,
Building An Adobe Wall: #5 Hip Roof For The Gate,
Building An Adobe Wall: #6 Plastering And Creating The Designs,
Building An Adobe Wall: #7 One Year On And A Companion Fence.

Building An Adobe Wall: #2 Getting Started

After the first post in this series
where we looked at how to build the stone foundation for our adobe wall
we will now take a look at making the "gringo blocks",
 and setting up our mud mixing area for making the adobe mortar that will be used with our bricks
as we go through all the steps for building the wall you see in the photo above.

All of the posts to date are:

Building An Adobe Wall: #1 Stone Foundation,

Building An Adobe Wall: #2 Getting Started,

Building An Adobe Wall: #3 Putting Up Adobes,

Building An Adobe Wall: #4 Putting On The Cap,
Building An Adobe Wall: #5 Hip Roof For The Gate,
Building An Adobe Wall: #6 Plastering And Creating The Designs,
Building An Adobe Wall: #7 One Year On And A Companion Fence.

Building An Adobe Wall: #1 Stone Foundation

This is the first post in a six part series on how to build the adobe wall that you see in the above photo.

All the posts in this series to date are:

Building An Adobe Wall: #1 Stone Foundation,

Building An Adobe Wall: #2 Getting Started,

Building An Adobe Wall: #3 Putting Up Adobes,
Building An Adobe Wall: #4 Putting On The Cap,
Building An Adobe Wall: #5 Hip Roof For The Gate,
Building An Adobe Wall: #6 Plastering And Creating The Designs,
Building An Adobe Wall: #7 One Year On And A Companion Fence.

In this post I will cover all the aspects of this wall from the stone foundation to the metal cap...

Reusing Glass Bottles For Landscaping

For as long as I can remember I have tried to creatively reuse materials,

especially recycled lumber.

In this post let's look at four ideas for reusing glass bottles.

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #7: More On Steps

In the last post we looked at a set of steps with three treads:

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps,

 and this time let's look at a longer set of steps. 

Please refer to the previous post as some of the important fundamentals for steps 

that I included there will not be repeated here.

The posts to date in this continuing series for the owner builder are:

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools,

 Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #3: Building The Wall,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Wall #4: Why They Work,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #5: Style,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps.

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps

In this post I want to go into how I build stone steps in the landscape

 as part of the dry stack stone walls that I have already shown.

We will look at how I selected and installed the three steps you see above.

For safety one should never attempt building steps, inside or out,

without a firm basis of the terms, theory, and practice of this craft.

There are many books which provide more detail

 or a search of the internet will yield many results.

The posts to date in this continuing series for the owner builder are:

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools,

 Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #3: Building The Wall,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Wall #4: Why They Work,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #5: Style,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #7: More On Steps.

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #5: Style

In this post I want to take a look at some of the personal style issues

 that may come up in building your own dry stack stone walls. 

The posts to date in this continuing series for the owner builder are:

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools,

 Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #3: Building The Wall,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Wall #4: Why They Work,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #7: More On Steps.

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #4: Why They Work

In the last post I did for this series on tips for building a dry stack stone wall 

I showed how I go about building a dry stack wall.

This time I want to drive home a few of the principles that I think explain 

why these walls work the way they do and are fundamental to the success of a wall.

The posts to date in this continuing series geared for the owner builder are:

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools,

 Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #3: Building The Wall,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #5: Style,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #7: More On Steps.

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #3: Building The Wall

In this post on building a dry stack stone wall we will look photo by photo 

at the steps in building the wall, specifically aimed at the owner builder.

The photo above gives a look at part of the wall we will be working on.

The complete series are:

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools,

and Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Wall #4: Why They Work,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #5: Style,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #7: More On Steps.

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone

In the previous post we took a look at the need for erosion control in our project area

 and the tools that we would use in building our dry stack stone walls.

The posts to date in this continuing series are:

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools,

 Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #3: Building The Wall,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Wall #4: Why They Work,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #5: Style,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps,

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #7: More On Steps.

This series is directed to the owner builder rather than the professional stone mason.

Let's look now at the stone we are using, where it came from, 

and how we determined where to have it dumped,

so that it would be readily accessible but not in our way.

In the photo above we are well into our project

 and we have just gotten the last of our three 14.5 ton loads of stone.

I have created a pathway where I can easily use the hand trucks to carry stone

or roll it down the hill if they are too large for the hand truck.

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools

This is the first in a series of tips on building dry stack stone retaining walls for landscaping,

gained from my personal experience and particularly aimed at the owner builder.

In future posts I will be discussing topics such as how to build durable walls and steps,

how to design the layout for a project, theory on dry stack walls, 

 stone as a material and what stone works best in each part of the project, site management,

and for this post we will look at the site and goal, and tools that will be needed.

The posts to date in this continuing series are:

Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #1: Project, Tools,

 Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #2: Getting Stone,

Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #3: Building The Wall,
Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Wall #4: Why They Work,
Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #5: Style,
Tips On Building A Dry Stack Stone Wall #6: Steps,
Tips On Building Dry Stack Stone Walls #7: More On Steps.

 The photo above shows the finished project which gives you a feel for the scope of this work.

Installing Large Size Sun Room Windows

After having built and lived in quite a few passive solar sun rooms over the last 40 years 

I have come up with a good way to set the large double glazed glass units

 that are commonly used for such rooms.

About a year and a half ago we purchased a passive solar heated adobe fixer upper

 with a very long 80' sunroom, built in the mid 1980's.

Building A Well House #10: Finishing Up

To conclude this series on Building A Well House I want to show how we built the door, 

some final landscaping, and finally a photo collage of the project from start to finish.

And here are links to the whole series:

Building A Well House #1: Rubble Fill Foundation,

 Building A Well House #2: Dry Stack Cement Block,

 Building A Well House #3: More On Dry Stack Cement Block,

Building A Well House #4: Framing The Hip Roof,

Building A Well House #5: Corrugated Metal Roof,

Building A Well House #6: Plumbing And Electrical, 

 Building A Well House #7: Prepping For Stucco,

 Building A Well House #8: Stucco,

Building A Well House #9: Trombe Wall Solar Collector.