Outdoor Garden Plans Site Map
Outdoor Garden Plans - This Site And You
Wherever we could, we have used stock sizes as our modular basis, thus eliminating the labor of cutting

Outdoor Garden Plans - Woodworking -Most Needed Tools
The most essential tools for the amateur woodworker are few in number, but they are indispensable.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Power Tools
The power tools you may need will depend upon three factors: what kind of work you expect to do-both now and later on-how much work is to be done; and the final, governing consideration, what your budget will permit.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Choosing Lumber
Then go to another dealer to see how the advice checks out, using your common sense to decide which is the better of the two suggestions. It is probable that they will be similar

Outdoor Garden Plans - Wood Preservatives
This is not a matter to be lightly brushed aside, for, unless properly finished, the wood and your handiwork will not last very long

Outdoor Garden Plans - Little Projects
We recommend buying the glass sash rather than making it-sash is cheap and making it is rather an intricate job-and then constructing the cold frame to fit the sash

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
Strictly speaking, a trellis is a frame of light wood strips crossing each other, with open spaces between the strips, particularly such a frame as is used for supporting vines

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Sometime in the dim prehistoric days beyond the memory of man, an ancestor of the race began to cultivate the land and grow food plants

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
Most home owners will welcome some sort of shelter to add comfort to outdoor living

Outdoor Garden Plans - Build Your Own Furniture
Also, with our small quarters and changeable climates, a need for a good demountable table has been expressed with frequency.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Needed Masonry Tools
The trowels you'll need are of the two above mentioned types: a large one with a pointed, somewhat flexible blade about 10 to 12 inches

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
This, of course, depends upon the degree of one's interest, and on his ability to handle tools

Outdoor Garden Plans - Choosing The Proper Joint
Perhaps the most important choice, next to selecting the masonry material you will use for the wall you are going to build, is that of the kind of joint you will use to bring out the inherent qualities of the wall materials and show them to their best advantage

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
Concrete is an excellent material for the home craftsman to use, when it is properly made. He can make it to suit his purpose, in quantities large or small

Outdoor Garden Plans - Building Garden Steps
In more formal treatments, steps are used to climb up to terraces raised above the level of the house or the garden, or to descend to those placed below it. Little retaining walls are built to divide the garden into two levels, both charming the eye and giving the illusion of more space, because the division will lend a visual interest to the whole garden picture

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace
and then proceeds to have some version of that terrace built in his garden. But a terrace is far too expensive and permanent to be chosen so lightly or so frivolously.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces
The question of what to use for paving garden walks and terraces seems to give the novice a bit of trouble

Outdoor Garden Plans - Cast Your Own Paving Blocks - Making The Form
You can make your own paving blocks, if you wish, by casting them in any size, any shape, or any color that you desire. It is not really a hard job, although it will entail making your own concrete, finishing the surface of the blocks, and making the form in which they are to be cast.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Pebble Mosaic Paving
Although at first glance the patterns of Pebble Mosaic may look rather difficult for amateurs to achieve, they are actually quite simple.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Driveways For Today And Tomorrow- Requirements
Practically every house built these days has a garage, or at least a carport, to house the everpresent automobile. Many houses sport a two- or even a three-car garage to accommodate the several cars of the various members of the family.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Decorative Garden Planters
Garden Planters are a functional and decorative way to display any number of plants.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Pools and Fountains In The Garden
Until lately it was only the rich who could afford to have pools or fountains in their gardens.

Garden Wall Fountains can decorate a garden wall
Walls are a basic structure of the garden. Decorate with by using garden wall fountains.

outdoor garden plans links

Outdoor Garden Plans - This Site And You
This brings us to the reason we have written this book and spent several years in creating the designs and drawing the practical plans from which you can build

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Outdoor Garden Plans - Woodworking -Most Needed Tools
It will tire you and you'll regret it. On the other hand, one which is too light will use more of your energy in performing the tasks for which you use it, and it, too, will be fatiguing

Outdoor Garden Plans - Drill Attachements
When he begins shopping for a drill, the amateur may be confused by some of the terminology and by the profusion of choices offered.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Choosing Lumber
Properly painted and with the right preservatives applied they will last a long time

Outdoor Garden Plans - Modern Wood Preservatives
They are relatively cheap and have the additional virtue of permitting the wood to be painted as soon as they have thoroughly dried into it

Outdoor Garden Plans - Little Projects- Strictly For The Birds
By fitting it with wheels, you'll be able to move it about from spot to spot, changing it about each day or each week, or whenever you give a party

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
Is your home modern, traditional, French provincial, of Spanish or Mediterranean inspiration; built of brick or frame; one or two stories in height

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
The fence today fulfills several definite functions. It encloses the yard to keep children in and animals out; it offers, many times, an architectural finish to the home composition, enhancing the lines of the house, lengthening or shortening the property and buildings visually

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
In the designs herewith we have tried to provide a wide range so that you will find one which will harmonize with your house or which can be adapted to it

Outdoor Garden Plans - Build Your Own Furniture
If the materials must be painted, we urge that soft colors be employed- never bright or dominant ones, never hard reds or bright oranges, or even that unnatural green one so often encounters

Outdoor Garden Plans - Needed Masonry Tools
Plumb bobs come in various weights, but we suggest that small ones are as accurate as large ones and are cheaper.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
These are allowable and should cause you no alarm, because shrinkage is inevitable in drying out or in the baking and varies from batch to batch in the same brick-yard under identical conditions.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Choosing The Proper Joint
After the masonry units are laid and just before the mortar finally sets, the mortar joints are ready to be finished.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
Also it will present less strain on the pocketbook when taken in segments.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Building Garden Steps
Let the slope of the land govern the kind of steps you choose. Use steeper, narrower ones where slope breaks abruptly, curving broader steps with low risers for gentl slopes.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace: the Primarty Consideration
Even if it is shaded, it is usually hotter during those hours of the late afternoon

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces- Sand Base Method
Whatever surfacing you finally choose, there will be only one of two basic methods used in laying the paving: mortaring it to a concrete base (this is the most permanent and satisfactory way, and naturally the most expensive), or laying it on a tamped base of sand, cinders, or some other porous material

Outdoor Garden Plans - Cast Your Own Paving Blocks -
Make at least two forms; half a dozen or more will be none too many if you plan to use many blocks for paving. Fewer than that will make it hardly worth while to mix up a batch of concrete for the casting. Perhaps you will want a dozen forms when you get the hang of how they can be used and get your project running well.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Pebble Mosaic Paving- Trial Run
The first step in planning a pebble mosaic is to assemble a sufficient quantity of pebbles so that you can experiment with them and decide upon the nature of the design which you'll want to make.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Driveways For Today And Tomorrow-
If your driveway turns at a right angle, is the minimum radius 18 feet (inside edge), and if it is a complete circle is the minimum radius of the inside 19 to 20 feet

Outdoor Garden Plans - Decorative Planters
Masonry planters also give one a chance to use curving lines effectively in the garden-to follow the curving line of a terrace, or to give visual interest to a low retaining wall which would be rather dull if kept straight, but which leads the eye about the garden because of the beauty of its curves

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Pool In The Garden
Another trick we have learned is to paint shallow pools, 4 to 6 inches deep, a dark color, such as deep green, black, or navy blue. This will give just as much mystery and depth as if the pool had been made 6 feet deep

Outdoor Garden Plans - Versatile Walls
The wall can be the focal point of the garden, pairing well with steps and pools, with pergolas and shelters, concealing or revealing as the builder chooses, and tying in with the paving material of walks and terraces.

Outdoor Garden Plans - This Site And You
We believe that you will find that most of the projects in this book will be simple and relatively easy to build, that they are in good taste, and that they will have a real function in the average home and garden

Outdoor Garden Plans - Woodworking -Most Needed Tools
An adjustable try-square, although more expensive than the fixed-blade types, will prove a useful tool, for it has a 45° angle as well as a right angle

Outdoor Garden Plans - Circular Hand Saw
Two major types are offered. One is a belt sander having a continuous belt of sandpaper driven horizontally, the upper part of the belt riding within the housing of the tool; the lower just below the bottom of the housing

Outdoor Garden Plans - Choosing Lumber
Usually one side is practically perfect. This grade may be used for better quality work, but it is usually too good for use outdoors except for furniture

Outdoor Garden Plans - Wood Preservatives
Modern preservatives are also poisonous to a degree, although quite safe for plant life once they have dried into the wood and been exposed to the air.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Little Projects- What The Birds Want
The birds don't like them very much, usually, so you may be wasting your time if you go off on this tack

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
Clematis is another lovely vine, airy, light in weight, and with a wealth of fine flowers once it is established.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
It bears little resemblance to the handsome, tall, good-neighbor fences which today insure privacy on both sides and are usually erected with mutual consent; sometimes with mutual funds

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
The permanent shelter should have permanent paving; its posts should be firmly embedded in concrete; and if they are of wood they should be treated with wood preservative before being se

Outdoor Garden Plans - Build Your Own Furniture
Legs may be cut from 2

Outdoor Garden Plans - Needed Masonry Tools
You'll use them also in certain kinds of concrete work and for striking joints in bricks or blocks used for paving

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
It will be well to check the sizes of the bricks in your present construction, if you can, before ordering to see if you can obtain new ones from the same source

Outdoor Garden Plans - Choosing The Proper Joint
In this case the point of the trowel is inserted at about a 30 ° angle and run along evenly to compress the mortar and at the same time expose the upper edge of the lower course of brick. Vertical joints are either lightly raked (see Raked Joint) or kept flush for an even effect

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
In the event that he will let you do something, it is a good plan to have a written contract specifying clearly what are the contractor's responsibilities and what you are to furnish. In this way neither of you will be expecting more than should be required, and unpleasantness can be avoided

Outdoor Garden Plans - Building Garden Steps
Or if expense or lack of space rules this out, wooden ramps built to fit the steps can be put in place when needed and taken up and stored in the garage or tool shed in between uses

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace
If sudden showers are likely to come up without warning, perhaps a covered terrace or a partially-covered one may be the answer to this problem. Terrace furniture can be quickly wheeled or carried under cover and, when the shower is over, brought out again for use

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces
With both walks and terraces it is wise to start with the boundary courses.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Cast Your Own Paving Blocks -
Finishing can be done with the float and trowel (see the tool page, Chapter XIII) to achieve a smooth surface; but if you want a textured surface or a patterned one, you will want to use other implements once you have floated the surface smooth

Outdoor Garden Plans - Pebble Mosaic Paving- Final Preparations
Try anything which occurs to you in your trial run. Put fair-sized round pebbles (2 to 21/2 inches) at regular intervals and surround them with oval-shaped pebbles set on edge to follow the outlines of the circle of each round pebble

Outdoor Garden Plans - Driveways For Today And Tomorrow-
On the other hand, it may be to your advantage to consider some other plan, such as those on the chart pages in this section

Outdoor Garden Plans - Decorative Planters
Combining them with stones of various sizes or nestling them among granite or marble chips, using water-washed pebbles of large sizes and interesting colors are other ways to make show-pieces of your planters.

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Pool In The Garden
On a terrace it is sometimes interesting to have the pool left in its natural color or painted with a swimming-pool waterproof paint the color of the sky. Beautiful water-washed pebbles gathered from the beach or from along a stream can be arranged in the bottom in patterns to form a pleasant bit of contrast

Outdoor Garden Plans - Versatile Walls
Not all walls are built for the purposes of concealment or protection of privacy, nor must they be solid and therefore somewhat unfriendly.

Outdoor Garden Plans - This Site And You
Even though you may never have laid a brick, cut a board, or even built a bird house, it is probable that you can develop into a very clever and competent craftsman.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Woodworking -Most Needed Tools
It has a movable blade which may be adjusted at various lengths for use as a marking gauge, for measuring the depth of a hole, for scaling an odd-shaped piece of wood, and for many other uses in addition to the conventional one

Outdoor Garden Plans - Table Saw
A portable circular hand saw can be converted into a bench saw by the purchase of a steel table made for the purpose, enabling it to do many of the things a bench saw will accomplish

Outdoor Garden Plans - Choosing Lumber
As we suggested earlier, if you are inexperienced, ask your local lumber dealer to recommend the cheapest grade of wood which you can use satisfactorily on this particular project, showing him the plans and telling him the exposure of the project

Outdoor Garden Plans - Wood Preservatives
Although paint alone is better than no treatment with preservatives, paint films can easily be broken, will deteriorate and crack, allowing moisture to penetrate.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Little Projects- Place The Birdhouse
Feeders may also be painted, unless you happen to subscribe to the nature school, which insists that everything out of doors must be stained a dingy brown. Actually, we believe that it is the oil smell which birds dislike and not the color

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
Akebia is another good perennial vine, the five-leaved variety being preferred by many who like its chocolate-colored flowers, which come in spring.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Fairly frequently it is better not to have a fence which must be solid, for in that case it may cut off air circulation. Privacy can be gained without creating problems of ventilation in the living areas

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
Proper advance consideration and lucid thought will give you the kind of sturdy structure you will use with pleasure and no regret in future years

Outdoor Garden Plans - Build Your Own Furniture
Half blocks with cushions made to fit make low seats for terrace use.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Needed Masonry Tools
An edger for finishing off the sides of cement on walks or driveways, terraces, etc., will complete the tool list you'll probably need for most cement and concrete work.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Because they are not baked but formed in moulds of cement and sand and allowed to dry out until they are completely set, these are usually most precise in size and admirably square-edged

Outdoor Garden Plans - Choosing The Proper Joint
It is frequently used on semi-dressed or cut-stone walls, too. The tool may be used before the wall is scraped and cleaned, or the joint may be raked and refilled and the tooling done afterward

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
It is better to have an extra bag in case it may be needed on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday if you are working then, for those are days when it is usually impossible to find a place from which it can be bought

Outdoor Garden Plans - Building Garden Steps
Circular steps go particularly well with our formal or informal traditional architecture. Any material may be used to construct them, but field stone laid dry as shown here is informal and small plants can be grown in the cracks between stones

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace
When the children grow up, the sand box can become a plant box or a pool, or the area be turned into a flower bed

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces- Finishing Touches
You will find that dry sand sweeps better and will fill more compactly; and, if the cracks are well filled, there will be less shifting and settling in the future.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Cast Your Own Paving Blocks - Size Of Stones
If you want your stones colored, you can mix two batches of concrete. With the natural batch fill the forms half way and then, on top of the reinforcements, pour the colored concrete layer and finish it as described

Outdoor Garden Plans - Pebble Mosaic Paving
(Consult Chapter XIII for method of mixing and making concrete and installing forms.) Be sure to use good clean sand and aggregates, for dirt and dust and other matter may cut down or destroy the effectiveness of the concrete

Outdoor Garden Plans - Driveways For Today And Tomorrow-
Concrete strips for wheels only may be laid, with wear and permanence provided for by use of flagstone, bricks, concrete blocks, brushed aggregate concrete, or other materials between these tracks

Outdoor Garden Plans - Decorative Planters
Wherever you place your planter, and however you plant it, we are sure you will find it one of the most interesting projects of any you will build in your garden.

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Pool In The Garden
It is now possible to buy pre-fabricated swimming pools which you can have installed or install yourself.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Versatile Walls
These things sound more important and complex, probably, than they actually are. The important thing is to check on them before you build, before you commit yourself to an order for building materials or even excavate

Outdoor Garden Plans - This Site And You
all kinds of information on various types of building materials and sources; a valuable reference book in which to find out what is available to fit your needs

Outdoor Garden Plans - Woodworking -Most Needed Tools
If you can squeeze out of your budget a 9- to 12-inch torpedo level, you will find it handy for leveling shelves and other narrow or constricted bits of work

Outdoor Garden Plans - Power Tools
The blades run in diameter from about 6 inches all the way up to 10 inches or more, the most usual sizes in saws for home craftsmen being found in the 7- to 9-inch range

Outdoor Garden Plans - Ordering Lumber
Checking-a narrow crack occurring usually at the ends of boards due to shrinkage of the wood or excess exposure to sun and heat-can be a very serious matter, especially on outdoor projects where water may seep in

Outdoor Garden Plans - Little Projects- Build The Birdhouse
Except in isolated cases, the minimum height at which to set bird houses is four to five feet, or even at the height of a fence post.

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
The Climbing Euonymus is an evergreen plant which can be kept within bounds by a bit of judicious pruning now and then

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
In cost, glass will be the most expensive, of course, with plastic and fiberglass costing somewhat less, and the wire screen in plastic being cheapest of all.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
The shelter wall may also be used as a place to display and shelter summering house- plants if shelves are built for the pots

Outdoor Garden Plans - Build Your Own Furniture
If you want to make them permanent, mortar them on a secure foundation, mortar the slate top securely in the center, and your fable is done.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
They are more expensive than common bricks but they give effects which are not obtainable in any other way

Outdoor Garden Plans - Choosing The Proper Joint
First clean out the old mortar well with an old chisel or sturdy screwdriver, then tuck point and tool to the desired finish.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
The ideal mixture is one in which all the spaces between the grains of sand are filled with liquid cement, with the spaces between the larger gravel or stone aggregates filled with the

Outdoor Garden Plans - Building Garden Steps
Where ramp steps or short runs of steps are inserted in a long walk up a slope having sharp breaks, it is best to use the same material for the treads as that found in the path in which they occur

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace - Problem Sites
you can make the most intelligent choice possible. Probably you will have to compromise somewhere along the line, for practical considerations must always shape the ideal and will influence the placement, the construction, and the embellishment of the terrace

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces- Paving Set
Good drainage under the concrete is essential; 3 to 4 inches of crushed rock and tamped cinders will insure this. On top, pour the concrete in the manner described in Chapter XII

Outdoor Garden Plans - Cast Your Own Paving Blocks - Mixing Concrete
Accurate measurement of ingredients, plus thorough mixing of them, always makes good, strong, durable concrete.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Pebble Mosaic Paving
Next day, before placing fresh mortar next to it, all the edges should be carefully wet down to insure bonding.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Driveways For Today And Tomorrow-
On hillsides or on decided slopes, moderate rains will wash and roll even sizeable gravel considerable distances. On any slope, heavy downpours will strip the driveway to the soil and beyond

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Pool In The Garden
Just cast bracing buttresses on the lower end every three feet, using reinforcing rods in the cement, and make the pool wall 10 to 12 inches thick to take the strain of the weight of the water.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Versatile Walls
Walls may also be made of blocks, as we have detailed elsewhere, 4-inch-wide blocks being the narrowest width recommended, 6-, 8-, 10-, and 12-inch- wide blocks being adaptable to various walls for various purposes

Outdoor Garden Plans - This Site And You
We also urge that all tool manuals which come with power and hand tools be preserved.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Woodworking -Most Needed Tools
A spoke shave is helpful for planing down convex or concave surfaces of wood edges, while a drawknife will rough out and quickly cut to ap- proximate shape all manner of curved and uneven shapes

Outdoor Garden Plans - Kinds Of Blades
A plywood blade is made for cutting plywood with a minimum of splintering

Outdoor Garden Plans - Plywood
Milling reduces the thickness of 1-inch wood to 25/32 of an inch, while 2-inch wood becomes 15/8 inches thick after milling and seasoning

Outdoor Garden Plans - Little Projects- Other Points To Consider
The thickness of the wood in the box-type houses will help to insulate the houses somewhat.

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
This is a delightful idea, but in places with very hot summers Sweet Peas do not last beyond June, if that long

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Fences can also act as temporary or stand-in structures which will permit small inexpensive plants to grow into thick and tall windbreaks

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
Then unclamp them and stand them in a can containing about 4 inches of wood preservative. Soak the other ends too, letting them stand in the preservative for two to four hours or more; then remove them and let them dry well

Outdoor Garden Plans - Build Your Own Furniture
This simple pegboard arrangement adapts to the tools you now have, can be adjusted to those acquired later

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
they will not contain any iron particles or scraps which will rust when blocks are used for facing walls, causing ugly stains on the wall which bleed through paint and disfigure the surface

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
It can be bought in various grades which are sifted and segregated for whatever use may be desired. The average sand used for finish coats will contain several sizes of particles, from very tiny bits up to those of nearly 1/4 inch in diameter.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Building Garden Steps
The practical side of building steps must not be ignored. We advocate the use of adequate foundations and footings to insure the permanence of your work.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace -
Very frequently such retaining walls can be the real feature of a terrace rather than just a regrettable necessity. If the wall is a low one, it can be utilized as extra seating space for parties and picnic luncheons for large groups.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces-
You will have to allow for the depth of the paving unit plus mortar joint when casting, so that your paving will come out even with the soil line or whatever you have determined as the final height of the pavement

Outdoor Garden Plans - Cast Your Own Paving Blocks -
Then make a

Outdoor Garden Plans - Pebble Mosaic Paving
Make the mortar deep enough so that the pebbles can be inserted at least half-way-two-thirds of their depth if possible.

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Pool In The Garden
In severe climates some provision must be made for the protection of pools in winter-or at least all pools with straight sides, since we have shown that saucer pools need not be protected.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Versatile Walls- Balustrades
The flowers or shrubs below can be seen through the openwork, and it will allow for ventilation and air circulation. As shown in the accompanying sketches, bricks may be used to build balusters.

Outdoor Garden Plans - This Site And You
This book, then, is offered as a good starting point, a foundation on which to build your craftsmanship so that you can improve your home and garden with the designs it offers

Outdoor Garden Plans - Woodworking -Most Needed Tools
A countersink bit, which may be used in either a hand drill or a large brace, permits the countersinking of screws to the level of the wood surface or just below it without marring the wood around them

Outdoor Garden Plans - Jig Saws
It may be used as well for making straight cuts, for bevel cutting, for shaping the legs of furniture, etc. It is also useful for cutting table tops, medallions for decoration, and arcs or double curves.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Used Lumber
still other grades may have circular or diamond-shaped plugs set into the ply to repair knotholes or other blemishes, but are well sanded so that they may be used for painted work, concrete forms, and other jobs requiring good smooth surfaces where perfection of grain is not important

Outdoor Garden Plans - Little Projects- Other Points To Consider
But whether you make a full-time hobby of bird-housing and bird- watching, or just have a house or two for the pleasure it gives you, you will enjoy the company of birds in your garden

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
The Japanese Hop is a speedy, dense-growing vine which laughs at dry weather and heat. It will also grow in shade.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Therefore you may have to keep a watch on the winds for several months, or even an entire year, to observe their action before knowing just how and where to place your fence to outwit nature.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
Either way it will add distinction to your garden until the replacement tree is large enough

Outdoor Garden Plans - Build Your Own Furniture
may be lined with aluminum or other sheet metal to permit storage of damp materials, if desired, and top may also be finished with metal instead of hardboard.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
If it is carefully made, with the ingredients precisely measured so that the formula is correct, and the materials thoroughly blended, then the mortar should be as nearly perfect as it is humanly possible to make it

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
Broken or crushed stone should always be hard and clean, traprock, hard limestone, hard sandstone, and granites being the preferred kinds, although in some areas crushed fieldstone may be used

Outdoor Garden Plans - Building Garden Steps

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace -
In the sketch at the right and the one below we show several ways of making privacy fences decorative and less forbidding Diagonally placed boards make a pleasant chevron pattern

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces- Paving Ideas
Occasionally today one finds wooden paving blocks being used where wood is available and cheap.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Cast Your Own Paving Blocks -
By adding only a little you will get a pastel shade of the color and by adding a lot you will get quite intense hues. Some of them will be far too

Outdoor Garden Plans - Pebble Mosaic Paving- Finishing The Job
carry a walk at an angle down a gentle slope and do away with the necessity of retaining walls or short, steep flights of steps, and do it beautifully

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Pool In The Garden
Possibly you will want to make a little railing around the edge of the cover, using one of the designs which are shown in other sections of this book for your inspiration.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Versatile Walls-
Dry stone walls can be planted with a variety of rock plants, which will enhance their beauty and attractiveness

Outdoor Garden Plans - Jointers
It is called a jointer because it smooths wood so precisely that perfectly fitting joints can be made, with roughness of saw cuts smoothed off as well as or better than a jack plane or block plane would do the job by hand

Outdoor Garden Plans - Choosing Lumber
The author has pulled down a large shed with the help of his wife, and some assistance from two other men when large beams and other pieces had to be brought down

Outdoor Garden Plans - Little Projects- Mounting Screw Hole
Light enough to be hung on a fence, yet of sturdy enough construction to stand by itself, this little shrine will add interest to the garden.

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
Speaking of concrete, we strongly recommend that posts always be set in a good solid base of concrete, not only to preserve the wood, but also to give stability to the trellis when the vine becomes heavy or when winter winds whip the structure about.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Where boundaries are to be defined, but where no particular purpose would be served by the use of a high fence, the low picket, wire, or board fence may be used to protect the areas

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
Its charm lies In the airiness of its proportions, its form being geometric yet open enough to complement the wayward, natural curvature of the climbing roses or vines, and at the same time sturdy enough to bear their weight when, in future years, they will have become heavy enough to need firm support

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Lime putty or commercial Hydraulic Hydrated Lime should be used to increase the workability of the mortar and also to augment its water- proof qualities

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
Soil and clay should not be present in gravel, nor should the pebbles be coated with mud or dust, for that will adulterate the cement and prevent adherence of the cement to the pebbles

Outdoor Garden Plans - Building Garden Steps
Reinforced with iron bars, concrete cast in forms (above ground) will make permanent risers for gravel, blacktop, concrete steps.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace -
Test it to see if the furniture is out of the way of traffic from the house across the terrace. See if it is large enough for the uses you plan to make of it, and if its shape and outlines are pleasant to view from the house as well as from the terrace itself.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces-
Today garden borders use sweeping curved lines Terraces can echo them informal!/ If curves are kept shallow, bricks set on edge will leave only smalt spaces between them

Outdoor Garden Plans - Cast Your Own Paving Blocks -
The most pleasant colored concrete terrace we have ever seen had soft colors which approximated those of nature in stone, and were closely related in the range of shade, so that none were very light or very dark but formed a pleasant and subtle range of middle tones.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Pebble Mosaic Paving
Be careful not to let it remain on too long, because it may injure the mortar; rinsing with a hose and scrubbing with an old broom will do the trick

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Pool In The Garden
Water lilies can be made to grow even in a washtub set into the lawn, given proper care and consideration. Therefore you have every reason to expect them to grow well in a small plant pocket especially constructed for them in a pool, even if it is a shallow one

Outdoor Garden Plans - Versatile Walls-
An interesting variation of basketweaver pattern is seen in this wall

Outdoor Garden Plans - Word Of Caution
For the home craftsman who has limited shop space and the usual budget limits, one of the medium-to- better grade of tools, with whatever combination functions he feels suit his purposes best, is a good investment

Outdoor Garden Plans - Little Projects
An open shelter, comprised of a shelf, roof and half sides is preferred by phoebes, barn swallows and robins

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
The paint will completely dry within a few warm days, and they claim that because the fresh paint job is spared the ravages of winter it will look smarter and better through the growing season

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
They can tell you where to make the proper inquiries of local officials. Then, when you know the limitations, plan your fence accordingly.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
may be left open or roofed with laths, like the hip-roofed corner house

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Keep the decrease in mind when mixing any specific amount, and try always to mix a little more than is needed so as to be sure to have enough.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
You will need a shovel and a hoe. A square-ended shovel or garden spade is the best to use, but any shovel can be used if you haven't either of these.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace -
In wet weather particles will adhere to the soles of shoes and be tracked into the house, where they will injure polished floors and linoleum.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces-
Laid on edge (left) or flat (right) and centered on the long side of the cross brick this is a most useful pattern

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Pool In The Garden
Either actually in the pool or alongside it where they get plenty of moisture, other aquatic plants may also be used. Some prefer shallow water, some need greater depth to grow well, and some need only moist soil and a humid atmosphere to thrive.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Versatile Walls-
This wall combines several features worthy of note Built entirely of 4 blocks with stone or cast concrete coping it uses horizontal placement for the higher wall, vertical sett ing for the low seat wall thus contrasting visual lines interestingly

Outdoor Garden Plans - Word Of Advice
Also, even very small children have an amazing adeptness at imitating adults and are quite likely to turn on switches, damaging your work or causing bad accidents to themselves and you. Better to exclude them from the shop than to face this possibility

Outdoor Garden Plans - Little Projects
Use a base of 11/2 inches doorstop moulding, secured to plywood with waterproof glue and brads, a second mould

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
You may well want to consider the facts of life before constructing a trellis. You will have to face the fact, sooner or later, that children live not only in the big world but in your immediate vicinity

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Or it may be that, if the adjacent lot is not built on or improved as yet, there is no obligation on the part of the landowner to contribute.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
Even though a terrace is quite tiny, it can still have charm-in fact the smaller it is the more it needs charm.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
For warm climates, running two to three courses below ground level should suffice. The foundation and footing in cold climates should run sufficiently below ground level to prevent frost from heaving the wall

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
You will need a shovel and a hoe. A square-ended shovel or garden spade is the best to use, but any shovel can be used if you haven't either of these.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace -
Blacktop can be used for paving and has the advantage of being inexpensive, reasonably permanent, and not bad looking. It has an odoi for a time after being laid, particularly in hot weather, and at that time it is also likely to dent from chair or table legs

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces-
Laid on edge (left) or flat (right) and centered on the long side of the cross brick this is a most useful pattern

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Pool In The Garden
There are many other plants with which to dress the edges of pools in natural or formal ways to make them a delightful feature of the home garden.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Versatile Walls- Tips
Note that masonry units set in stacked bond in retaining walls require a backing of reinforced concrete or masonry to give walls strength needed to withstand soil pressures.

Outdoor Garden Plans -
Recheck and measure and use the try-square again before cutting

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
And now we release your attention so that you may leaf through the designs for trellises in the following pages.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Usually posts can be ordered already cut to the length you wish to use. For the average fence the length is from 18 to 30 inches longer than the aboveground height of the fence when finished

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
Only the area over the seat is roofed over, either outdoor plywood or transite being used, but both need sloping from front to back to provide quick drainage and thus preserve The roofing material.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Iron rods may be used for bracing, either by inserting them through the holes in bricks

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
On the other hand, you may want to cast your paving and remove the forms, using them elsewhere for further casting and saving the cost of further forms, as in the case of building a long walk, or in casting a paved terrace in rows of units.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace -
Concrete with redwood or other durable wood strips cast in between areas and left there for division lines is a modern interpretation which makes a terrace very interesting

Outdoor Garden Plans - Paving Walks And Terraces-
Laid on edge (left) or flat (right) and centered on the long side of the cross brick this is a most useful pattern

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Pool In The Garden
A pool need not be deep or large to increase the enjoyment of all who behold it.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Versatile Walls-
Whether used to hold a slope or merely to border the terrace, it is useful for entertaining groups at luncheon or for cocktails.

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
A trellis adapted from grillework or gates seen in Spanish architecture is scaled down to fit small homes.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
It will complement certain houses as no other fence can, lending a solidity which is most attractive and correct for a particular kind of house and location. And, of course, for privacy this type of fence is ideal

Outdoor Garden Plans - Garden Shelter
By using shiplap or scored outdoor plywood to give long lines to the fence and by echoing those lines with the slats of the shelter, by using boldly opposing vertical lines to support the roof, we create a garden house both good-looking and unique.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
When your mortar is mixed and ready for use, place about a pailful on a piece of plywood 20 to 24 inches square and set it on a box or on the ground where you can easily reach it with your trowel

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
Brace the forms against other objects; or use several heavy building blocks to hold them if you are not certain the stakes will hold, as may be the case in sandy soil.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace - Other Features
Wood blocks are used in many sections where they are available at a reasonable price. This is treated at some length in Chapter XVI. But wood used for decks is something to consider everywhere

Outdoor Garden Plans - The Trellis Story
Plywood center may be used for another project if care is used in cutting. Use wood preservative on exposed edges.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
The picket fence, traditional as it is, has a Tightness and a very pleasant quality with traditional homes.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Be sure that the head joints are filled and tightly packed.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
.If you are unable to finish the entire slab for any reason, scratch the entire surface just before it sets and roughen the sides of the last pouring so that the next day's wor

Outdoor Garden Plans - Planning A Terrace - Other Features
Terraces not only augment the living space of your home, but they add a new kind of life to your property. We cannot recommend them too heartily, and you will take double pleasure in one if you build it yourself

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Wire comes in many interesting patterns. It is ideal for use where annual vines will clamber on the fence to clothe it for the summer months.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
either to fill the final space between the last two bricks in a course, or to space out a course so that it ends properly for a window, a door, a gate, or some other opening

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
Don't overdo it and float the surface too much, or you may draw too much of the water and too many of the fine aggregates and cement to the top, making the surface too smooth

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Spacing of the verticals may vary according to what individual tastes or needs dictate.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Always start at each end of the wall and build up four or five courses tapering up to the corners; then lay the courses in the intervening areas.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
This extremely rough, but durable, finish is obtained by using a stiff wire brush or coarse bristle brush and water to scrub away the surface concrete, removing the small aggregates and cement to expose the larger aggregates.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
The 3-dimensional quality of the in-and-out boxes creates interesting shadow play

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Do this while they are still fresh and can be easily removed. Then let the wall cure for about two weeks before the final process.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
if you are using the soil covering method, you may make a little dam around the edge of the slab and fill it with water once a day to a depth of 1 inch. At the end of the curing period coverings are removed and the surface well washed with water.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
They protect but do not interfere with the garden view, the wide spacing of the pickets giving plenty of ventilation area, too.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
any mortar which is squeezed out from the head joint or the intermediate joint can be left to become part of the next course's bed joint, provided that more mortar can be laid on to make the bed before the squeezed-out mortar sets

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
Excellent results can be obtained by incorporating coloring pigment in concrete, usually using it only for the topping of the slab to save on the cost of the coloring material, and varying the colors from one square to the next in a terrace.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
By cutting and clamping several pickets together angle cuts may be done on bench saw to cut down labor

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Baking gives them strength and hardness and they weigh less than other types of blocks.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
Walls over 2 feet in height and less than 8 inches in thickness may need to have steel reinforcing rods inserted every 6 inches horizontally, and overlapped so that no part of the wall is weakened by having all the rods end there

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Either barn-door hinges, concealed, or more decorative wrought iron hinges with a matching latch may be selected instead.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Some of them are to be seen in the illustrations in Chapter XXII, where various patterns are shown which indicate the rich possibilities for interesting pattern and texture inherent in this material.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
Walls may be extended by casting an overlapping pier on the back side, or by drilling into the existing wall and inserting reinforcing rods to tie the two together.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Such fences usually just stop, but they can end in such a way as to enhance your property, providing real visual interest, furnishing a place for a vine or perhaps giving an architectural pattern.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Build up the corners with three or four blocks, tapering downward in triangular fashion, checking carefully with the level to make sure they are plumb

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Make And Use Concrete
Young trees adjust better to having roots amputated than do older ones. Therefore, if there is a choice to be made between saving a young tree or an old one for shade, choose the younger

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
For a taller fence, add a third row of chevrons and verticals with a second horizontal.

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Similarly, stone walls which have wildly unrelated colors can be pulled together and given dignity and greater effectiveness by being painted

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Heavy full-rounds or half-round mouldings are nailed or screwed to the near side of the frame, the far side of the fence faced with plywood or tronsite for privacy

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
On very porous surfaces such as cinder block, the first coat may be mixed with sand-1 part fine sand to 2 or 3 parts of paint-keeping it well stirred as you use it to be sure the sand is in suspension so that it will be picked up and applied with the brush

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Although this is less easy to construct than that above, it Is not beyond the amateur's scope, particularly if angular cuts are made by pre-set power saw

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
Follow the manufacturer's directions carefully, since each maker has his own formula and has developed his own method of application. Usually no primer coat is needed, the first coat of paint itself being a kind of filler or primer coat.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
If you want a completely horizontal pattern, paint the posts a dark green or black, the fence boards a light color and watch how the posts disappear

Outdoor Garden Plans - How To Lay Masonry
It is claimed by the manufacturers of this type of paint, too, that its film will not allow moisture to penetrate in any quantity but will allow it to escape in the form of vapor.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
frame is painted in one of the colors of the feature, with a second color used on the uprights

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Train vines on fence, set shrubs or trees in plant boxes to soften severe lines and give seasonal bloom

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Outdoor plywood makes a neat and attractive garden tool and equipment cupboard, even the painted doors being plywood.

Outdoor Garden Plans - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
In summer it is a bower of blossoms and a leafy roof to provide shade

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