- Joined
- Nov 12, 2009
- Messages
- 13,408
Hi folks -
I have done a coupe of honey-do's lately, doing what I call an Organic Workout, which is to say that rather than head to my gym, I get out my shovels and get to work.
My most recent job was replacing my yard light - it was the cheap direct-bury type, and it had corroded to pieces underground and become "floppy", leaning to one direction.
I decided to replace it with a pier mount unit, so I dug up all of the old cable, replaced it with 14/2 instead of the existing 12/2 romax, installed it in 3/4" conduit, and poured a 5000psi, 12" diameter, 26" deep concrete pier with lag bolts embedded.
I had to move 4 full contractors barrows full of dirt twice - once when digging and once when back-filling.
A nice half day job (but it took me all day!)
The trench was crooked because I had to follow the drunken path that the original installer made when laying the line 20 years ago -
As luck would have it, there was a large (1" diameter) cottonwood root that ran in the same path as the original wire, making the digging all the more enjoyable.
I used my ZT0560 for general duty on this job, cutting tape, opening packages, and cutting open the concrete bags!
Back-filled and pier poured and setting up -
The finished product - I got this post on sale at Lowes for $80 (I tried to buy one at a local lighting store, they had an exact copy of this unit, but wanted $240!!!). I had to install my own photocell to turn it off in the daytime.
Then, later I picked all the limes from my own Key Lime tree!! I am making a Key Lime Pie tomorrow morning.
best
mqqn
I have done a coupe of honey-do's lately, doing what I call an Organic Workout, which is to say that rather than head to my gym, I get out my shovels and get to work.
My most recent job was replacing my yard light - it was the cheap direct-bury type, and it had corroded to pieces underground and become "floppy", leaning to one direction.
I decided to replace it with a pier mount unit, so I dug up all of the old cable, replaced it with 14/2 instead of the existing 12/2 romax, installed it in 3/4" conduit, and poured a 5000psi, 12" diameter, 26" deep concrete pier with lag bolts embedded.
I had to move 4 full contractors barrows full of dirt twice - once when digging and once when back-filling.
A nice half day job (but it took me all day!)
The trench was crooked because I had to follow the drunken path that the original installer made when laying the line 20 years ago -
As luck would have it, there was a large (1" diameter) cottonwood root that ran in the same path as the original wire, making the digging all the more enjoyable.
I used my ZT0560 for general duty on this job, cutting tape, opening packages, and cutting open the concrete bags!
Back-filled and pier poured and setting up -
The finished product - I got this post on sale at Lowes for $80 (I tried to buy one at a local lighting store, they had an exact copy of this unit, but wanted $240!!!). I had to install my own photocell to turn it off in the daytime.
Then, later I picked all the limes from my own Key Lime tree!! I am making a Key Lime Pie tomorrow morning.
best
mqqn
nicely done.
