Big fan of the Argentine style of grilling. Coals generator on the side, sweep under the grates for cooking! Asado! Looks great!
The Cook Shed
- Thread starter WarDamnEagle
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Of course around light number 7 a big storm rolled in and I found myself wondering about the fact that I'm not in a Faraday Cage. Well I didn't die so I guess a substantial wood structure is adequate.
Kudos on your light selection/installation. Looks like it’s fertile ground for some really great memories.
Double bonus points for living through the process..
Argentinians spend hours at the table. Courses of meats. Shortest distance from vine to plate add ons. Good wine. Being present at the table. The cook shed has this feel. Is a dining table in the mix?
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- Thread starter
- #124
Well yes and no. I gave up looking for a solution and didn't feel like doing a lot of experimental rewiring so I changed the CFCI to a regular receptacle. It works fine. Again, it appears to manifest from the bundled neutrals which create a microamp imbalance in the hot and neutral feeds to the GFCI. I didn't really see a great wiring solution given where I was with my wiring.
- Thread starter
- #125
Indeed. Lightning has a way of getting my attention. I noticed last night that two of my three 20 amp landscape lighting circuits had tripped and I had to reset the breakers. Happens sometimes when there's lots of lightning in the area.Kudos on your light selection/installation. Looks like it’s fertile ground for some really great memories.
Double bonus points for living through the process..
View attachment 4192886
It's already there. Left side of the shed. That's a concrete table that an architect friend built in Riyadh. We bought it from him when he left and decided to bring it back. It will be getting a new base. Wife wants it raised to countertop height and since she already bought the chairs I guess that's a done deal. It's a heavy biatch.
The things you brought over from Riyadh blows my mind. I can't ship a gas tank a few states away without s**ting my pants over the costs.
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- #127
Container over and container back. No idea what it cost either way. I did have to ship the 45 and 75 on my dime so I didn't have total liberty to ship whatever I wanted.
I also left one or two things there, like my BGE that I sold to an Australian couple, but it was definitely far heavier coming back.
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- #128
I was just about ready to start laying more brick on the BBQ pit when my son in law said he would help me this upcoming weekend with ancillary project number 1: a stone slab staircase from the backyard down to the Cook Shed. It's not totally inconvenient to get to the Cook Shed using the driveway but this staircase will absolutely help tie the house, backyard, and Cook Shed together.
I staked out a path yesterday and marked the elevation every 6" along the path with stakes. That allowed me to get a fairly accurate overall vertical and horizontal distance estimate. The stone slabs are 6" x 18" x 4' and they need to be overlapped 4 to 6 inches. Total rise turned out to be 10' (so 20 steps) but the run is a bit long at 29.5'. The upper level slope is almost perfect for 12 steps at 4" overlap (14" treads). We will need to use two slabs in 5 places (which adds 18" to the tread) in the lower 7 steps to get the total run correct. So 20 steps but 24 slabs total to the top of the hill.
We need one step down off the side of the Cook Shed so we will use a 5' wide stone slab for that. We will also probably add 4 or 5 steps inside the backyard as it's a bit steep just inside the fence. All the flattish runs outside the stairs will get irregular natural flagstone.
Made a run today and picked up a pallet of 4' slabs (9 total), the one 5' slab, and a yd3 of crusher run. That was all the weight my trailer capacity could accommodate. The 4' slabs are 400+ lbs each. Basic installation method will be to undercut the area under each slab, shovel in a couple of inches of clay-sand material that I have left over from the Cook Shed foundation, tamp in a layer of #57 rock (on hand also), and finally tamp in a layer of crusher run. That's the plan; we will see how it works in reality.
Edit: Just to clarify, we will start this project this weekend. Pretty sure this one will take more than a few days.
I staked out a path yesterday and marked the elevation every 6" along the path with stakes. That allowed me to get a fairly accurate overall vertical and horizontal distance estimate. The stone slabs are 6" x 18" x 4' and they need to be overlapped 4 to 6 inches. Total rise turned out to be 10' (so 20 steps) but the run is a bit long at 29.5'. The upper level slope is almost perfect for 12 steps at 4" overlap (14" treads). We will need to use two slabs in 5 places (which adds 18" to the tread) in the lower 7 steps to get the total run correct. So 20 steps but 24 slabs total to the top of the hill.
We need one step down off the side of the Cook Shed so we will use a 5' wide stone slab for that. We will also probably add 4 or 5 steps inside the backyard as it's a bit steep just inside the fence. All the flattish runs outside the stairs will get irregular natural flagstone.
Made a run today and picked up a pallet of 4' slabs (9 total), the one 5' slab, and a yd3 of crusher run. That was all the weight my trailer capacity could accommodate. The 4' slabs are 400+ lbs each. Basic installation method will be to undercut the area under each slab, shovel in a couple of inches of clay-sand material that I have left over from the Cook Shed foundation, tamp in a layer of #57 rock (on hand also), and finally tamp in a layer of crusher run. That's the plan; we will see how it works in reality.
Edit: Just to clarify, we will start this project this weekend. Pretty sure this one will take more than a few days.
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Nicely laid out. Really good use of the existing contour..
- Thread starter
- #130
Thank you sir. I wasn't planning on doing this project myself but the prices I got were shocking. I guess the local landscape guys aren't use to dealing with anyone crazy enough to build this themselves.Nicely laid out. Really good use of the existing contour..
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- #131
Turns out there's a lot of digging involved to build this staircase. We are excavating 6" below each slab and backfilling with tamped #57 stone followed by tamped crusher run. Six inches of compacted base plus six inches of slab and before you know it you've filled multiple wheelbarrows with dirt. Yes a mini excavator would be handy but I'm not sure I'm that good of an operator to handle one on this slope.
Son in law and I worked 4 hours Saturday afternoon and about 7 hours yesterday. We managed to get 6 (of 9 on hand) slabs installed. The excavation is done for the next 2 (double tread) but we would have needed another hour or more to get the backfill in and those laid. Actually we might have needed much longer as slab #6 was the last slab that could be reached straight on with the forks. For the next few we will have to come up the side of the staircase and somehow slide 400 lb slabs into place.........haven't quite figured out the best way to do that yet and we certainly didn't want to experiment with that much weight while we were pretty worn out.
Going up from the first photo, there will be another double tread, followed by a single, then another double, and then single treads all the way from there to the top. We used almost the entire supersack (1 yd3) of crusher run already but probably have just enough left to install the last 3 slabs that I have on hand. I'm going to unload those slabs and pick up another pallet of 9 slabs and another sack of crusher run sometime this week. We are going to Auburn's opener against Baylor in Atlanta on Saturday but my daughter and son in law are both off on Monday. Plan is to regroup Sunday morning and see what we can get done Sunday and Monday.
Baby boy (the one that started this whole project with his brisket obsession) is coming home this upcoming weekend to go to the game and will be home a few days as he is changing jobs. New job is mostly travel to various projects but he will eventually be moving to North Carolina - a much welcome move as he will be much closer to home than NW Indiana. Pretty sure he's going to want us to finish laying the bricks for the base of the pit so we will see how tolerant he is of the competing project.
Obviously lots of work involved to build this staircase but it's exceeding my expectations on how it's turning out.
Son in law and I worked 4 hours Saturday afternoon and about 7 hours yesterday. We managed to get 6 (of 9 on hand) slabs installed. The excavation is done for the next 2 (double tread) but we would have needed another hour or more to get the backfill in and those laid. Actually we might have needed much longer as slab #6 was the last slab that could be reached straight on with the forks. For the next few we will have to come up the side of the staircase and somehow slide 400 lb slabs into place.........haven't quite figured out the best way to do that yet and we certainly didn't want to experiment with that much weight while we were pretty worn out.
Going up from the first photo, there will be another double tread, followed by a single, then another double, and then single treads all the way from there to the top. We used almost the entire supersack (1 yd3) of crusher run already but probably have just enough left to install the last 3 slabs that I have on hand. I'm going to unload those slabs and pick up another pallet of 9 slabs and another sack of crusher run sometime this week. We are going to Auburn's opener against Baylor in Atlanta on Saturday but my daughter and son in law are both off on Monday. Plan is to regroup Sunday morning and see what we can get done Sunday and Monday.
Baby boy (the one that started this whole project with his brisket obsession) is coming home this upcoming weekend to go to the game and will be home a few days as he is changing jobs. New job is mostly travel to various projects but he will eventually be moving to North Carolina - a much welcome move as he will be much closer to home than NW Indiana. Pretty sure he's going to want us to finish laying the bricks for the base of the pit so we will see how tolerant he is of the competing project.
Obviously lots of work involved to build this staircase but it's exceeding my expectations on how it's turning out.
Perfect timing Greg, I need to do same with Kim's new house to step down to where outdoor kitchen will be going once done in the spring. We were able to build a small pond to use base dirt to elevate house pad leaving a decent incline to where the fun stuff will happen.
Appreciate the detailed instructions.
Appreciate the detailed instructions.
Have you ever used a stoneboat (or sled) to move heavy loads? We moved multi-ton rocks out of the fields without undo stress. It wasn't fast but it worked well for us. A purpose built stoneboat/sled could be fab'd out scrape lumber for the project and dismantled when done. In you pictures, there are a couple of trees that appear to be large enough to hold a snatch block where you could winch them up the grade then slide the step off where it is needed.
Great progress
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- Thread starter
- #134
Jon, there are a few more details that you probably need and possibly some tweaks for your climate. There's a lot of good information on the internet that will fill in most of the gaps. For example, we are pitching these treads about a 1/4" nose down so the water doesn't pond on them (also put a very slight slope to one side but I don't think that's absolutely necessary). We have no frost heave to deal with so 6" of tamped aggregate is probably overkill given that the dirt underneath is already very compacted sandy clay. Not sure if you would need more base in Oklahoma. I'm sure your skidsteer will handle the slope better than my Kubota.
Thanks. I have never used one but we were already considering a similar concept where we would place the slabs on plywood slides to the side but above where we need them and using gravity in our favor to slide them over and down. Making an actual sled might be helpful for the very upper slabs as we might bring them in through the yard which means we have to navigate a few turns to get them through the gate.
I'm not too worried about getting them where they need to go. The trick will be to get them into place without disturbing the tamped crusher run. Our procedure when we could make full use of the forks straight on was as follows:
- Slide the slab forward on the forks until just before the "tipping" point of the slab
- Roll the forks down to gently place the backside of the slab onto a predetermined spot
- Place a short 4x4 under the middle of the front of the slab on the backside of the slab underneath and lower the front of the slab onto the 4x4
- Carefully, with a combination of lowering and rolling, back the forks out from underneath the slab
- Remove the 4x4 and lower the slab onto the slab underneath using a barge pole and another 4x4 for leverage
Wouldn't it be easier just to get some Hebrew slaves and a couple of Egyptian taskmasters?
Had a similar thought as I read your post. My thought was position it on the stone's front face (relative final position) on the lower step that it over laps. This would leave the compact material/area accessible for final touches. Then tip the step so it comes to rest on the packed stone. It sounds like you have ample help s you will have options in making it happen.
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- #137
You can never have too much help when dealing with something that weighs 400 lbs +. But to be honest, you can shift them here and there without killing yourself and on a relatively slick surface, like forklift forks, they are manageable. Hopefully some combination of plywood, rope and sheave, and flipping will work.
Thus far, the digging, backfilling, tamping, and leveling prep has been much more strenuous than actually placing the slabs. But I know that's about to change. If they weren't so ridiculously expensive to rent I would get an extended reach, all terrain forklift and just straddle the staircase as I go up.
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- #138
My wife has nicknamed the stone staircase "The Forum"..... which was probably built with Italian slaves.Wouldn't it be easier just to get some Hebrew slaves and a couple of Egyptian taskmasters?
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- #140
Jon, @greenbeast here is a good photo showing how we sequence the build to keep everything segregated. I need another two inches or so of tamped crusher run in the area in front of the last slab. That tamped aggregate needs to be level with the slab in the front and 1/2" higher at the back of the second slab since this is a two slab tread. It would only be 1/4" if it was a single slab tread. The tamped crusher run needs to be without voids as much as possible. I have been using a 4x4 as a screed with judicious tamping in between filling of low areas. It's time consuming but not overly strenuous. The process is much, much easier with a good laser level. Topcon is a great choice.
Once that area is as good as we can get it the two slabs will be placed. They will come within maybe 4" of the excavated dirt area. At that point the next slab area will be excavated into the hillside. It's impossible to keep dirt from falling forward so during that excavation you have to periodically clean off the dirt area that you see in the photo. Once the new step excavation is at the correct size and elevation we will bring up the dirt area in the photo to the top of the two slabs that were placed with more tamped aggregate. That sequence helps to keep dirt out of the tamped aggregate area.
Basically you are excavating 2 slabs ahead, more or less at all times.
Once that area is as good as we can get it the two slabs will be placed. They will come within maybe 4" of the excavated dirt area. At that point the next slab area will be excavated into the hillside. It's impossible to keep dirt from falling forward so during that excavation you have to periodically clean off the dirt area that you see in the photo. Once the new step excavation is at the correct size and elevation we will bring up the dirt area in the photo to the top of the two slabs that were placed with more tamped aggregate. That sequence helps to keep dirt out of the tamped aggregate area.
Basically you are excavating 2 slabs ahead, more or less at all times.
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