{"id":2797,"date":"2012-07-12T15:02:46","date_gmt":"2012-07-12T19:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/?p=2797"},"modified":"2012-07-12T15:02:46","modified_gmt":"2012-07-12T19:02:46","slug":"digging-a-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/12\/digging-a-hole\/","title":{"rendered":"Digging a hole"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the second installment of the Vallentyne Deck Build saga, things get a little dirty.\u00c2\u00a0 Finally, some real action.\u00c2\u00a0 Enough of the paperwork, let&#8217;s get Fifty Shades of Dust on this thing.<\/p>\n<p>Actually it&#8217;s nowhere near as dirty as that.\u00c2\u00a0 I should mention that the most important decision I made that improved the quality of the finished deck by 2000% was to hire a professional &#8211; Rob Ross from Ross Renos.\u00c2\u00a0 I take full credit for how good he is going to make everything look.\u00c2\u00a0 I&#8217;m so smart.<\/p>\n<p>So,\u00c2\u00a0despite my instinct to just grab a shovel and dig wildly, apparently there&#8217;s stuff that professionals do that are all &#8220;measurey&#8221; and &#8220;accurate&#8221;.\u00c2\u00a0 Sheesh.\u00c2\u00a0 There&#8217;s nothing spontaneous about load bearing structures apparently, or at least anything they do that is spontaneous is usually of the bad variety.\u00c2\u00a0 So Rob gently wrestled my shovel away and gave me the end of his measuring tape and we got to work.<\/p>\n<p>First, the auspicious beginning.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000451.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2805\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/12\/digging-a-hole\/wp_000045-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000451.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"3264,2448\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Nokia Lumia 900&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1341514623&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00420168067227&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"She&amp;#8217;s a fine deck!\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000451-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2805\" title=\"She's a fine deck!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000451-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000451-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000451-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000451-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Then, after much measuring and thinking, and a redesign on the fly of the stairs (huh, that was kind of spontaneous, I guess), we ended up with the world&#8217;s most boring croquet setup.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000461.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2806\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/12\/digging-a-hole\/wp_000046-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000461.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"3264,2448\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Nokia Lumia 900&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1341737800&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.004329004329&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Harvey pees on progress\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000461-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2806\" title=\"Harvey pees on progress\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000461-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000461-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000461-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_0000461-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Then, in a fit of responsible activity that is totally uncharacteristic of me, I went and hired ANOTHER professional to dig the holes that the City of Ottawa decided needed to be no less than 5 1\/2 feet deep.\u00c2\u00a0 That is a deep hole.\u00c2\u00a0 My pipe cleaner arms would probably not have been up to the task, so I&#8217;m grateful to Rob for hiding my shovel.<\/p>\n<p>The major equipment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000053.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2802\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/12\/digging-a-hole\/wp_000053\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000053.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"3264,2448\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Nokia Lumia 900&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1341777246&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00621118012422&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"The Machinery\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000053-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2802\" title=\"The Machinery\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000053-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000053-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000053-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000053-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not much of a hole, there operator.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/jeff-digging.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2803\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/12\/digging-a-hole\/jeff-digging\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/jeff-digging.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2592,1936\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPad&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1341754353&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.28&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;80&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00132275132275&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"The digging begins&amp;#8230;.\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/jeff-digging-1024x764.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2803\" title=\"The digging begins....\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/jeff-digging-1024x764.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"435\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/jeff-digging-1024x764.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/jeff-digging-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/jeff-digging-401x300.jpg 401w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Oh.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000051.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2804\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/12\/digging-a-hole\/wp_000051\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000051.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"3264,2448\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Nokia Lumia 900&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1341776168&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0166666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Serious earthworks\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000051-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2804\" title=\"Serious earthworks\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000051-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000051-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000051-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/WP_000051-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So, yeah, those are some frigging huge holes.\u00c2\u00a0 And notice the unbelievable neatness of the holes that no doubt would not have been the case even if I had been able to dig these suckers myself.\u00c2\u00a0 So also yeah, good job me, for getting off my wallet.<\/p>\n<p>Now, we need to get these suckers inspected, and the next step is footings, which sounds like a dance the kids do these days but is actually the thing that holds the deck up, so I&#8217;m told.\u00c2\u00a0 Sounds like a good place to start, doesn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n<p>What will happen in the next installment?\u00c2\u00a0 Will I continue to take credit for the work of others (probably)?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Will we be able to fill in the holes?\u00c2\u00a0 Stay tuned and find out, children!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/09\/vallentyne-deck-build\/\">Part 1 of the Saga<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the second installment of the Vallentyne Deck Build saga, things get a little dirty.\u00c2\u00a0 Finally, some real action.\u00c2\u00a0 Enough of the paperwork, let&#8217;s get Fifty Shades of Dust on this thing. Actually it&#8217;s nowhere near as dirty as that.\u00c2\u00a0 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/12\/digging-a-hole\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[355],"tags":[357],"class_list":["post-2797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-improvements","tag-harvey-is-always-peeing-on-progress"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piGNU-J7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2797"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2807,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797\/revisions\/2807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}