The job entailed 22 post holes dug in Arizona Caliche, 142 pickets, 9 lbs. of nails, several sore muscles, numerous aching joints and a whole lot more, all stepped down a gradual slope just to keep it challenging and interesting. Oh, to be 50 again!
After I was done Martha began the job of weatherproofing all the new wood. Lookin' good!
Pools require a self closing gate at least 5 feet high that must swing out from the pool. I built this one out of Redwood which is cheap and plentiful here in Arizona. In the Northeast Redwood was expensive and hard to come by; here in Arizona I think I'll be doing a lot with this beautiful wood.
For the front of the gate I was lucky to find these huge antique iron strap hinges on eBay. This was an amazing find; sometimes I've looked for weeks and weeks for an item like this and never found it. This is sooo much nicer than new hardware from The Home Depot. The gate already looks like it's 100 years old.
Another item I had to install was a door alarm, but why do these things have to be a screeching 120 db? While putting this on the pool doors and testing it I put ear plugs in, but our dog, Charlie, was so mortified by the sound that she asked to go outside and wouldn't come in for hours. The inspector is now gone-no children in the house-door alarm disabled-end of story.