The building of Pea Palace(Pic Heavy)

[frenchblackcopper]

AugeredIn,,the hamster cage in has been gaining rpms on this project upgrade.What I will need to do first is completely unroll the tarp and stretch it out,make sure I have the 40' dimension as the width,,the 50' length should give me a 2' leeway that can be used to attach one end firmly to either the tops of the 4x4's,,or the top cable,,or the 2x4 welded wire sides,,I'm thinking I will need to make a wood "L" shaped bracket and attach these to the very top of the 4x4 posts,,this is where the tarp will sit when rolled up,,,and not used as a cover.
The tarp is supposed to have rings app. every 3' along it's edge.I'm going to the local Farm and Fleet store today to get ideas on PCV plastic pipe.but I know the larger diameter I use,the easier it will be to roll up.I plan to buy 45' of PCV,,and about 220' of rope.The rope will be cut into 2 equal lengths.I think if I lay the 2" PCV pipe out,use pipe cement and join the 10' pieces until I have one long tube 45' long,this will give me 5' of PCV that will hang over one edge.I plan to cap this end and use a homemade hand crank to roll the tarp up with.I hope to attach the PCV pipe to one end of the tarp by drilling a small hole in the pipe where every ring-grommet is along the tarp edge,,13-14 spots altogether.I will then use the self tapping roofing screws with a large enough washer on it to cover the ring-grommet completely.About 10' in on each side of the tarps edge,,I will attach a 110' long section of rope.this rope will be rolled up as the tarp is cranked back and not in use,,but when I want to unroll the tarp,and cover the birds,,I can grab each of these ropes and walk to pull the tarp into it's covering position,then go along and attach bungee cords thru the rings on the other two sides to keep it from flapping when we do get a slight breeze.This is my initial plan so far,,tarp is supposed to be here by Friday,,temps expected near 90 on Saturday,Sunday and Monday with no rain in the forecast.I'm going to a truck junkyard too and try to locate a tarp crank off a grain truck bed. I will do a picture file of this addition and upload as progress is made.Tarp and shipping was about $120,,,my time and ingenuity to make this work?? If only the Peas would be more supportive,,but I know all the cat calls I'll get while working on this project,especially above their heads no less!!

 

[AugeredIn]

I will be watching closely!

 

[angsaidso]

I use PVC for everything here! And if you use the compounds made for it, and glue it well, it works great for everything. I have even used it for fence posts where I couldn't drive them .... drive rebar first (48" stuff) and just dropped the PVC over the top, then attached the top rail for the netting using PVC joints, T's, etc ... They really do work great! Of course some of my yard looks like a giant plumbing nightmare! HA!

 

[frenchblackcopper]

AugeredIn,,get a glass of blackberry Merlot and start reading and laughing at me here.Okay,made a shopping trip today and virtually ruined my afternoon for accomplishing much on PP,,but it was a sucessful mission,to say the least. Got confirmation my 40x50 tarp will be here Friday,,so it looks like my weekend is in the tank now! Here is all that I came home with today.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Shopping list included 3 100' rolls of rope,each was about $5.50 a roll,,4 tubes of Liquid nails,,each was about $2.50,,40 plasric plares from Wal-mart,,$1 for 4,,about $10 total,,5 pieces of 1/12" -10' long PCV pipe,,each was $4.25,,various caps and PCV joiners,about $5,,PCV Cleaner and cement,about $5,,1 piece of 2" PCV 60" Long,,$2.50,,and the most valuable of all,,a tarp crank I located at my friends junkyard,you can see the handle in front of the yellow spools of rope,and then the rod that is about 5' long going towards the cab.,he wanted a 6 Pack but since it wasn't noon yet,,settled for $2 instead.And about 15 fender washers costing maybe $1.50 About $60 worth so far in necessary tarp tack!! First thing I done when I got home was to cement most of the PCV pipe together. I tried to keep the lines all straight on the pieces as I put them together as a straight line will be needed for drilling and attaching the tarp later.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Having done everything that was easy,,it seemed like a great time to tighten my overhead wires under the top netting.This is why to me it is sooo important to use hex head sheet metal screws,,,1 person can do this by themselves and the hex head screw will stay in the drill adapter socket freeing up your spare hand to pull,ect.Drywall screws strips the phillips head out over time,and it takes one set of fingers to hold the screw into place while your other hand operates the drill.I know after several times of removing and retightening drywall screws,the head would be stripped,,thats why all of my construction on this project was hex head sheet metal screws.It is relatively easy to pull the cable tight,then readjust and reposition your hex head screw to take up the slack I just pulled out of the cable.All my cable has a knot pulled in it,and thru the knot goes a hex head screw,,I either use the claw end of a hammer,or a short crow bar to pull the cable tight.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Another view of stretching and tightening.I first will pull all the slack I can out of the cable using the small crow bar before I loosen the screw,,I then will attach a pair of vise grips on the end of the cable under the knot,then take the screw out,,then pull down on the vise grips,then re-insert the screw so the cables tight again.If there is still slack,I get the small crow bar or hammer again,and pull on the cable again until it is tight,then take the screw out,move it down and screw it in again

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Now for the plastic Wal-Mart plates,,we've all heard "Do a dollip of Daisy"?

 

[frenchblackcopper]

The hamster cage was spinning fast on this pat-pending idea!! I don't know how good the Liquid Nails is,,but it is supposed to be stronger than a Billy Goat and adhere to anything,,if the plates comes loose I will need to cut some zip ties for some room for the drill,,and a hex head screw,or a hammer and short large headed nail to hold them down.Time will tell,but here's what I used them for.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

These are glued directly to the tops of the 4x4 posts.Seemed like everytime I looked up the top netting looked snagged on the top of the post.This at least will keep the net from getting a snag caused by a corner or wood splinter along the top of each post.I tried to center each plate and pushed down on them until the Liquid Nails squeezed out all 4 sides of the plate around the post.Yes,,I did make sure all those scanner tags was off the posts before applying the plates..