My 6 Month Project - Fence, Driveway, Gate, Gravel - Time for a Corona
 

I'm just about finished with my 2019/20 project.

My driveway has been a sore subject for many, many years. A crumbling asphalt driveway with a fence that is falling down. My driveway is behind my house and very private so it hasn't been a huge deal on how it looks but I'm finally sick of it and gonna replace it.

Project #1: New fence between me an my crazy neighbor. My neighbor lives in Marin County which is about 2 hours north. They have been flipping this house for about 8 years and have basically done nothing. They come every month with a truck load of leaves and spread it over their yard and then add decomposed granite. After that, they bring about 10 cases of oranges and slice them and sprinkle them over the yard. They never talk to anyone but when they do, it's always advice on how to do things.

Bottom line, my fence is falling down and I want a new fence that is tall enough to keep them out of sight. I let the neighbors know I was going to build a fence (at my cost because it was going to be extra high quality). I showed them my design and they were ok with it. I had all the materials delivered and tore down the old fence. Two days later, the neighbors had a temporary fence built that was 6" off the property line and left me very little room to build my fence.

ORIGINAL DRIVEWAY WITH OLD FENCE ON RIGHT:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586027330.jpg

NEIGHBOR'S TEMPORARY FENCE: (right next to my posts???)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586027731.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586027755.jpg

MY FINISHED FENCE 6 TO 6.5' TALL. ALSO SURFACED OLD TOOL SHED WITH SAME MATERIALS AS FENCE:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586027801.jpg

ORIGINAL ASPHALT DRIVEWAY AND GATE:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586027848.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586027867.jpg

DRIVEWAY DUG UP:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586027912.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586027935.jpg

1ST, 2ND POUR & FINISHED DRIVEWAY:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586028191.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586028214.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586028233.jpg

ALLEY BEHIND HOUSE - GOT RUINED DURING DRIVEWAY PROJECT. DECIDED TO FRAME & FILL WITH GRAVEL:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586028301.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586028330.jpg

BLOCKWALL FENCE AT END OF DRIVEWAY:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586028368.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586028418.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586028444.jpg


Next will be an entrance gate. I'm going to make a steel frame with wood slats to match my fences.

Just a few more progress photos in no particular order:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586029399.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586029424.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586029440.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586029498.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586029522.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586029546.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1586029563.jpg

Man, really very nice. Your concrete bill must've been huge......

Was going to comment earlier but lost my internet connection.

Looks really nice.
Is the alley a 'public' thorough fair or semi-private?

Nice job. Came out great.

Thanks for sharing that, you have a beautiful home. Looks like you've worked hard and it paid off. Amazing..

That looks really nice. I like the gravel.

Nice job. What are the two vertical steel I-beams for?

Think those were the uprights to anchor the block wall at the end of the driveway.

Like it. No mowing!

Wow, huge project and end results are fantastic!

WTF is that about? Leaves, gravel, oranges?

Those are the posts for the gate. You can see then directly on the inside of the blockwall entrance.

One problem: I purchased a 12' gate from Home Depot a couple of years ago and it's been sitting in my garage. When we set the posts, we followed the directions to a T and the posts were set 153" center to center per the instructions. When I took the gate out of it's crate, it was 138" (11.5') vs the stated 144" (12ft'). I sent all documentation to Home Depot and they are giving me a bunch of crap since the return period has expired. However, they screwed up - not me. The receipt, owners manual, install instructions all quote 144". So now I'm working on a solution to replace the gate with one that I have built (and, working on getting a refund)

Hence the reason I wanted a tall fence - the neighbors are a bit crazy.

The alley is private and dead ends at my property line. It was initially my neighbors driveway back in the 40's but they added a driveway to the front and stopped using the alley. They built a brick wall at the end which prevents anyone from driving onto their property. Myself and two other neighbors share the alley.

Looks really nice! What are the steel curved pieces in the the stone area for?

I bet that cases of Limes are too expensive, so they bought oranges instead.

That is a product called Geo-Grid. It's flexible honeycomb plastic grid. It gets stretched out and tacked down. Once it is filled with gravel, it won't budge and keeps the gravel very stable. You literally cannot make a tire track thru the gravel and I should never have to rake or smooth it out. It's supposed to be able to support an 80,000 lb truck without leaving any grooves. Since I've finished the project, I've had pg&e trucks back there doing something and not a track left.

That area has been full of pot holes and always had water and mud, which tracked into my garage. The gravel is much cleaner. I went this route because I thought it would be cheaper but I think it was probably the same cost as if I had asphalt brought in. Regardless, I like the look and it's working well.

Someday I am going to knock down the brick bbq (no longer functioning) and rebuild to match the block wall with an outdoor fireplace on the other side, which is my patio.

Wow, as scary as that is, I can see someone thinking that lime is limes, and therefore Oranges are the next best thing.