I decided to go for a subtle two-tone look with the golden
pecan on the main part of the gate and the natural on the trim. Here is the unstained gate (except for the arbor).
With the golden pecan.
With the decorative pickets.
With the trim stained natural and the right-most section and the arbor clear coated.
Here is the back side--almost as pretty. The wood is rough on the back, so it sucked up more of the stain.
Of course, the old, crappy, chain-link gate still needs to come out. Digging out the concrete is not going to be fun. A friend suggested I try a car jack. Anyone ever try that? Any luck?
A few more details--finish clear coating, handles, pin in the ground, etc. and it will be done. Yeah!
I would avoid trying to break the concrete -- way too difficult without a demo hammer. Even then it might be hard. (Is the whole thing concrete or just the chain link posts anchored in concrete). If its just the posts, its easiest to dig around the whole post and pull the entire concrete "stump" out. If you have an entire slab to destroy, I'd use a demo hammer (preferred) or jack hammer. The demo hammer is cheap to rent and easy to use.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice! It's just the posts anchored in concrete. I was planning to soak the ground and then try to dig them out. But then a friend recommended the car jack thing. I guess you chain the post to the car jack and start cranking. I think I'll try digging first.
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