We were very excited to arrive back from our trip to Canada to see our new "porton."
We decided that a gate will offer a small level of security from human intrusion and a strong level of security from the roving band of neighborhood cows. We are very pleased with the aesthetic result and it is yet to be tested for bovine resistance. The columns nicely frame the view up to the house and complement the landscaping along the driveway.
a year and a half ago, Lilo planted lines of a lovely flowering bush along the edge of the driveway. The plant has small dark green leaves and a multi-petaled deep orange flower. I've seen mature hedges of this plant at other homes and it is very attractive.
M found the design of the gate online. He did hours of research at various landscape design websites and found this one. Though the version that he found was for a tall, narrow, vertical "people" gate. He showed the photo to Roy (our neighbor/contractor) and Hemar, a local welder. With the great ingenuity and work, they created the metal gate from "scratch."
The construction took about a week. They started by hand digging the 4 footings (2 at the driveway and 2 at the "middle trail") down to a depth of a meter.
Next step was building the concrete forms and shaping the rebar for the reinforced concrete. They used the garage as their workshop keeping the area clean and tidy at the end of each day. Next was the concrete mixing for the 4 footings, 2 concrete columns for the driveway gate and concrete fill for the 2 steel girder columns for the middle trail gate. It seemed like a lot of cement to me, yet for Roy, this was a minor job that didn't require a cement mixing machine. Roy opted for the practicality of mixing the cement on the driveway. It is labor intensive but Roy is not afraid of hard work.
When we left on our trip, they were just starting with the concrete footings. Roy is a great contractor and while we were away, he sent us WhatsApp messages with photos. We had full confidence that on our return, we would be pleased with the outcome. The gates offer an attractive first impression to our property. Instead of traditional fences, M (and Lilo) are creating a natural vegetation fence. When M first purchased the property and had it graded for the house construction, he directed Lilo to shore up some of the steep, bare earth areas that were subject to erosion with vetiver.
Vetiver provides a bushy green hedge that is great for providing nutrients and stability to the soil. Along with a boundary of young bamboo, along the property line, it will keep any large intruders like cows or vehicles out of the immediate vicinity of the house. It won't keep Salty in. He loves to wiggle through the long stalks of vetiver, as do the hens.
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