PROJECT UPDATE!!Today was an absolutely gorgeous (pre-)autumn day in Little Rock after the (well needed) rain yesterday and the previous month or so of 90+ temps, ever since I brought THE BEAST home -- so I took the opportunity to see what I could do about finding the cabinet a more 'permanent' place to live.
Made a quick trip to HomeDepot to peruse their selection of concrete anchors, and bought some that seemed like they should work, along with a brand-new 1/2" masonry bit.
First order of business was to get the concrete pad outta the yard, and drag it up on the patio by the back steps where I'd decided I wanted to put it. Happily, that wasn't a terribly difficult task for me (by myself) with the help of a 2-wheel dolly...it actually only had to move about 20' from one side of the porch to the other, but there
was the matter of a couple of steps in the way.
Again happily, I didn't manage to
break the stupid thing in process.
Then I measured it and marked where the holes for the anchors should go. The nice fresh masonry bit drilled the four holes
surprisingly easily. (no hammer-drill needed, at all!) I had been somewhat worried that I might crack the pad by drilling so relatively close to its corners, but no problem with that either. :phew:
Moving the cabinet onto the pad was (accidentally) a snap, since Sean had also given me a set of casters with it, attached to a wood strip under each side. I discovered that all I needed to do was roll the cabinet (back) up against the front of the pad (where the wheels just happened to be nearly the same exact height as the thickness of the pad
) and unbolt the rear of each set of wheels, swinging them out of the way while sliding the cabinet onto the pad, then removing the wheels altogether and sliding it the rest of the way into place.
PIECE OF CAKE!! Even better -- I found that I had, in fact, measured correctly, and all four holes ended up exactly where they needed to be!
Then, all that was left to do was to (carefully) pound in each anchor, and bolt the sucker down!
So...I guess I now officially have
the BEAST by the back porch!! 
There remains, of course, the matter of how to get the wiring in and out of there...I'm still working on that one. And tomorrow I'll loosen it again, to squeeze some sealant under the edges and keep the water out -- didn't do that today since I'd hosed off the concrete first, and it remained damp.
that's incidentally another reason why I decided I like the cabinet in that spot -- its out of view from the street, AND will be mostly in the shade 75% of the time!   |
One final bit of good news to report. (or at least I'm gonna take it as good news?!!) When I'd picked up the tools etc and was standing back admiring my work, I called my next-door neighbor (who had been out working in his yard the whole time) over for a quick game of 'Guess What
This Is!'. Not only was he quick to the correct answer, but when I mentioned the "future possibility" that a traffic signal (or three?) could eventually materialize in the backyard
as well -- his first response was: "Bring it!!"
