Installing Bamboo Barrier

2006.07.08

This morning I continued working on the back section of the trench.  As with the front, the middle part was closer to the right depth, so that saved some time.  I think that I now have the whole trench down to an acceptable depth.  I may have to dig out some high spots here and there, along with debris that has fallen back down in the hole, but all-in-all, should be ready to go.  I cut off the excess of the HDPE barrier material, leaving enough for a short overlap.  I used some duct tape to temporarily hold the two ends together.

2006.07.09

Today I worked on attaching the two ends of the HDPE bamboo barrier with the metal strips they provided.  I used a clamp to hold one of the metal strips onto the two overlapped ends of the barrier, and drilled a pilot hole for the top-most bolt and nut.

I removed the clamp, added the other metal strip on the outside of the overlap, and threaded the bolt and nut together.  Next, I did the same for the bottom, but this turned out to be more of a hassle.  I pulled the barrier assembly up out of the trench, almost to a horizontal position, in order to get a better angle on feeding the bolt through.  I couldn’t seem to get it all to align in one shot, so I loosened the top bolt enough to slide one metal strip and end out of the way.  Then I fed the bolt through one metal strip and barrier end, and then brought the other two over and continued through.

After I had the top and bottom bolts through, then I continued drilling pilot holes and threading nuts and bolts for the rest of the holes.  This process became more awkward as I worked my way down from the top.  (I had placed the barrier back down in the hole in a vertical position, but trying to do it horizontally wouldn’t have been much better.)

This process didn’t take too long, which was a good thing, because by 9:30 it was already hot out there in the sun.  I hand tightened the bolts and nuts as I went along, then came back through and tightened them with a couple wrenches.

So there it is, the completed barrier loop.  I think that I will try to shift the connection point around to the back side, where it will be less visible, and also perhaps not as likely to face direct pressure from the bamboo rhizomes.  For what it’s worth, I also oriented the overlaps so that the inside gap will face away from the most likely direction the rhizomes will be coming from.

Next step is to fill the hole back in, packing down the soil as much as possible.