Ozco Builders Blog - Page 3 of 7 - OZCO Building Products

26FebFebruary 26, 2018

Tired of digging posts? Drive them in using OZ-Post.

I install the Oz-Posts with an electric jackhammer and an adapter that fits inside the Oz-Post. “The posts for this sign were installed using a post anchor system called OZ-Posts, which are galvanized steel post anchors that you drive into the ground—without digging a hole. They are 3-ft. long and taper to a point, and are available at many building materials stores. You drive them in with an electric jackhammer using a special fitting on it. Then you insert a post into the OZ-Post and screw or bolt through it to secure the post. They come in 4×4, 6×6, 8×8...

23FebFebruary 23, 2018

Arbors over Gates Turn Backyards into Hidden Sanctuaries

Arbors over gates separate your home sanctuary from the busy modern world. When I was in the Marines, a crimson signpost of two upright columns topped with a crossbar was a frequent sight. Usually, the unit’s sign and the names of its officers and senior non-commissioned officers swung from chains below the crossbar. It wasn’t until I was stationed in Okinawa that I learned where this came from. It’s called a torii, and it’s a type of gate used to mark the entrance to Shinto shrines in Japan. The military had taken a liking to the look of these and...

16FebFebruary 16, 2018

Garden Arbors with Trellises Provide Shade, Privacy, and a Focal Point

Garden arbors with trellises can define areas in a yard as well as provide privacy. One of the best features a house can have is a stately old tree in the yard. Trees provide shade for a home, but more importantly, they shade the yard on a hot summer day and make it a joy to be outside. However, many of my friends have seen their stately old oaks, maples, and other trees get struck by lightning, contract diseases from unhygienic tree cutters, or just expire from any number of the factors that affect centenarians. My friends, of course, plant new...

09FebFebruary 9, 2018

Backyard Grape Arbors for the Home Winemaker or Gardener

A pergola or arbor supports vines and provides shade and interest in a yard, making it both beautiful and functional. Back in my early twenties, I bought a younger friend of mine a home brewing kit for his twenty-first birthday, little knowing what I was unleashing. The beer from that first batch was terrible. The next twenty batches were bad, but uniquely bad each time. The twenty-first batch was acceptable as a near substitute for beer, but by then my friend was in college and had moved on to spirits and took up distilling. I hadn’t realized before this that...

02FebFebruary 2, 2018

DIY Outdoor Doghouse: Building a Rustic Retreat for Rover

Adding a window and grate to your outdoor doghouse can encourage more airflow, which is perfect for warm climates and breeds that tend to overheat. The best thing about having friends that are as close as family is that you get to share in their most embarrassing moments. One of my favorite of these memories has to do with a doghouse that my friend’s father built for a beloved old mutt named Taco. Inspired by a surfeit of concrete left over from creating a patio and some concrete casting techniques from a survivalist magazine, my friend’s father decided to cast...

26JanJanuary 26, 2018

Screws, Nuts, and Bolts That Won’t Rust Are Easy to Use and Remove

Powder-coated fasteners stay rust-free, making them attractive and easy to remove, if necessary. I grew up in one of the most hurricane-prone states. What that means is that I consider storms that are Category 3 and below to be the prime sleeping-in weather. They’re the Florida equivalent of a snow day. Living in this state has also created in me a deep appreciation for quality fasteners. The reason is the 2004 hurricane season, where four hurricanes struck Florida in the span of six weeks. Even the sturdiest structures sustained damage. I spent eighteen months after the storms doing demolition and repair...

19JanJanuary 19, 2018

Bolts with Sleeves Don’t Require Cutting Bolt Ends

Bolts with sleeves create a cleaner, ornamental look when joining two timbers. I’ve built many boardwalks, decks, arbors, pergolas, and pavilions over the years. Usually, they’re made from four-by-four posts with beams made from two two-by-sixes held on by bolts and nuts sandwiching the boards to the post. The bolts are usually bought in bulk, and are extra long so they’ll be able to reach through any number of boards. This leaves an unsightly three or four inches of threads clearly visible beyond the face of the board. If the bolt is any lower than about seven feet above ground,...

11JanJanuary 11, 2018

How to Determine Pergola Rafter Spacing

Careful pergola rafter spacing along with attractive hardware will make your pergola a thing of beauty. I spent a happy eight months working as part of a carpentry crew at the Canaveral National Seashore in Florida. The seashore is a wildlife preserve, and to protect the unique ecosystem of the dunes, we were charged with building boardwalks, viewing platforms, and other elevated areas to keep visitors from treading the delicate flora of the dunes beneath their sandal-clad feet. Sometimes we would build pergolas on the existing deck surface of these platforms. The park service had a tendency to order too...

09JanJanuary 9, 2018

International Builders’ Show (IBS) 2018

Team OZCO Come by The International Builders’ Show (IBS) 2018 Booth W7355 Meet the OZCO Team: Ian Hill, Tony Radilla, Jesse Gomez, Jerry Trehan and JR Craven. Stick around take some time to see many of the 2018 products like the Rafter Seam, OWT-Lite, Post Band and Cool Accessories up close! Oh and don’t forget to pick up your copy of the 2018 OZCO Catalog packed full of all the new products including new product levels like the 2 packs of rafter clips and 4 packs of the Hex Cap Nuts.OZCO Building Products is known for disruptive innovations and product...

05JanJanuary 5, 2018

Updating a Ranch Style House Exterior with a Front Yard Pergola

Updating a ranch style house exterior with a front yard pergola gives the home an entirely new aspect. Ranch style houses are the homes of the American Dream. Also known as ramblers and California ranchers, these are houses that were developed in the 1920s, built during the 1950s and into the 1980s, and, because familiarity breeds contempt, abandoned in the 1990s for a variety of revival homes that have collectively and contemptuously become known as McMansions. But the humble rancher endures, and was actually the first home designed for the modern lifestyle. They’ve been built and refined for over a century,...