Make a Screen for Your AC Unit

I am so proud of myself! This is my first start to finish project that I have made all by myself.

I came up with the design by myself, cut all the wood, and did almost all of the labor by myself. I had to call the big guns in to do some of the hammering! It was a whim of a project last Saturday. We had a bunch of wood that my husband was going to cut up for firewood and I was sick of staring at the big hunk of metal that is our AC unit. It threw off the look of the garden and I really wanted to hide it.

First I measured how tall I wanted it to be and cut three boards that length to be my upright posts. Then I measured how wide I wanted the front to be and started cutting A LOT of boards that length. I planned it so there was a good foot between my screen and the AC until because I didn’t want to cut down on the efficiency. I also only did two sides to mine so that there could still be a lot of air flow. Essentially I made an “L” shape.

Next I built the front. I placed my two upright posts and then laid the top and bottom piece over them. I left an inch and half overhang so when I nailed my other side in the corner it would be flush.

After getting the top and bottom piece nailed in, I cut more boards and spaced them evenly between the top and bottom. I didn’t hammer any of these in until I got all the boards in the right place and made sure the spacing would work out. Then I hammered them in.

 

The next side was where I needed to bring the big guns in. I had to hammer at a more awkward angle so the nails needed to go in faster and quicker so I had my hubs help me. I also got distracted and forgot to take picture of these steps – sorry! Essentially I hammered the the 2×4’s in the space I had left for them on the front. Then I laid it on its side and we hammered the last upright piece in to all those loose ends.

The last step was to attach this awesome hose holder I found at our local thrift store for $1  to the side of the wood. I’ve been waiting for my hubs to attach it to the stucco and I am much happier having it on the wood than the actual house.

It’s a much nicer view from the kitchen table!

Only a couple more projects to get to in the yard (at least that’s what I tell myself!) Even though everyone says you can plant on April 15th here in So. Utah I always wait until the last weekend because of the all the Spring winds we get. I got impatient and planted on Monday and we have had nothing but whipping winds since. Grrr! We are almost done with the landscaping and I could not be happier! It been 5 loooong years!

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