Handyman in Sonoma, CA

Outdoor living is the main event

The valley gets long dry summers and mild shoulder seasons, so outdoor space here is used for most of the year rather than a few weeks of it. That changes what it is worth building.

Seating built into a terrace rather than set down on it, planters sized to the run they occupy, shade structures and arbors, screening placed where the sightline actually falls instead of walling off a whole boundary. See outdoor projects.

Gates and arbors do the framing

On valley properties the entry is doing real work visually, and a stock gate hung in a non-standard opening undoes it immediately — the tapering gap down the latch edge is the first thing anyone sees.

Building to the opening, bracing so the leaf carries its own weight, and hanging on hardware sized for the actual gate is what keeps it swinging true. A heavy timber arbor over it is notched so the crossmembers sit into the posts rather than just on them. See gates and arbors.

Older in-town homes

Closer to the Plaza the stock is old and has settled, which brings the familiar list — doors that no longer latch, trim that has pulled away, steps that have moved. Repair work, and worth catching before the timber that has stayed damp turns into something larger.