Grass seed and straw bales

The County requires disturbed areas to be seeded for stabilization 7 days after the end of grading activities.  Progress is slow on my end (for various reasons) getting financing and permits in place, so I had to do something.  Knowing that I'm going to have to maintain a big giant area of grass and knowing that trying to  mow bumpy lawn is a PITA, I rented a bulldozer and smoothed out the site as best I could.  This is the Case 650K I used.

After smoothing out the grade as much as possible, it was time to seed.  Laura and I used two broadcast spreaders to spread 450 lbs. of fescue grass seed.  I got a pretty good deal from John Speelman at Poolesville Hardware.  Here is Laura spreading grass seed with a broadcast spreader.  Laura is the little pink blurb on the right.  It only took a few hours.

Once the grass seed was down, the County requires straw on top.  I had absolutely no idea how much area straw would cover, so google it I did.  I came across estimates of 500 sq ft of coverage for a bale if blown on, 300 sq ft if shaken on by hand.  That came out to 175 bales needed for 2 acres of site.

Well, those estimates were WAY off.  We covered the site using an Agri Metal blower in the back of the truck using only about 60 bales.  And it was not weak coverage.  Maybe the bales we get are more dense than what the internet gets.  Oh well, live and learn.

I'll post pics when the grass starts to grow.

Poor man's surveying

It's been pretty interesting...with this engineer's compass and a 100' tape measure, I've been able to pretty accurately locate property corners, lines, and building corners.  And, yes, I'm adjusting for magnetic declination.

Shop building

A friend was asking what the new shop is going to look like.  Here is the cover page from the plans.  For reference, the height of the walls is 16' (that's FEET), allowing for a loft to be built in the middle.  The plan is to put the chevalet (possibly multiple) up in the loft area with some big tables and such.  I'll probably end up storing the veneer up there, too.  The big door in the end wall is a 10' x 10' door.  Ought to be big enough for a forklift to run stuff in and out if necessary.  The siding on the building will be fiber cement, plank on the bottom half and shingle on the top half.  The building is about 60' x 40'.  I hope it's enough space.

Tree protection fence, silt fence and site inspections

In the past couple weeks, the tree protection fence and silt fence have been put up, including in the areas where we are running the pressure sewer line.  The County and Town have passed the inspections, allowing us to start clearing trees.

The pressure sewer line is part of our subdivision requirements...we bought 14+ acres originally, subdivided into 4 lots (three 2 acre lots and one 8 acre lot...guess where we are building).  The three 2 acre lots are for sale if anybody is interested.  We had to run a sewer line to all the lots as a subdivision requirement.  We opted for a pressure sewer since a gravity sewer would have required a ridiculous amount of digging and road repair.  Geometry of the land would have necessitated going to a manhole far to the south in order to get the drop required.

 Here is a picture of our driveway entrance earlier this week.  That's the directional drill rig on the left, drilling south for the pressure sewer line.

Here is a picture of our driveway entrance as of yesterday.  The drill rig is now on the right, drilling north to connect to the sewer line already installed up there.  The excavator in the middle is going to start pulling stumps on Monday.  The orange fencing is tree protection fence.  It's supposed to keep machinery and work away from tree root zones on the other side.

And just for comparison, here is what the entrance looked like prior to our work.

Construction Entrance

A lot has happened in 5 days.  Here is how the entrance looked on June 28:

Here is how it looks today:

The stabilized construction entrance is in (thanks, Bartley!), and it's about ready for silt fence.  Still needs some root pruning.  God forbid we harm trees that WE own.

Tomorrow, trees start coming down

So trees start coming down tomorrow...finally!  I took some pre-tree removal pictures.  See below.  Hopefully in another week, I'll have something to compare against.

Here is a map for reference:

A couple from across the street, looking at the driveway entrance:

Point 1:

Point 2:

Point 3:

Point 4:

Point 5:

Point 6:

Point 7:

Point 8:

Point 9:

Point 10:

Point 11:

Never ending

The list of requirements for building a house is never ending.  I found out today that I need a green card.  When the inspector asked me if I had a green card, I told him I'm a US citizen.  Apparently, I need a different green card.  I have to take a class on erosion and sediment control since I'm the responsible person for the project.  It's free, at least, but one more thing to add to the S.T.D. list.

Just imagine, in some locations within the US, and not that far from where I'm sitting, all it takes is a sketch to get a building permit.  Why couldn't we have moved THERE?

Example of structural details

Here is an example of the structural details I've been working on.  This is just for the balcony off the back of the garage.  I specify the hardware required, as well as the quantity and type of fastener (ie, nails, bolts, screws).

Big day #1

Today is Big Day #1...the day we received three approved site permits.
1) Sediment Control/Stormwater Management (SC/SWM)
2) Right of Way for driveway
3) Right of Way for sewer line (for the subdivision)

Now we get to have a pre-construction meeting and then can start clearing land.  Woo hoo!

A reminder from Mother Nature

This morning it was 14 F outside.  It is chilly in the downstairs of the old house we rent, and quite warmer in the upstairs bedrooms.  Evidence of significant stack effect in this rental house.

I went and checked my PHPP analysis for the new house...I used 12 F as the minimum winter temperature to design heating for.

I consider this a reminder from Mother Nature as I look for cost cutting measures in the house we are going to build.  Her reminder: don't skimp on the insulation or the air sealing, no matter what anybody tells you.