Recent Pictures

water line installation

Ditch Witch

raking it smooth before the next truckload comes

quick water break

neighbor's log cabin

outline of excavation area

view from in front of my neighbor's house

across the way (my yard is at the upper left)

view from down in the field

view of the neighbor's log cabin from my future front porch

Utilities and Driveway

After my last post, the electric company engineer asked me to cut an additional tree and have gravel on my driveway so that their trucks could make it up my hill safely. So I finished cutting down the required trees and cleared them out of the cow pasture. One of the tree branches contained a bee hive, so dealing with that was a little tricky. My dad and I also cut down three large invasive Ailanthus trees and cut up one that fell in my yard.

Last Friday I rented a Ditch Witch (walk-behind trencher) to dig the water line trench from the road up to my yard. I ran it down the middle of my driveway and then my dad and I installed a 1" PVC water line and put in a "yard hydrant" at the back of my yard. I returned the trencher on Monday and then spent parts of the next three days filling in the trench.

Yesterday my dad and I got the relative elevations of each corner of my house and then I dug out a strip of sod around the perimeter to mark the extents of excavation. We'll string up the exact location of the house after the excavation is done.

This morning the gravel trucks came and put down two truck loads of 2" gravel and then two more loads of smaller "crusher run" gravel. I raked (feverishly!) and smoothed the gravel as well as I could between loads, but there are still some spots that need work.

I called the electric company to tell them everything is ready, so hopefully they'll install the power lines in the next couple of days.

It's been a workout of a morning, so now I'm relaxing. It's exciting to see things beginning to progress more quickly now. By this time next week I hope to be working on the house foundation! I'll try and take some pictures to show the progress. 'Til then!

Building Permit and Utilities

I finally got my building permit on Monday, so now the ball is back in my court. I finally finished grading my driveway last week. And lately I've been working to get my utilities put in. My water meter was installed last Friday at the end of my driveway. Yesterday my dad and I started clearing a 30-foot wide path through the trees for a new power line up to my house, which involved hacking our way through 6-foot high brambles and brush and then cutting down about six hardwood trees. We cut down four yesterday, so we've got two left. I really hated to see them go, but it had to be done, and now I'll have plenty of quality firewood. Three of the trees fell into the pasture, so we'll have to get those cut up and moved back into the tree line. Also, the environmental/conservation people came out yesterday to test my soil for my septic tank, so that's out of the way. By the way, utilities are pricey!
Water meter = $600
Septic soil test = $500
And there's more to come. Fortunately the electric line won't cost anything to get it up near my yard.

Today I plan to finish clearing the trees for the electric line. When that's done, I'll call the electric department to come out and put in their poles and lines. Then I'll need to install a temporary power pole. I'll also need to rent a trenching machine to put in a water line along my driveway. After that, I'll finalize laying out the site for my foundation and get started on excavation.

There's a lot to do, so I'd better get busy!

Final House Plans

I've finally finished the construction drawings ("blueprints") and plan to get them printed out on Monday and submit them to the codes department to get a building permit.  I can't believe it has taken me this long to get them done, but the drawings are very thorough and I have a good grasp of what I'm doing now.  Here are the basic drawings without all the extra notes and labels, plus some views of the exterior and interior.

(Note:  I realize the house looks a little out of proportion now, but hopefully by next fall (2012) I'll be able to add the full wrap-around porch to the two ends and the south side.  That should make it look a lot better!  The cookstove will also have to wait until next year.)

view of the northwest side

view of the southwest side

looking toward front door (west)

looking toward back door (east)

in the storage loft looking east

ground floor plan

storage loft plan

west and east elevations

south elevation

north elevation

section (looking north)

sections (looking west and east)

A Stroll Around the Homestead

My mom and I took a stroll around their land where my homestead will be.  Just wanted to share a few pictures I took along the way.  It was such a beautiful spring day!

view from my great uncle's barn across the way

wild turkeys in my yard

the yard and the view

the adjacent property behind mine where geese love to hang out

the pond

the pond

the shed and the field beyond

the pond and the shed

Driveway Update and Pricing Constraints

A lot has happened since my last post, but while it was happening none of it seemed particularly noteworthy.  But I seem to be way past due for an update.  It's Spring, the dogwoods are starting to bloom (in addition to all the myriad of other beautiful trees, shrubs, and flowers) and things are really starting to turn green around here.  It's a great feeling to be out in the country (even if I am technically in the city limits).

Since the last post in late January I spent about three weeks digging tree stumps out of my driveway, and then another three or four weeks re-grading the 440-foot driveway -- all by hand.  The reasons for doing it by hand instead of getting a bulldozer in there are because I'm not really fond of machinery (especially big, destructive, noisy, polluting ones), plus I wanted to save money, get some exercise, and do a good, thorough job.  I still have some final touches to do on the re-grading, but it's just about done.

I've also gotten well into pricing out the cost of the house and have discovered that I'll have to cut back on the house, both in size and scope.  Since my last posted picture, I've shortened the house in both height and length, eliminated some windows and taken out the spiral staircase.  The new design will be a 12' x 32' footprint and 1-1/2 stories (instead of two).  I still plan to have a wrap-around porch and the wood cookstove, but they will have to wait until I go back to work and save up some more money.  So basically, I'll just have a basic, no-frills rectangle house for now.  At least that's the plan, assuming there are no more pricing surprises.  I'm hoping to finish up the pricing this week and then finish up the plans the next week.  Maybe I'll have a building permit in 3 or 4 weeks!  It's about time, isn't it?!

Farmhouse Drawing and Site Photos

Progress on the home front has been going much more slowly lately due to the unpredictable weather and church and dating activities.  I've been cleaning up the limbs from the tree-cutting operation, cutting down dozens of 'weed trees', and yesterday I started digging out some stumps from the driveway.  My dad and I also put in some cedar logs along the sides of the culvert at the road to keep the gravel from washing into the ditch.  I've also been doing some research on metal roofing, spiral staircases, and building code requirements.  The plans are still in progress, but I've got the major design changes worked out.  Yesterday (while it was sunny!) I took some pictures of the site, including the new fencing and the driveway.  I've also included my latest SketchUp drawing to give you an idea of the new look of the house (above).  Enjoy!