3R Home and Barn Project

[tommu56]

Rob
One of the trick is I found by accident I couldn't see my inexpensive laser level I gave up then I went out just before dark and tried it again it showed up great.

Tom

 

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

Just a note on the tree removal. After it's on it's side, I like to use the teeth of the bucket to get as much dirt out of the root ball as I can. Then I use the hoe to pull it out of the hole. I've never tried to use the FEL for this as the hoe does it so easily. Once it's out of the hole, I use the hoe to partially fill the hole again without ever moving the tractor.

Once you get the hang of using your backhoe to take out trees, you'll never use a chainsaw again!!!! Faster, easier and safer.

Eddie

 

[3RRL]

tommu,
I kept that spinning laser level for other jobs I might have. Guess what...a friend told me the colored glasses that came with the kit was to allow me to see the laser better!...
Hahaha, I never even put them on, but I'll try them next time. I like your tip about doing it when darker though.

Eddie,
Your method works great for me. But my hoe is not as strong as yours so I either had to chain the Oak and drag it out, or use the fel grapples like I did. BTW, were you able to view the videos?

About the grapples.
There are times I don't use them, but I always leave them on the bucket anyway. They don't interfere with digging or regular bucket use so why take them off. I have plenty of lift power as it is. The really neat part is when I do encounter a big boulder or log or brush to pop out, they are there ready to use. It is so handy to have them for those moments. Then of course there is real brush clearing and logs from tree trimming. That is a "must use grapple" situation and they are invaluable in the amount of work they do for those chores. I can't imagine how I would have moved all that shrub/trees/ logs/bushes/dead stuff as quickly and cleanly as I did with the grapples. It would have taken several times as long to do and a lot more manual labor and tedious raking etc.

 

[3RRL]

While we were there, we did more clean up of the surrounding brush and grass, which has turned brown now. It's like Spring jumped by and we are in full blown Summer now. The area needs to be cleared in a 100' radius around the building site so that means pulling the grass around all the rock outcroppings. Shees ... what a job!

While up there and moving some old shingles from when we built the power shed, we discovered a couple of these under them.



He is pretty cool looking so of course, Wes had to catch him. He is a lot bigger and robust compared to the smaller ones we typically see.



Wes told me that the bigger their pinchers, the less venomous they are. I did not care to find out though. But Wes handles them with care.

 

[3RRL]

Here's a little more about the clean up and the meeting with the GC as he inspected our work...

We had the meeting with the GC to inspect the work we did on the barn pad and homesite clearing. He got is (transit level) unit out to shoot the grade on the pad first and he laughed at my grade job. I was really worried but he had a grin from ear to ear because when he checked it for level, it was mostly within a 1/2" except one area that was water logged and it was low by 1-½". He said that was pretty good and would be fine for his work.

So then he asked me about compacting it and I told him I did just what he said ... lay down about 3", water and drive the tractor over every square inch. We started to place flags to mark the barn and he could not push the flag into the ground. "I guess it's compacted pretty good" he said with another grin on his face. He had to get "whisker markers" and pound them in with nails. That went pretty good and he was happy with what we had done.

Then he inspected the homesite and said it was good enough for his crew to work on and lots of space to put their tools.

 

[3RRL]

After he left, Loretta and I went back to work continuing to remove another Oak tree and also pruned/limbed about 10 more where they were in our view. This was really hard work in the heat. Lucky I had the grapples working for me.
Here are some photos of cutting and chaining the logs.

 

[3RRL]

Besides clearing the area right around the house, we also wanted to clean up the rock bluff. There were several smaller trees and lots of Buck brush growing on the far side. Here's the Kama plucking out a small Buckeye tree from a precarious position. Past that edge it drops off about 150 feet.



Here's a close up.

 

[3RRL]

A lot of work had been done up there and it's starting to look nice and neat now. You can see I'm kinda tired now, cleaning up my saws.



Here are a few more shots of the area with the limbs cut up on the trees and the ground cleaned up.
You should see my burn pile now! Shees!!!





At the end of the first day so we were dog tired but felt good about accomplishing a lot of work.
And our meeting with the builder went well too.

 

[3RRL]

Oh, and wasn't kidding about "working on the edge", trying to get those Oaks and Buck brush from behind the rock out cropping. Here's a shot of a trail I had to make so I could get decent footing without going over the edge. This one is from on top of the rock bluff.



This one is from below the trail.



And here is one from the side of the trail, looking towards the rock bluff. It's showing the view Huge Kama has.

 

[3RRL]

All this work just so the rock bluff would look "cleaner" Loretta said. Shees....
But it does look cleaner and is a little safer from a hap-hazard fire now too.
Here's a view from later that weekend when I was grading my road again. This is from about 150" below and about 900 feet away.



Looking better now, don't you think?