Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

   / Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days #1,651  
That is good looking lawn prep work. Actually, it's beautiful.
For future note, till with the rear flap all the way down and till very slow. I bury acres and acres of rocks every year with zero issues and none, or few popping up. I would think too fast of a ground speed would lift the rocks. I use 1.0 or 1.1 mph at 540 pto and it works great.
But who cares...your job came out great.
 
   / Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days #1,652  
Lawn looks really good! How did you pick up all the rocks? Just rake them into a pile and load by hand, or did you do something else? Did you have any issues with roots tilling near the trees?
 
   / Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days
  • Thread Starter
#1,653  
Thanks!

I'm tilling using 540E pto speed (engine at 1700 rpm), and I'm in first gear. Speedometer indicates I'm traveling at 0.9 mph, so that as slow as I can go while maintaining 540 rpm. My rear flap is not fixed in a given position, it is free to float as I do not have the rod that allows you to set the height. If I locked it into a low position, don't you think I would bang it up when a rock tries to escape?
 
   / Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days #1,654  
Great lawn Peter, I love the look of the house and lawn when your back was to the woods. Keep up the good work.
 
   / Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days
  • Thread Starter
#1,655  
Lawn looks really good! How did you pick up all the rocks? Just rake them into a pile and load by hand, or did you do something else? Did you have any issues with roots tilling near the trees?
After the first pass with the tiller, I used the rake to drag what was brought to the surface (and what was already there) down to the lower end. After 4 or 5 "drags", and would then pull what was collected into the corner. Then I would do the next 4 or 5 "drags" and repeat. After that, with 2 more passes with the tiller, I would drive the lawnmower with the card attached, in straight lines and stop every 50 feet or some, and pick up all rocks and sticks by hand. I probably filled up the cart 6 times with this method. I then did a final pass with the tiller, manually picked up everything again (went much quicker this time), and then did a final rake from top to bottom in straight lines. Tomorrow morning, I'll do one more round of manually picking debris, and make a final pass in a couple of spots that are not quite even yet.

I picked up a 24" x 48" lawn roller from tsc this morning that I filled with water. It weigh about 930 lbs. Once I get the seed and fertilizer down, I plan to make passes with it from top to bottom much like I did with the rake, and then straw everything. The straw blower has still not shown up, so I might be spreading those 50 bales by hand.
 
   / Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days #1,656  
The straw blower has still not shown up, so I might be spreading those 50 bales by hand.


Hopefully you have a PTO driven broadcast spreader for the lime, fertilizer, and seed.

The trough kind that are pulled behind a lawn tractor and are wheel driven are no good in my opinion since they take way too long and leave too much product in the spots where you turn.
If you spread all that straw by hand you'll need another week off to recover. Better get Stu to motor down tonight so he can help you all day tomorrow.:rolleyes:

Sorry Stu, Just had to volunteer you.:D
Ron
 
   / Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days #1,657  
mjncad,
Home inspector certification in Virginia was developed in 2001 and enacted in 2003.
State Home Inspector Regulatory Legislation | ASHI, American Society of Home Inspectors
Care must be exercised, in any case. A $300,000 + home is a big investment.

Ron

As much as I dislike Gummint intrusion, I think home inspectors should be licensed in Colorado. I've had a couple of home sales go south due to incompetent inspectors and uninformed buyers. I'm protected from a bad haircut that will grow out in a couple of weeks; but not from some boob who can screw up a home deal in nothing flat.
 
   / Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days #1,658  
I see switches and outlets are still not installed ?? When are the electricians coming back???
 
   / Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days #1,659  
I see switches and outlets are still not installed ?? When are the electricians coming back???

I would hope they wait till after the plasterboard is patched, sanded, and painted the final time. Light fixtures, sockets, and tile joints covered with PB mud dust and paint on the mounting screw
tabs of plugs and switches wastes a lot of time removing and looks like a shoddy job if they don't. All the do over work is going to require a lot of time for someone to clean the house with more than just a shop vac before move in day. Hopefully the contractor has somebody on staff that will do a top to bottom cleaning before the house is turned over for move in.

The homeowner or hired help is usually left with removing those pesky stickers from the windows and cleaning them inside and out but with all the fascia redo, concrete stain that will now probably have to be painted over, possible siding and sliding door removal and other things on the list near the home, even cleaning the windows ahead of those items is a waste of time.
 
   / Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days #1,660  
t2.jpgt1.jpgt3.jpg

I know I'm late with posting these pictures but did not know if the buckling aluminum fascia was resolved. These pictures are from my 9 year old house so please excuse that they need cleaning. I took the photos from the ground looking up. My installer never face nailed the fascia. He bent the aluminum on a 12' long brake, then slipped the fascia up under a lip near the roof shingles. On the short part of the bend he drilled holes to attach the fascia to the soffit using white aluminum rivets. It made for a very clean install (pardon the pun cause it's dirty now) and I don't have any buckling of any panels. Hopefully the pictures will make it more clear then my explanation. Stanley
 
 
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