Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[tractchores]

Lol, I took pictures last night, but then I stayed and had a few drinks with the family that had arrived from Denmark, and then I forgot to take the camera home with me when I left. :laughing:

Mom went to use the washer for the first time today, but it made a loud noise and water went all over the floor and into the basement. Not sure what the issue is. Perhaps some transport screws or something needs to be removed before first use?!? Will have to look at it tonight. My wife called me also and told that our washer (less than 5 years old) was smoking during the spin cycle and smelling like burned rubber. When it rains it pours...

Stump grinder is great! Did about 50 stumps the other day. That is one of the few PTO implements that I have that will drain my PTO power and make me wish I had gotten a more powerful one. It only grinds on one direction, you then sweep back across the stump, lower the grinding wheel a few inches, and then go at it again.

Here's a video from when I was first learning to use it. I have gotten a lot better at it now with over 500 stumps under my belt.

Stumpgrind.mp4 - YouTube

You may still have the shipping pins / bolts in your washer. The front opening washers usually have 3 - 5 pins in them to hold the drum steady during shipping and have to be removed before first use. Not sure if that would cause water to spill out unless only 1 was left in and it ripped a hole in something...

That stump grinder looks great! A lot easier than doing it by hand, wish I had one.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Stump grinder is great! Did about 50 stumps the other day. That is one of the few PTO implements that I have that will drain my PTO power and make me wish I had gotten a more powerful one. It only grinds on one direction, you then sweep back across the stump, lower the grinding wheel a few inches, and then go at it again.

Here's a video from when I was first learning to use it. I have gotten a lot better at it now with over 500 stumps under my belt.

Stumpgrind.mp4 - YouTube

Holy cow that is impressive in both what the SG can do and how you took the video. Does the SG-100 articulate from front to back also? It appears to have that capability from why I can see of the hydraulics. My tree dude has a tow behind grinder with a 3 cylinder diesel engine. When he was grinding my massive oak tree stump, that sucker was shaking his 3/4 ton dodge around like a rag doll. That was an impressive unit because all he had to do was get it close to the stump and then use the hydro control panel to move stuff around and tear it up.
-Stu

 

[mkane09]

There is nothing like the right toy...uh, tool...for the job. Awesome!

mkane09

 

[pclausen]

So the first issue with the washer was that the shipping bolts had not been removed as suggested. There were 4. This basically kept the suspension from working at all, which caused it to shake violently during the spin cycle. The rubber on the bolts was pretty chewed up. There is even a sticker on the back of the washer clearly stating that the bolts must be removed before use. I guess nobody bothered to read that.

The more serious issue is that there is a leak in the drain pipe in the wall. It would appear that one of the carpenters shot a nail through it when installing the baseboard. So now the wall need to come back out down to the floor level to fix.

Anyway, here are some new pictures finally!

Driveway done

Stonework at the front mostly done (still missing slate caps)

Rake fascia finally redone

Here's a shot of the deck railing after painting

Kitchen. Red arrow is the corner that needs to be made into a 45 to allow the fridge door to open all the way

Few more kitchen shots

Living room

All the spare furniture (thankfully a lot of the large items were sold at auction, or the basement would have been completely full)

Log pile that keeps growing when it is dry enough to work. Mom is going to pick up the dogs tomorrow and put them on dog runs out back until the fence is up.

Internet connection attempt today was a fail. Not strong enough signal with the trees. So plan B is going with the dry loop from Verizon to my house.

DirecTV is scheduled for Thursday, hopefully that will fare better!

 

[Pixguy]

Is this the first washer these guys have installed? Geesh
Looks like you've had to break open the hooch to forget some of the problems.

Looks great, I hope your mom enjoys the new place.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Peter:

Great job on the electronics as I expected. It looks like you installed alll of the speakers perfectly. I know that Stanley had some issues with the deck railing, but it looks fine to me.

Stanley, what say ye, sir?
-Stu

 

[dave1949]

Peter;

Thanks for the stump grinder video, I see how it works with the swinging action now.

I am just beginning a 15-18 acre woods-to-pasture project this summer. Next year will be the year for stumps probably. Been considering my options and definitely not looking to throw a bunch of money at it. I doubt I have the right tractor power (37 PTO hp) and hydraulics for the grinder that would really do it well.

I will probably end up chainsaw cutting as close to the ground as I can what I can't dig out with NH backhoe attachment. I figure once I can travel through it with a bush hog, I can control the root sprouts and seedlings while I work on it over the next several years. There aren't a lot of big trees in the area, and about 3-4 acres are already clear.

For now, I am taking out the gamillion trees that are crowding the ~ 1/4 mile logging access road and stacking them ready for the chipper. I will need to eventually get 53' chip trailers through the road--and keep the mirrors on the cabs. :laughing: Once I get those trees out of the way, I can get some stone hauled in to fix the soft spots.

 

[dave1949]

The house is shaping up. The fascia trim looks much better. Sorry about the shipping bolts and nail through the drain pipe--you'd think they could miss that.

Anyways, getting your Mom moved in is a big hurdle behind you now thank goodness. Your life should be getting less complicated soon.

 

[murphy1244]

That drain pipe should of been protected by a steel plate so crap like that don't happen. Is this the first house they built?

 

[FairfaxStu]

You mentioned family in town. Does that include your brother Jakob? If so, I will take some time off from work to see you guys.
-Stu