Redoing drive to chicken house

[Harv]

Richard, Gerard -

Thanks for posting tips and information on building roads on top of fabric. It is my sincerest intention to put that information to use as soon as I can.

The stretch of road I'm thinking of is likely to stay muddy until next summer. Have you ever tried to work a project like this while it's still wet? After all those stuck tractor pictures, I'm a little leery. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif If I can sneak up on it from the sides, maybe I could start on the drainage ditches.

I posted this picture back in November, a week after the first rains. It's worse now, of course. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[WillingtonPizza]

My driveway goes thru a very wet area, I used old silt fence, a pain to handle but can get it for free. then bank run then 4 inches of aggregite. My aggregite did wash away the first year, what I did was get rid of the crown and pitched the entire driveway in one direction. Made all the difference in the world, very easy to york rake now and snow plow, I also put larger rocks here and there where the water was diverted to slow it down. Good luck.

 

[gerard]

Tried working in the mud while regrading a road width down the side of the barn Just 5ft wide by 125 feet long to give the water a natural path to flow instead of through the barn aisle. Gave up after awhile and decided to wait until things dried out. The mud makes an outstanding lubricant for your tires - makes them spin wonderfully but not really what you want!! Of course I had the luxury of just waiting for a spell without rain. If you have that option at all I wouldn't tackle it in the spring. It'll take a lot longer, be a lot messier, and be very frustrating compared to working in dirt thats drier. If you have no choice and have to work an area that stays muddy you might want to consider some double ring logging chains. Those skidders go through some pretty deep mud with chains as long as they don't get the bellies hung up.

 

[Harv]

Gerard -

I was afraid you'd say that about working a muddy road.

I'm just kicking myself 'cuz the only muddy stretch happens to be near the beginning of my tractor road, so I'm pretty much cut off from about 36 of my 42 acres. And to make matters worse, the mud seems to be the product not so much from the immediate rain, but of the water table itself. In other words, as long as there's snow melting in the mountains, I'm going to have a swamp in that area. That means it won't dry out until May or June. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Not to worry, though, that still leaves me with a half-dozen acres of weeds to battle come spring. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

(Maybe somebody could loan me some snow to push around for a while?)

 

[gerard]

You want snow???? We just passed the 100 inch mark. Got 10 inches Tues and am losing space to stack it all!! Luckily it was a balmy 30 deg today and supposed to be that agin tomorrow so we may get a little melt. BTW - Just got confirmation that my camera shipped. I had to reorder - checked on the status and they didn't have it on record. Computers are great when they work...............

 

[MarkV]

Gerard,

100" SO FAR!! If you have a hill or two you can start your own ski resort. Sounds like you may need that backhoe to find your house if you get much more.

MarkV

 

[gerard]

MarkV,
Been holding off having to start up the backhoe but will have to if things continue as they've been. We're in the middle of a warmup at the moment and it's a balmy 30deg out and NO SNOW IN THE FORECAST (until next week!) I noticed a few people on some other posts are also from Syracuse so they know what I'm talking about! So far we're on record for the snowiest season in a L O N G time. Just glad I don't havta shovel..............

 

[ddl]

Harv
The one thing that has not been said is to tile the area were it is wet. By tiling, I mean to bury a tile which is a pipe with holes in it to drain the water away from the one area. Farmers did this in fields with marsh areas, after tiling the ground could be farmed. Do not know about cost in CA.
Dan L

 

[dmccarty]

Harv,

That road looks like my a portion of my driveway to be. I went out to the property to work this afternoon but it started sprinkling just as I left work and by the time I got there it was raining pretty good. I just checked on some things and then went and ran errands.

If it is real wet I try to stay off the traveled areas as much as possible. If I go out there in the wet all I do is make more work. Tomorrow I'll be going after some chainsaw work and if the land does not look dry I might not even, can you really believe this, start the tractor! I got a burn permit and if there is no wind I'll burn some slash. I've been driving through my ditch which is very wet and barely have any wheel slippage.

Later...
Dan