New Driveway and Polebarn

[rswyan]

The basic construction is all 2" x 4" lumber except for a pair of 2" x 8" x 60" pieces I used as side rails.

The screen/grate dimensions are 6' wide x 5' long, and it is placed on a roughly 45 degree angle.

The 2" x 4" rails in the screen/grate are placed on 6" centers, and I used some welded wire fencing with 1" square mesh that I picked up at Lowes to around $18. I fastened the welded wire mesh to the screen/grate using 1/2" long, 1/4 crown staples - over 1000 of them.

Because I was in a hurry I air nailed the unit together rather than using screws which I'm sure would have been better. I used 3" nails in my framing nailer - some ring shank and some smooth .....

The unit is very heavy ... but seems to be holding up pretty well to being moved around - but I use alot of care when moving it.

 

[rswyan]

I was surprised at how well the 1" wire mesh worked in terms of screening - the material that gets through the screen is very fine - probably nothing larger than 3/8" to 1/2" at most. It looks so clean that I'm thinking about using it instead of sand as bedding for the remainder of the gas/water line trenches.

The screen/grate is removable - it just lays in the frame and can be lifted out by two people.

I have a second grate that I haven't quite finished yet - I'm building it to clean what was originally washed No. 57 gravel that has gotten contaminate/dirty. The 2" x 4" rails on that one are spaced a little wider - 12" O. C. - and it uses 1/4" mesh hardware cloth.

 

[rswyan]

Finally getting the north side whipped into shape - got the bank cut down, the wet/mucky spots cleaned out, and the rough grading is done ..... next item will be to get the french and surface drains installed on this side:

 

[EddieWalker]

Finally getting the north side whipped into shape - got the bank cut down, the wet/mucky spots cleaned out, and the rough grading is done ..... next item will be to get the french and surface drains installed on this side:

Congrats. It looks beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eddie

 

[wmonroe]

Looking very good.

 

[rswyan]

Thanks guys !

My wife came home from work the other evening and said: "The hill is gone - you got rid of it !"

Amazing what a little grading with the boxblade will do ....

There's actually a couple of spots where I can reduce the slope a little more ...... and I might do it this weekend if we get the other stuff completed and time permits - but, at this point, there is no place on any side where I'm concerned about taking the Kubota sideways on a slope.

Today we got the rest of the south side french drain completed and got the 4" surface and southeast downspout drains tied into the 6" solid pipe, and backfilled. And the wife says she loves working with the screened clay .... :thumbsup: :laughing:

Tomorrow, we'll get the north side french/surface/downspout drains installed and tied into the ones in the rear (east side) and into the catch basin on the northwest corner. After that it will be time to slap the visqueen and 1/2" EPS insulation on the skirtboards, start backfilling with topsoil, then toss on some grass seed and hope it comes up at some point.

Weather is supposed to be good tomorrow and Saturday - no rain until sometime on Sunday .... so the big push is on ....

 

[rswyan]

Couple of days ago - the day before the big storm blew in - we managed to get the french/downspout/surface drains on the north side installed and tied into the drains on the rear (east) side, and the catch basin at the northwest corner.

The wife was a real sport on this - she did pretty much all of the fine detailing in the trench (after I dug them out with the backhoe) - backfilling and leveling the bottom, packing it, checking for slope, etc. She was very picky about it all - and did a great job.

Good thing too - because it just poured. No idea how much we actually got, but I know that just before the line of storms passed over us it dissipated somewhat - and we got hammered pretty good. Looking at the radar, just north and south of us it didn't appear to ease up at all .... so they must have really gotten drenched.

North side french drain:

 

[rswyan]

Couple of days ago - the day before the big storm blew in - we managed to get the french/downspout/surface drains on the north side installed and tied into the drains on the rear (east) side, and the catch basin at the northwest corner.

The wife was a real sport on this - she did pretty much all of the fine detailing in the trench (after I dug them out with the backhoe) - backfilling and leveling the bottom, packing it, checking for slope, etc. She was very picky about it all - and did a great job.

Good thing too - because it just poured. No idea how much we actually got, but I know that just before the line of storms passed over us it dissipated somewhat - and we got hammered pretty good. Looking at the radar, just north and south of us it didn't appear to ease up at all .... so they must have really gotten drenched.

North side french drain:

 

[rswyan]

Catch basin with 6" solid line and 4" french drain lines tied in.

In hindsight, I wish I had used a deeper catchbasin than 2' - it would have allowed the french drain to be placed deeper in the ground.

Part of my reluctance was being unsure of how much slope/elevation change I actually had for the 8" pipe that drains the basin over's it's 100' run .... and part of it was the additional cost, although that was fairly minimal.

 

[rswyan]

We worked the day of the storm, up until it came in, around 3 PM, on the assumption that this was probably going to be it for the year .... things would get wet and due to the lower temps we've been seeing, they would stay wet, making it rough to work outside.

I stayed out in the barn with an umbrella while storm blew in - so that I could take a look at things and make sure everything was working correctly. It was about 50/50 on the surface drains - due to the rush to just get them in, we weren't real precise about the grading or the height we set them at - about half were 1/4" to 1/2" too high. They will have to adjusted again anyways after we place the topsoil and establish the final grade.

Good news was the half of them that did function and drain, easily handled everything that came down - nothing close to water coming near the barn.

Also that the grade on the backside of the barn was sloped enough that it drained north to south, as intended - this was kinda funny, since looking at it visually, it didn't appear that there was any grade at all.

And the very best news of all was that after 24 to 48 hours after the storm, almost all of the ground was pretty dry and solid, except for a couple of puddles in low spots and some areas where there were piles of leaves holding the moisture in.

Looks like we will have good weather (no rain) for the next week or so ... so we might be able to get a little more done before we call it quits for the year on the outside.