At Home In The Woods

[buckeyefarmer]

Nice job on the downspout drains.

 

[Obed]

Nice job on the downspout drains.

Thanks. My wife wasn't thrilled about putting in the Y-connector cleanouts because of the looks. However she relented.

Obed

 

[Coyote machine]

I'm with the ugly y connector concept You can easily snake out from daylight end, and 4" pipe won't need cleaning if you put on gutter covers to keep out all except water.

 

[mikefromnh]

I'm with the ugly y connector concept You can easily snake out from daylight end, and 4" pipe won't need cleaning if you put on gutter covers to keep out all except water.

I agree.

Sometimes instead of thinking of all the possible things that could go wrong it is easier to just do things simply and deal with any problems later. If at all

If a drain did clog it would be easy to cut out a section of the downspout, clean it and THEN put in the Y. Probably cost less in the long run.

 

[dstig1]

Bah! Paint them foundation color if you like and you'll never see them. Or wait for the landcaping to fill in and hide them. When you need it and need access quick because it has been raining for days and is somehow plugged up, and all you need to do is pop the cleanout and go at it, you will be in a much better place. The question isn't if you will need to cleanout, it is when, and how often.

 

[Obed]

For the last 4 gutter downspouts, I chose functional over pretty. These two downspouts are in a critical space.

These two downspouts drain the water off the roof for the majority of the front side of the house. If the drain pipes clog, these downspouts could flood our basement. With the cleanouts, a clogged drain pipe becomes an inconvenience. Without the cleanouts, a clogged drain pipe becomes an emergency.

 

[Obed]

Shaping Up
We a got a little more grading done this week. Weather has been hit or miss. Plus, due to a serious hail storm that hit this area last month, construction workers are extremely busy. So progress on our grading has been slow. Now is a bad time of year to plant the fescue grass. We are approaching the summer now so we have decided to wait to put down topsoil and seed until August; our county extension agent told us that would be the best time to plant so the grass will grow in the fall. Oddly enough, the fall is the dryest part of the year here. I guess we'll be watering a lot. I'm glad we have the well.

On the front side of the garage we needed the grade to be lowered a few inches. I had scraped some of that area with my FEL and could barely make a dent. The highlift took care of that area in no time flat. Accordingly, the subcontractor moved a large pile of dirt in 5 or 10 minutes that would have literally taken my tractor 4 or more hours to move. I am amazed at how quickly the big equipment can accomplish things. The subcontractor charged us $50 to dig each trench for the gutter drains. Each trench would have taken me an average of 3 hours to dig with my tractor's backhoe.

My wife plans to use this area beside the back porch for an herb garden. She originally wanted it in front of the garage but the area beside the back porch gets much more sunlight.

We are adding dirt in front of the front porch. The excavator we hired is getting the dirt from behind the house that was left over from digging the basement.

The view of the back yard is getting better and better. The huge piles of dirt have been a real eyesore. My wife is finally getting to the point where she can visualize what the yard will look like. For me, on the other hand, I'm starting to be able to visualize how much grass I will have to mow. I made a super effort to minimize the size of the yard because of grass mowing duties. However, The back of the house is starting to look like it will contain a significant mowing area.

 

[Ranger Rick]

If you do not want to mow that much grass you could plant some areas in wildflowers and just mow it once in the late fall. Or just let mother nature take it back over with things like blackberries and seeds from the trees.
Rick

 

[hobie]

Looking great! I don't think you'll notice the Y pipes after a while. If you wait to seed, you may find areas that start to grow moss. I know a lot of guys battle it in their lawns, but it can be a good alternative in some locations. You can feed it with powdered milk.

 

[Obed]

If you do not want to mow that much grass you could plant some areas in wildflowers and just mow it once in the late fall. Or just let mother nature take it back over with things like blackberries and seeds from the trees.
Rick

Rick,
My wife mentioned letting the woods take some of it back. We'll have to see how it all goes. Wildflowers could be pretty there at the edge of the woods if they can get enough sunlight.

Obed