Long road to home.

ENG18LT · Sep 17, 2013

HOORAY!!!!!!! The barn passed inspection this afternoon. Inspector was very impressed with design, layout, and quality of work done. I also spent the better part of the day spreading screened gravel in side it to level the floor and bring it up to grade, or at least to where the bottom of the slab will be. I have no idea when the slab will get done, need to get electric secured first. Total load count for gravel since we started the driveway over a year ago (I think it has been that long) is now up to 40 loads or 600 yards. Anyone wondering if that is a lot, I will just say that I don't ever want to see a pile of the stuff again.

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dave1949 · Sep 17, 2013

Good for you on passing the inspection Lee!

I looked in my crystal ball and I see more gravel in your future. :laughing: I don't mind spreading gravel with the tractor, I want no part of shoveling it though. I imagine you did some shovel work in the corners and probably some hand raking here and there too.

wmonroe · Sep 17, 2013

Congrats on getting the barn inspection!

I had a gravel floor for over a year, and was happy with it, but since having the concrete done there is no difference.

ENG18LT · Sep 18, 2013

dave1949 said:
Good for you on passing the inspection Lee!

I looked in my crystal ball and I see more gravel in your future. :laughing: I don't mind spreading gravel with the tractor, I want no part of shoveling it though. I imagine you did some shovel work in the corners and probably some hand raking here and there too.

Thank you.

Yes the tractor was a big help putting down the gravel, but there was still plenty of hand work to do. Once I was done the last four buckets wound up in a couple low spots in the driveway that seem to hold water after rains.

As far as your crystal ball goes, it is right. I still need to top the whole driveway with one-minus crushed limestone. But that won't be anytime in the near future. I am going to wait till house is done, so it is gonna be awhile.

ENG18LT · Sep 18, 2013

wmonroe said:
Congrats on getting the barn inspection!

I had a gravel floor for over a year, and was happy with it, but since having the concrete done there is no difference.

Thanks wmonroe.

Now that the floor is in and raked out I don't mind the gravel as much as before. The pad was level and smooth before construction started, however drilling twenty nine 24" holes 50" deep made one heck of a mess. Even after we backfilled the posts there was a bit of unevennes plus the settling around the posts. So I am just glad to have a flat surface to walk on. If I really
need to do something on a concrete floo the two car garage up by the road has one, and electricity!

dave1949 · Sep 19, 2013

ENG18LT said:
Thank you.

Yes the tractor was a big help putting down the gravel, but there was still plenty of hand work to do. Once I was done the last four buckets wound up in a couple low spots in the driveway that seem to hold water after rains.

As far as your crystal ball goes, it is right. I still need to top the whole driveway with one-minus crushed limestone. But that won't be anytime in the near future. I am going to wait till house is done, so it is gonna be awhile.

I need a couple of one-minus loads on my driveway too. I beefed it up in some places for the logging trucks with 6" gravel that had very few fines. That's not going to be good for snow removal.

ENG18LT · Sep 20, 2013

Been busy in the basement of the house. Was able to get the old oil furnace out. That took a good 2 hours with the sawzall. I figured it would be easier to take it out in pieces rather then remove the stairs and drag it out whole, followed by replacing the stairs. I found a 3" hole in the burn chamber, no wonder it didn't work.

Here's what it looked like after removal.

I also spent some time putting up 6 of the 400watt metal halide lights in the barn. There are three running down the center of each outer bay and none in the center. They are wired to run off a generator as there's no line power back to the barn. We gave them a try tonight and man there's a lot of light. I don't see any reason to put fixtures down the middle bay. Here's a picture with the doors closed. I will try and get another one tomorrow night with them open.

Thanks for stopping by my thread.

wmonroe · Sep 22, 2013

It looks bright from the garage door windows, some inside pictures would be great.

ENG18LT · Oct 5, 2013

Sorry for the delay in posting the requested pictures. (Had to actually spend some time at work!) This week I was able to get out to the property for a couple days. Spent the time finishing getting the new furnace in the old house ready for the propane company to supply, it was that or try to winterize the place. Working in that short basement took it's toll on my legs, quite sore from crouching down all day Thursday. It is ready to go though, so well worth it.

I spent a good portion of Friday sand painting the bathroom ceiling, installing new T8 light in bathroom, sanding walls, priming and painting the bathroom walls. Since the girls were coming out for the weekend I wanted to get it done and surprise them. I did not manage to get the wall mounted sink rehung in there though, ran out of time and steam. That was ok as the newly painted bathroom received a resounding "wow" from both my wife and daughter!:dance1:

I did remember to get some more pictures of the barn at night, sorry it took so long.

Also took some of the interior with the lights on at night

If anyone wants pictures of something specific, please speak up, I'd be more then happy to post them. (Even if it takes me a bit to remember to take them!)