New House Build in WV

[fried1765]

Good point.

Not sure any grass will actually grow being planted this late in the year, but I知 hoping if I get it down, it will come up in the spring.

I am 600 miles North of you (on the coastline though)
Planted seed Nov. 5th, and it came up just fine.
Also planted some perennial rye seed in another location on Nov. 15th....now 15 days later....nothing!
Cold and wet.....I suspect that it rotted.

 

[fried1765]

Grass planting never happened. Left early Saturday to pick up straw, came home and was about to start tilling when my ditch guy called and said he was on his way, a day early.

We got the ditches dig, water lime in and electric conduit in. They use a ventrac and boy what a machine that is. Effortlessly cut the ditches in at 36? would have taken me all day with the wall behind rental.

They moved quick, a little too quick, as the dot h was buried before I realized the conduit for the phone line never got put in. Took me most of the day Sunday to hand dig the same ditch down to 18 and put the conduit in, all 180 of it. Digging wasn稚 too bad since the dirt was loose, just time consuming. Bummer but it痴 done now, and I知 thankful for that.

We had a light rain as we finished the ditch work on Saturday, and rained pretty hard Sunday just as I finished the phone conduit, so too muddy to work on the yard now. Not sure if it値l dry up enough to use the tiller again or not, forecast doesn稚 look good....

Nice day today, and after running for water fittings and rebar, I managed to finish framing the garage door wall, now just need to sheet it and all the major framing will be done.

Not sure if I mentioned yet or not, but I purchased a set of forks for my tractor just before starting the build. One of the best purchases I致e made and I知 not sure how I would have done most of this without them. Here痴 a shot of the tractor helping lift the 16 garage door header in place.




View attachment 677574

You will quickly discover that forks are actually more useful than the bucket.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Nice job on the deck. Does it go around the porch posts, or does post sit on top?

I need to redo my decking.

 

[TnWV]

I'm dying to see what your window above the front door is going to look like!!!!

Eddie, the ordered window is different than the opening, it’s a 3x4 with round top. It was going to be 3x4 with 2x2’s mated to each side, but that one window was going to be over $1,500, and I just couldn’t do it. Should still look nice, just not as “fancy”.

 

[TnWV]

That decking looks great. I've had mixed experience with the first generation products but the newer products seem pretty good. The test is how it looks 4-5 years from now! I haven't kept up with the cost -- has that stuff blown up with lumber pricing during Covid?

When I bought it, wood was at its peak. 16’ wood deck board was 28.95, and the composite was 28. Pretty much a wash after adding stain for the wood and hidden fasteners for the composite. Just figured the composite will be less maintenance long term. Not sure I’m 100% confident in the fasteners though, the screws strip easy, either the head or in the wood. I absolutely hated installing it. My knees have never hurt so bad in my life. I hope those clips surprise me on their durability.

I told my wife, knowing what I know now, I would have spent a little extra and done suspended concrete and stamped it. That said, we are really happy with how the composite turned out, especially compared to wood.

 

[TnWV]

I've had some composite decking for about 15 years, much of which gets full exposure. It still looks great. I believe you will be happy in the long run. In fact, I've recently had to rebuild the wood underneath my composite decking. It was treated, but I did not stain it. This time I stained it.

Good to hear, I hope I’m saying the same in 15 years. I really wanted to paint or stain the joists, but just didn’t have the time. Hopefully I don’t regret that. Our current wood deck has a roof and is 15 years old. Joists still seem solid, so hopefully the roof helps protect it. Time will tell. I’m just glad it’s done!

 

[TnWV]

Nice job on the deck. Does it go around the porch posts, or does post sit on top?

I need to redo my decking.

I cut it around the posts, figured post sitting on top of the bottom posts and attached to the rim board using ledger locks was stronger than sitting on top of the decking. Plus easier to change out a deck board if ever needed.

That said, primary reason was that I needed to get the roof up quicker than I could get the decking down, so I didn’t really have a choice. A pain to cut around them, but not bad. Cuts aren’t perfect but I’ll be adding post wraps and top and bottom trim, so won’t see the cuts anyway.

 

[TnWV]

Moved slow today, it’s been an exhausting week. I did get the meter box/ disconnect mounted, and the ground rods drove and hooked up. My 3” core bit is apparently wore out, took a couple hours to get the hole drilled in the concrete. After starting with the big bit, had to use a smaller bit in the sds and the chisel to chip away at the hole. Then used to big core bit to clean the hole up. Turned out good, but was a lot of work. Just need to hook the service wire up in the disconnect and pull the rope into the underground conduit. Inspection is set for Thursday at 5:30. Will be nice to have that done and get my electric hook up scheduled.

Also got most of the front yard seeded and straw down. It’s too wet to get the perfect finish I wanted, but it’ll do for now as I know it’s not going to dry up enough to get it any better until spring.

Other than that, I just fiddle with some minor things. Finished in the dark again so no pics of the electric work.

Hope to get more rock for the driveway this week, and get the rebar in the garage this week. I’ll be glad to get out of the mud, that’s for sure.

 

[Buppies]

I am about four hours away from you. My FIL lived in Hurricane when he retired and I believe I worked on the jail there

 

[TnWV]

I am about four hours away from you. My FIL lived in Hurricane when he retired and I believe I worked on the jail there

Small world, I think your the second to post here with ties to hurricane.

They built 2 new jails around here a number of years ago. Don’t remember when but I was young, either middle or high school if I remember correctly. My wife had several family members that worked on them.