3R Home and Barn Project

[tommu56]

Rob here is were the web cam would help we could monitor you and call 911 if you need help LOL


On a side note what will you do for internet at your new place you gota keep on line
tom

 

[stumpfield]

I'll be going up tomorrow at 6:00 am to pick up a 5,000 gallon water tank in Hanford. It's about 80 miles from my property but they wanted $750 to ship it. So I'm driving the Blazer up towing my trailer and haul it myself. It's 10' in diameter and about 12' tall. It should fit lying down in my trailer. I'm gonna set it in place with the Kama (what else) on that concrete circle by the well.
.

Rob, Hope you got that water tank to your property ok. I hauled 2 2500gal tanks from Compton 300+ miles to my property to save a few bucks. I went with 2 2500gal tanks (8' diameter) to avoid dealing with oversize permit. One thing I learned was that those plastic tanks can get soft in the sun and cause tie down straps to get loose. So, check and re-tighten your load often. Mine came loose a long the way. Lucky that the fenders and rear ramp of my trailer kept the tanks from sliding off.

Tom

 

[3RRL]

Thanks for the support guys.
LOL ... you guys crack me up. I can't believe everyone is so worried about my water tank adventure! I will tell that story after a while.

I've got a few more photos of the log progress and also a story to tell about picking up my huge water tank. On top of that, I had to get South Camp ready for the Winter again. Plus, my cousin from Holland is coming Wednesday and I wanted camp to look good, so there was a lot of clean up too.

Ok, first is the log progress.
When I got there on Friday, I took these photos. They show the log progress made. Notice that the logs are now above the window and door jambs. It was cloudy and drizzling when I arrived and got down to 36F degrees at night. Staying at camp alone when it's cold like that is not the best situation. Then there's that bear to think about.

These photos start at the left side of the house (master bedroom French doors) and then move to the front and the other side where the garage is. You can see the garage pad in them.

 

[3RRL]

These are some shots from inside the house.
It's really starting to take shape. I can find my way around and visualize where each of the interior rooms are now.



So far so good and we are very pleased with the progress. I am going back up for a couple days when my cousin comes out and maybe they will have more progress. Only thing there is rain in the forecast, so I'm not sure how much more will get done between now and then.
BTW, I am sorry for not answering some of the questions. There were some that I don't know why the contractor did what he did, so please forgive my ignorance. I'll try to answer those that I can.

 

[3RRL]

Before I get to the water tank story, I wanted to share a couple pictures of the camp I stay at on the South end of the property. Some of you may have read about my adventures at camp in the different threads I've shared in the past.

Anyway, we call it "South Camp" since it's the newer of 3 different camp sites, although we have been tent camping out of this camp for over 3 years now. Out front of this camp is also the meadow where I have my food plot and where we dove shoot. It has been a great camp for all these years. We are going to keep it in shape for the kids and grandkids when they come up to visit. I have built a tree house and a playground for the kids there too, so they can have a great time and at the same time keep them out of my hair.

These photos show the new 30' x 50' tarp which now covers the canopies completely making it even more rain proof. We also covered each of the tents and the bathroom again, but I don't have photos of them. Here is the main deck looking from the inside. We will have tons of shade in the Summer and more protection from rain too. The last shot is the front of the camp site looking from the meadow.



These photos you may have seen before? They are of the playground and the tree house at the corner of the camp.

 

[sandman2234]

I am just glad your back, which means the tank didn't get the best of you. For the story, I can wait.
David from jax

 

[3RRL]

Thanks David,

I saw that you were worried about me. But I did manage even though it was more than I anticipated. Thanks for your concern and that of the others too.

Alright then, now to the story of the water tank. I can't believe how many guys were worried about me. I never did get a "Wide Load" permit and decided to wing it to the property. It was closer than I thought and a straight shot to the property. I drove up Friday early to get to the tank supplier between the pick up hours towing my new 16' trailer up from Southern California. It took me a little over 4 hours to get there even going through some heavy traffic in Los Angeles. Once out of that, it was an easy drive even going over the Grapevine pass.

When I got there, there were a couple other trucks ahead of me, one was a dual trailer semi that was loading 8 of these tanks on his truck! I watched how he strapped each one down. Well, when it was my turn, the forklift driver had me pull into the loading area and then proceeded to pick up this HUGE water tank and dump it on my trailer. He just whipped that fork truck around like a toy. Once the dumped it on the trailer I had to start strapping it down.

 

[3RRL]

It was pretty big and I started thinking about how slowly I would need to tow it. Well, I was right. The wind resistance started pushing it backwards in the trailer and I could see the front dual straps and rope starting to slacken up. I had not put a stop behind the tank, but it was so heavy I didn't think it would budge after I lashed it all down tight. So I pulled over and managed to re-tie everything.

Can you imagine if it blew off the trailer onto the highway? Hahaha man what a mess that would have been..no permit...no sign. There goes all that money I save by hauling it myself. The cops would have given me 2 weeks in the electric chair!

Anyway, I made it up the hill safely. The Blazer pulled the trailer nicely. When I got to the property, I had to figure out where I wanted to park so I could get the darn thing off the trailer and placed onto the concrete pad next to the well. It was now pretty much out of the way after the barn slab was poured. I meant to get this tank installed BEFORE that pad was put down, since it would have been a piece of cake to maneuver around and get to the tank pad. I barely missed some trees as I was looking for a place to park, but I found a good spot.

I was by myself and decided to leave it until Loretta and Wes came up the next day. I figured they would figure out ho to get it off the trailer and place it since my Kama was dwarfed by the water tank. Although there was enough lift capacity, no way was the fel going up high enough to take that thing off. So I went down to camp to work on the Winterizing and new tarp.

 

[3RRL]

The next morning I fixed some breakfast and started working around the camp. I got all of the new giant tarp tied down Up front it was over 20' to the peak. Loretta and Wes arrived about noon and we finished tying the rear down and fixed up the atrium. If you look at some of those photos, you can see where some parts of that Oak go through the tarp. I had to cut a slot and use Gorilla tape to patch it back up. Then we went up to the home site where the tank was.

I asked Loretta what I should do NOW? She calmly said, "Well, why don't you use the Gradall the workers left up here?" Well, brilliant, why not? I had seen them use it and figured I could drive it. The keys were in it and I saw how there was hydraulics to keep the Gradall level when on a side slope. The rest was easy to figure out. So I re-arranged the lift straps and hopped in the Gradall. I got it lifted up and out of the trailer but soon found there was a tree blocking the path I took.

 

[3RRL]

Here is a video finding out there is a problem with the route I chose. The Gradall forks were now about 25' in the air. I had to do something else.



Remember, I had about 3 minutes on this thing so I was pretty careful. I decide to take another route instead of felling that Oak right then. Actually, there was only one limb in the way which I got into the Kama fel bucket and cut off to reduce future problems. Anyway, I backed out and went around the homesite circle.

I worked my way between the barn slab and the well site and finally got into position to put it down.