denmansoft
Gold Member
Rob:
I've never seen a crummy report from you!
Keep em coming!
I've never seen a crummy report from you!
Keep em coming!
3R Home and Barn Project
- Thread starter 3RRL
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TBDonnelly
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3RRL said:I need to keep in touch with you guys to post my crummy tractor projects.
Down and 'Dirt'y........maybe.....but never crummy.
Don
dknarnd
Gold Member
Looking at some of your photos and thought of a tip for you concerning your cabinets over the countertop. If you are going to install undercabinet lighting then you may want to paint the underside of the cabinets flat black. The reason for this is when the lights are on you won't be able to see the reflection of the underside of the cabinets in the granite.
Although I am not sure how this will work with the light color granite that you have. My granite is dark and painting the underside flat black worked excellent to remove the reflection of the cabinet bottom from the countertop when the lights are on.
Although I am not sure how this will work with the light color granite that you have. My granite is dark and painting the underside flat black worked excellent to remove the reflection of the cabinet bottom from the countertop when the lights are on.
rox
Veteran Member
Rob,
I think my most favorite part of your home is how nice the woos stove came out with all th stone around it and how it was placed in the room. Everything is beautiful, that goes without saying, but that stone really adds a lot to all those logs. I also like the granit in the kitchen. It has a lot of charachter. Heck I even like the fancy sinks int he bathrooms. Now once you get that log shopping cart built for the run between the garage and the kitchen, stick a fork in it you are done!
I think my most favorite part of your home is how nice the woos stove came out with all th stone around it and how it was placed in the room. Everything is beautiful, that goes without saying, but that stone really adds a lot to all those logs. I also like the granit in the kitchen. It has a lot of charachter. Heck I even like the fancy sinks int he bathrooms. Now once you get that log shopping cart built for the run between the garage and the kitchen, stick a fork in it you are done!
OP
3RRL
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Hahaha, you guys are great!
We don't have under lighting in the kitchen, so I won't need to paint the cabinet bottoms, but thanks for the tip.
I'm glad you like the fancy sinks and fireplace too, with all that rock. It is a favorite of ours too.
Well, I have a couple updates for you.
We actually moved into the home on July 1st. Well, not exactly, but we brought all our camp gear up to the home so we could sleep and live in it. As you know, we are leaving the rest of our camp gear down there so our kids and grandkids will have a built in campground when they visit. So we just took our air mattress and some clothes and all the guns. We'll be moving the tools later, since there will be some work to do down there, but we got the tractors and all the implements moved up to the barn.
One of the first things we wanted to do was to grade part of the homesite to channel the water run off away from the structures. I started by cutting and grading a 10' wide pad next to our drive that slopes away from the garage. I used that dirt to pile in front of the home so I can start sloping away from the house itself. It's gonna take a lot of yards of dirt, but this is a start anyway. Our plan is to create some terraced grounds with large rocks and boulders as boundaries. The land just has too much slope to make it all one level, so that will be one of the first projects before the Fall rains arrive. Once I get the irrigation system in, we will (try) to have a grass front yard.
We don't have under lighting in the kitchen, so I won't need to paint the cabinet bottoms, but thanks for the tip.
I'm glad you like the fancy sinks and fireplace too, with all that rock. It is a favorite of ours too.
Well, I have a couple updates for you.
We actually moved into the home on July 1st. Well, not exactly, but we brought all our camp gear up to the home so we could sleep and live in it. As you know, we are leaving the rest of our camp gear down there so our kids and grandkids will have a built in campground when they visit. So we just took our air mattress and some clothes and all the guns. We'll be moving the tools later, since there will be some work to do down there, but we got the tractors and all the implements moved up to the barn.
One of the first things we wanted to do was to grade part of the homesite to channel the water run off away from the structures. I started by cutting and grading a 10' wide pad next to our drive that slopes away from the garage. I used that dirt to pile in front of the home so I can start sloping away from the house itself. It's gonna take a lot of yards of dirt, but this is a start anyway. Our plan is to create some terraced grounds with large rocks and boulders as boundaries. The land just has too much slope to make it all one level, so that will be one of the first projects before the Fall rains arrive. Once I get the irrigation system in, we will (try) to have a grass front yard.
OP
3RRL
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These photos show where I cut the area next to the concrete garage pad. You can see where I gently sloped the dirt away, hoping that will be enough to channel the water run off. As usual, I ran into quite a few spots of decomposed granite which is (at this time of year) harder than heck. I had Loretta soak the hardest parts and attacked them with the scarifiers on my trusty boxblade. That worked enough where the rippers got down deep enough and I could tear the chunks of DG out. After going in several directions doing that, I had rendered that area to rubble. Then I used the FEL bucket and boxblade to move the DG over to the house foundation and also to the front porch/steps. That will all need to be built up for proper water drainage and also for the concrete landing to be about 6" above the dirt. There is a lot of dirt and DG to cut and move before I get that done.
In the background you can see where we have some of the implements and the tractors.
Now that we will be staying up there for 5 days and only 2 days down South, I should be able to get a lot of this work done. I still have to put my machine shop together, but I figure I can do that in between after Loretta gets some of the stuff out of the barn and settled into the house. That will free up space in the barn too. She gets to pick where most of the house stuff goes, so all I'll be doing is moving the boxes for her. God forbid I accidentally use one of HER cabinets for storing one of my guns or something, hahaha.
Later that evening I snapped these photos as we were relaxing on the rear deck. It was great to cool off inside during the hot day and get a cold drink out of the new fridge for a change! But even better was to relax in the evening watching all the stars and having a cool breeze to keep us company.
In the background you can see where we have some of the implements and the tractors.
Now that we will be staying up there for 5 days and only 2 days down South, I should be able to get a lot of this work done. I still have to put my machine shop together, but I figure I can do that in between after Loretta gets some of the stuff out of the barn and settled into the house. That will free up space in the barn too. She gets to pick where most of the house stuff goes, so all I'll be doing is moving the boxes for her. God forbid I accidentally use one of HER cabinets for storing one of my guns or something, hahaha.
Later that evening I snapped these photos as we were relaxing on the rear deck. It was great to cool off inside during the hot day and get a cold drink out of the new fridge for a change! But even better was to relax in the evening watching all the stars and having a cool breeze to keep us company.
MtnViewRanch
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Rob, are you going to back fill under the deck at the front of the house, so that the footings for the deck are just about covered? Place sure does look nice. Having many hot days yet? With your tractor, you could level about anything if you wanted to.
So, were you guys happy to finally sleep in the new home, or are you thinking that you like the camp better? You could stay down there and everybody would think that you are moved in. Old habits are hard to break sometimes. Nothing like sleeping outdoors. Just giving you a bad time, can hardly wait to see it again next year.
So, were you guys happy to finally sleep in the new home, or are you thinking that you like the camp better?
You could stay down there and everybody would think that you are moved in. Old habits are hard to break sometimes. Nothing like sleeping outdoors. Just giving you a bad time, can hardly wait to see it again next year.
OP
3RRL
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Brian, oh man is that place nice.MtnViewRanch said:Rob, are you going to back fill under the deck at the front of the house, so that the footings for the deck are just about covered? Place sure does look nice. Having many hot days yet? With your tractor, you could level about anything if you wanted to.
So, were you guys happy to finally sleep in the new home, or are you thinking that you like the camp better?
BTW, the bed is the same air bed so it is just as comfy, but I have to admit there is something about sleeping out in the wilderness as opposed to inside a home. Even though we had all the doors open, only the screen doors shut. So you are not giving me a hard time ... I was really reluctant to actually "move in". It's weird, man, that you caught that? We must be from the same old school?
About the backfilling, yes, that's exactly what I'm gonna do. My goal is to create several slopes away from the house footings for water to run off. The terraces will just have to come together as I see them develop in my eye. Thanks also about that tractor. It sure has been a great investment and a good workhorse for me. I can't imagine how much I would have spent getting all I've done hired out.
rox
Veteran Member
3RRL said:
Rob,
Our property is all terraces so if I might suggest, make the terraces wide. Aso you might incorporate into the terraces what the shepherds did when they built our terraces in the late 1700's and early 1800's. If you terace with stones then what the shepherds did here is they took long flat stones and built stairs into the stone walls in ht emiddle length of the wall. This way you did not have to go to the end of the terrace to walk up to the next one. Later today I'll takes pics to show you. We still use those built in stairs today and they are very handy. Some of our terraces are more narrow than others and I can safely say that wide, wide, terraces are much better if you have the lay of the land that permits you to do that, wide is better.
All that space that is from the ground to the first level of your home loks very solid, not very appealing a solid wall with no windows. However I can see that once you plant there and have somethings growing to beak up the solid wall it will look really pretty. It is going to look fabulous when you finish. I wonder if you have that all planned out already of if you will shortly be wondering what you want to do with that area?
OP
3RRL
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Hi Rox,
Thanks for all the ideas about terracing the land. I've already found out that wider is better, because I don't want to drive off one of those accidentally. Like you said, I will be restricted as to the size by the lay of the land and the structures though, so I may have to have one narrow terrace sort of pie shaped to get the run off channeled away from the structures as needed. But I guess I will have to accept that.
I also thought about steps like you suggested, except mostly at the house end where the terrace is most pronounced, and making them out of wood. The other end will hopefully blend into the road at the same level where we wouldn't need steps. I didn't want to put steps in the middle because that's where I want the wall of rock barrier to be most visible when driving up to it. But I imagine the rock wall will also blend and taper down as it gets closer to the road where it all blends in. I don't know, I'll have to see how severe the terraces are in relation to each other.
In any case, I would live to see the rock steps you speak of to give us some ideas. It sounds really cool.
About the greenery around the footing of the house, that is a good idea and I'm glad you pointed it out. Loretta and I have plans to make a walkway about 2' away from the footings and a planter bed in between for small shrubs and flowers etc. Perhaps a coy pond or something which she wanted anyway? Although that might be a ways off (after solving proper drainage) I still need to keep in mind those planters for irrigation purposes. I'd like to get at least that part done by Fall and before the rains come.
Thanks for all the ideas about terracing the land. I've already found out that wider is better, because I don't want to drive off one of those accidentally. Like you said, I will be restricted as to the size by the lay of the land and the structures though, so I may have to have one narrow terrace sort of pie shaped to get the run off channeled away from the structures as needed. But I guess I will have to accept that.
I also thought about steps like you suggested, except mostly at the house end where the terrace is most pronounced, and making them out of wood. The other end will hopefully blend into the road at the same level where we wouldn't need steps. I didn't want to put steps in the middle because that's where I want the wall of rock barrier to be most visible when driving up to it. But I imagine the rock wall will also blend and taper down as it gets closer to the road where it all blends in. I don't know, I'll have to see how severe the terraces are in relation to each other.
In any case, I would live to see the rock steps you speak of to give us some ideas. It sounds really cool.
About the greenery around the footing of the house, that is a good idea and I'm glad you pointed it out. Loretta and I have plans to make a walkway about 2' away from the footings and a planter bed in between for small shrubs and flowers etc. Perhaps a coy pond or something which she wanted anyway? Although that might be a ways off (after solving proper drainage) I still need to keep in mind those planters for irrigation purposes. I'd like to get at least that part done by Fall and before the rains come.