3R Home and Barn Project

[MarkV]

Hi Rob, glad to hear you and Loretta are doing well and staying busy as ever. The garden shed looks great.

MarkV

 

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

I really like the way the rocks look in your wall!!!!!!

Eddie

 

[3RRL]

Thanks Mark and Eddie and Kyle, it's good to be back.

Hey David, how do you like the shed so far? Do you have any special ideas for yours?? I know your building site is more difficult than mine, but you've got some great spots in between the timber.

I had a few challenges getting started, but before I get to them, I'd like to share a few photos of the trench I dug with my used (new to me) backhoe. We wanted electrical and water to the shed, so I used the same ditch. Although it may not be the best of practices, I put the water line about 1 foot below the electrical. Both run from the barn where the 2" water line ran to the home, and to an electrical box in the barn.
(Please note that old Oak tree in front of the bay door for future story.)

The 2" water line continued to that water manifold I had installed for Loretta's garden a year ago where I joined it together.
Then ran 3/4" water lines back from there over to the shed for the sink and hose bibs.

 

[3RRL]

What we had were two separate water systems.
One was directly from the well which feeds the house (and fills up the 5000 gallon water tank). The other is the 5000 gallon water tank that has a booster pump on that system. The water tank system feeds the lawn sprinklers and tree water around the house, but the well fed the house and Loretta's garden. I wanted to have her garden also connected to the water tank system so the house would always have good pressure, even if the sprinklers or garden watering was going on at the same time.

What I did was connect the well system to the water tank system by adding a couple large valves.
Now, by turning a couple valves, we can:
a) water the garden with either the water tank system or the well system.
b) use water to the house via either the water tank or well, in case one of the pumps ever failed.
c) we can even turn the valves so BOTH systems feed the house and garden(s) together if we wanted.
d) continually purge the 5000 gallon water tank with fresh water daily so if we have to live off it, it will be good water.
Here is a photo of those valves and the two system pipes connected.

 

[3RRL]

OK, so you see there is a LOT of preparation and some other projects that were mixed in with building the shed. It's not just picking up a hammer and start building, I found out, lol. But I had wanted to do that water connection for some time, so that was a good opportunity to get it done.

I told you earlier to keep an eye on that old oak in front of the barn door.
Do you remember the problem it gave me several years ago when I was trying to place my water tank there? Well, it finally died and a huge branch fell off. Lucky not on anything or it surely would have destroyed something. That is also why the tree was trimmed up already in the other photo.
So now I had to remove it completely...ANOTHER little project not planned on.
It was really a shame to remove that oak, but it was dangerous to keep it.

 

[3RRL]

My old 55hp Kama is still working great.
Below you can see it picked up the tree stump with only one of the two grapples. I will save the stump and build another one of those book-end coffee table out of it for one of the kids. (They already have dibs on it) lol.

 

[3RRL]

Besides the larger boulders that were dragged out of that area, there were some small enough for the Kama to pick up too. We have boulders that size arranged all around now. Both the Kama and the Jinma have earned their keep over and over again!!

Finally, we got to the point where we could repair all the damage and fill all the holes and trenches. Now the route to that barn door is UN-obstructed and safe. Wow, that was a lot of work in itself, just to get everything looking normal again. And we still have not driven ONE nail yet, lol.

 

[3RRL]

Later that week, Loretta and I were finally able to get a final grade on the shed pad.
We spent a lot of time leveling, and also to be sure we had the proper 4" depth for the slab forms. Especially trying to guess around those boulders! Then, we bought some of that heavy duty wire mesh and nailed it down between the forms...waaay too hard for two old people to do!! But we got it down with lengths of rebar staked into the ground. LOL, at one time I thought Loretta was going to get whipped up into the air trying to unroll that wire.
Anyway, below is the pad, ready for concrete. Also, notice little Daisy who will be 2 in December, and that old roll up door I kept for 4 years in the second photo. Loretta and Tommy are still giving me crap about that.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry to see you lose a tree that you wanted, but I've found that in every case, when I tried to keep a tree in a questionable location, that I end up taking it out anyway. What has surprised me is that I never miss it once it's gone.

Love the pics and seeing all your progress!!!

Eddie

 

[tommu56]

Rob glad to see you back I missed your posts/projects!

tom