Building a Rock Wall, a Road, and grading around the Barn

[Timber]

Wow that’s a killer project. Great Idea too. The earth has a way of pushing on things in the fullness of time. I'm a big fan of taking from hear and adding to there LOL. I have found that material is usually right there it’s just in the wrong place. I love those clickable thumbs too. I actually went pro on that image hosting account because it is so user friendly. That’s a really nice piece of property you have there Mr. Big. I'm guessing you do Horses. Can't wait to see more

 

[bigballer]

Spike - Dirt/rock around here is pretty cheap. It's the transport that gets ya. I pay about $6/ton for the 1 1/4" but it cost $100/hr to haul it and that pretty much doubles the cost. I need to buy an older dumptruck. haha. I hope they didn't have to haul that 100 ton too far to get it to your place. I would have liked to been able to just leave a berm but due to the slope couldn't even consider it. I figure that 28 ton wall will out live all of us on this site and probably the next gen too. I had considered using the engineered blocks but in the area I see alot of these rock walls all over the place and I really wanted to build one. I already have eyeballed several other locations around my place where one would look really good and serve purpose as well. You can see the juniper hedge in a couple of my pics, those are on the slope in front of the house. I would love to rip them out and terrace the area with more rocks.. maybe next year.

Timber - It's amazing how long someone will let something go, having just bought the place last year, this project has been on my mind since we made the offer. The back corner of the barn (NW Corner) was buried in 8" of wet dirt. Last winter there was water standing between the sheet metal and the stall wall inside. So yeah, I envisioned moving it from here to there and so far has worked out really well. I actually stole the thumbnail idea from you. haha, hope you don't mind. I liked being able to read your post and see the photos before having to d/l them. It makes cruising a thread really slick. what do you get with the "pro" sub? just more space?

 

[Timber]

I actually learned that from Rob (AKA) 3rrl, I loved it for the same reasons you do. I did the pro account mostly for the unlimited band with and no ads. $25- a year is worth no ads to me. I can’t stand pop up ads when I'm in the middle of doing something it just rubs my fur the wrong way. But looking forward to more pics

 

[bigballer]

ok so the project is almost completed. I had 14 yards of of 1-1/4" minus brought in just before the rains came and got it spread out, it was a good test to see how the drainage was working and after making a couple slight mods water is going everywhere it's supposed to and nowhere it isn't. A few days ago I had another load brought in. I think one more load ought to take care of it through the winter. I am trying to figure out a good way to keep it even and take off any high spots, etc.. maybe a boxblade but I am thinking something more like a drag or a rake, oh well will save that for another thread.

This segment of photos shows the grading before the gravel is laid..

side/back shot:


area that was built up to provide access around front side:


built up transition to driveway:

 

[SPIKER]

Big Bail:

Looking great: I took a few photos of the place I'm working on, haven't DL them to system yet.

How are you putting the tuumbnails in the post? I have posted photos on some sites (not this one yet) & I have build start up photos on my home page http://www.bright.net/~ispike/home2


anyhow i still have piles of wet soaking mud laying in the end of the low spots which is now probably setteling and making it a mess to work with I need to move probably 50+ ton clay/soil mix about the property. biggest problem I have is my drive is LOW and has small raised grade between the barn & drainage plane the drive is lowest spot which means the cars/trucks will always be setting in the wet spot waiting to freeze into ice. the phone lines and septic are on the other side of the raised grade and is a good 16" higher so I'm sort of stuck for ideas other than an attempt at tieling it away & going under/through the phone lines, drive enterance and the septic field IF I go the other way I could tile it but would need about 300 yards of tile & probably would have to be 6" + to handle the volume this also means going over/thourgh /past the elec service waster return & water service to the barn... again not a good choice..

anyhow when I get back to work, I'll talk to one of my co-workers who has some 400+ feet of the BIG 24" x 24" x12" ones.. anyhow he has BIG rocks too... perhaps some photos for ya

goodluck & keep us updated.

mark M

 

[Timber]

I can help you with the pic thumb and pic. This is from of 3RRL
Re: Building a backyard Fire Pit
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timber
You know what I wanted to ask you Rob. What are you using for an image code for posting your pics. I love the way that works. I do a lot with pictures, it seems to answer a lot of questions for people about the things I do. That little preview image is kinda nice

Sorry to get off track from the original thread... but I'll try to answer this. It might help other TBN members?
First, I always resize the pictures in my computer so they are not too big for dial-up members. I went to this site to get a free Microsoft image resizer. Free Image Resizer Once installed, it is very easy to use and automatically pops up as an option when you right mouse click on a picture in your computer. Then you "re-size" the picture. If you search the web, there are several free image re-sizers to choose from.

Then you can go to this site to get a free web host for your pictures. I use Photobucket...it's free. Free Image and Video Hosting - Photo Image Hosting Site : Photobucket.com

Open an account and upload your re-sized images. There are all kinds of things you can do. I make a folder for each topic and upload my photos into that folder. Just follow the directions...it's pretty easy once you get used to it.
Once the picture is uploaded, it will appear in your account. Directly below the thumbnail photo is a square box (on the left below the thumbnail). Check that box and scroll down to the bottom of the page. There will be several buttons...choose the one on the far right that says "Generate HTML and IMG code" and click it.
Then a new screen appears with several rectangles...go to the third one down that says "IMG clickable thumbnails for message boards - recommended" and right mouseclick on that.
Also log onto TBN and make a post. Then copy that and paste the stuff from Photobucket into the post you are replying to. If you do it right, when you preview your post, it will show up as a "clickable thumbnail" like mine do. You can (should have) both browsers open ...one logged into Photobucket and for TBN so you can work between the two. Try that.
__________________
Rob-
...The Older I get...the Better I Used to be...

 

[Timber]

ok so the project is almost completed. I had 14 yards of of 1-1/4" minus brought in just before the rains came and got it spread out, it was a good test to see how the drainage was working and after making a couple slight mods water is going everywhere it's supposed to and nowhere it isn't. A few days ago I had another load brought in. I think one more load ought to take care of it through the winter. I am trying to figure out a good way to keep it even and take off any high spots, etc.. maybe a boxblade but I am thinking something more like a drag or a rake, oh well will save that for another thread.

This segment of photos shows the grading before the gravel is laid..

side/back shot:


area that was built up to provide access around front side:


built up transition to driveway:

You know what I wanted to ask you is I notice in some of your pics like the last 1 is it seems like you building is lower on the left side. Is that just an illusion or did it drop on you

 

[bigballer]

You know what I wanted to ask you is I notice in some of your pics like the last 1 is it seems like you building is lower on the left side. Is that just an illusion or did it drop on you

yeah it sort of looks like it's sinking but it's just my poor picture taking skillz.. hehe. here is another shot where i actually tried to get it lined up right. the project for next spring is going to be to paint it, it needs it in a bad way, things around here like to collect moss and mold...



the clickable thumbnails are so slick.

spike - sounds like you have some big decisions to make, i am trying to get an image of how things are laid out but am having a hard time, if you can post some pics i think you'll get some good ideas from the rest of the group as well.

I'll try to put more pics of the project up tonight but for the most part it's pretty much done and I am already on to some other ones, like building a 4th stall and still debating my approach to the portable horse shelter (another thread) and the beat goes on... it looks like fall rain is coming on sunday so this is likely the last week for a while to get any "outside" projects done. Not all bad, I am looking forward to winter, got my shiny new seasons pass all ready to roll!

cheers,
bigballer

 

[Timber]

I see, that’s a nice building. How do you like those electric strap rails? I am going to fence in 1 of my fields for pasture probably next spring and I love the post and oak rails but I was thinking that would be great for some of the wooded area I want the horses to trample down. That way I can move them around in my wood lot

 

[bigballer]

thanks timber, the pole barn was pretty much home to all the garbage from the previous owners, they didn't really do anything in there except throw their old wood scraps, metal, etc. the only thing that was usable was a 300gallon poly water tank inside aluminum casing. Until I had my well dug it's what i used to haul water once a week during the dry season. anyway, the outside of the barn is pretty dirty and mildewy, now that i have the drainage solved, next spring i am going to pressure wash it and put some metal siding paint on it.

the tape fencing is great for temporary use but I have seen people drive 4" round PT posts into the ground and then run 3 strands of the tape. If done right it can look good and work extremely well. I haven't fully decided which perm fencing i am going to go with but really like the post/3-rail natural look. http://www.sultanpostandpole.com/nss-folder/postrailfencing/railhorse2.jpg For now, I am just putting in t-posts and running the 1 1/2" tape. if you do get it make sure to get a good energizer and ground the system well. i just went through regrounding mine and now it's producing between 3500-4000volts all the way down the line. The tape is safer for horses too as it will break if the get caught up in it.