Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[pclausen]

So I did manage a few night pics while monitoring the fire.

 

[mjncad]

Looks impressive to me; but I don't know squat about burning slash piles.

 

[forgeblast]

Love those night pics. How long until you start the foundation?

 

[bradm64]

So cool you are getting to do this for your Mom. I too lived close to my Mom about the last 10 years before she passed away almost 3 years ago, and was able to help out, take care of her. Was great to be able to do that.

She woud have loved the fires to - she liked nothing more than burning brush piles!

 

[pclausen]

Love those night pics. How long until you start the foundation?

Monday!

So the cutting of trees is officially over! Here' s a shot from this morning. It was about 15 degrees. The remnants from the fire were still burning.

And from later this afternoon. It just started snowing.

I skidded all these out today from the back of the lot where the drain field will be. That's the last of the Yellow Pines that needed to be cleared to make room for the house and drain field.

And here's what's left of the cut log pine. I'll pick though that tomorrow and load them onto my trailer.

The area in front of the dozer is where the foundation will be dug.

And a shot of what will be the drain field.

Here's the fire pit. It has been loaded up with stumps for the night.

Closer.

Closer still.

And a shot showing the entrance to the lot.

And finally a shot of the excavator. The boom got a bit charred from working the fire last night and today.

Quite a difference from this shot from page one when they dropped it off.

 

[deezler]

Great pics. Thanks for your continued commitment to documentation.

 

[lutt]

Nice looking trailer,good pics,youre gonna like tandem duals. Keep em coming. Looks like you alls weather is about as crazy as ours. LUTT

 

[pclausen]

Thanks. Yeah, I had been way overloading that poor 7 ton trailer a lot hauling all this lumber. There will still be plenty of select cutting to do later, not to mention it is was really borderline for hauling my tractor, especially with the loader mounted and a heavy attachment on the back. I was able to trade it in for more than 90% of what I paid for it about exactly 1 year ago. Here's a couple of pics from when I just got it home Friday:

And here it is after being converted for log hauling. I put down the tarp to catch all the tree sap that I learned the hard way that freshly cut pine trees excretes. It is almost impossible to get rid off.

 

[lutt]

Nice,like the center popup,you probly already know,but when its time to replace the tires,if it doesnt already have them,you may try g rated tires.I have heard nothing but good about big tex trailers. I have it narrowed down to them,p @ j, or a brand I have run across that I want to check out called tiger,from the pictures I have seen there good looking trailers.But dont know nothing about them. LUTT

 

[srs]

Pete, great job on clearing the property, sure do like all the pictures. Two questions for you; 1) with the purchase of the new trailer do you need a commercial driver's license to use the trailer? I thought there was a motor carrier law that due to the "combination" weight you might need a CDL. 2) Your old trailer was 24', what is the length of the new trailer? Stanley

 

[wmonroe]

Nice trailer! 32', oil bath axles, electric or electric over hydraulic brakes? My trailer is almost identical to your previous and I have thought hard about trading just like you did.

 

[pclausen]

Appreciate the complements on the trailer! It has a 20' deck with a 5' dovetail, so 25' total. It has a pair of Dexter 10k oil bath axles. I love the see through axle caps:

It is actually rated at 22,000 lbs, but is called a 10 ton trailer. I asked the guy I got it from about a 12 ton trailer, and he said they were not very popular due to requiring a CDL to operate. This one comes in just under that...

Brakes are electric, but I have a MaxBrake Controller, which ties into the hydraulics on the truck, so I guess you could almost say it is electric over hydraulic. They are very strong!

I'll get the test it out with a full load going to the mill in the morning. I picked out some decent sized logs from the cut pile this morning:

Had to dig a little to get to some of the big ones:

All loaded up:

A couple of different angles:

I'm guessing that's between 16k and 18k of logs. Will find out in the morning when I go across the scales.

 

[Buppies]

Pclausen Is the trailor you traded in already sold or do you know? May be interested if it is still for sale and which dealer has it. Thanks

 

[Obed]

pclausen,
I'm enjoying the thread. I'm amazed that you are able to haul such large loads of logs with your trailer and truck.

My 12 ton trailer has a 22' bed. I wish I had bought a shorter trailer, maybe 18', maybe even 16'. Mine is just too hard to maneauver. Unlike yours, my trailer is not a gooseneck. I also don't have large loads of logs to haul around.



Obed

 

[Relic]

Ur doing a great job on logging operation and lot preparation.Keep us up to date on the house building project.

 

[pclausen]

Pclausen Is the trailor you traded in already sold or do you know? May be interested if it is still for sale and which dealer has it. Thanks

I don't believe it has been sold yet. The dealer is TrailerTown USA in Ruckersville, VA. They are a large dealer with a lot of volume.

 

[pclausen]

My 12 ton trailer has a 22' bed. I wish I had bought a shorter trailer, maybe 18', maybe even 16'.

I hear you. That's why I didn't want the 35' that had on the lot. This 25' is already cutting it close in places (same as my 24'). I had a 16' Hudson hitch mount before the Better Built. It was a lot easier to get in and out of places. A gooseneck is really long when you consider where the pivot point is. Total length of my new trailer is 37'!

 

[pclausen]

I got done cleaning up that last pile of cut logs. I was able to pull another trailer load worth of decent logs out of it.

Original pile all gone. You can see the thin logs off in the distance in front of the fire pit. And there's a pile of hardwood off to the right. I've been trying to get someone to come pick it up for firewood. But so far no takers. I'll go on the burn pile in a few days if nobody wants it...

And the area where the house will go. If you look close, you can see a few yellow flags marking parts of the foundation.

 

[wmonroe]

Trailer looks good all loaded up. Mine is a 20' + 5' and have thought about going longer but I think 25' is the perfect length.

The lot is looking very good!

 

[pclausen]

They began excavating for the foundation yesterday. Below are some pics of the progress.

In this first picture, you can make out the Blue Ridge Mountains behind the trees. This is basically facing North. Once I clear those, it will open up a very nice view I think.

And here's a view facing East.

Outline of where the attached 1 car garage will be. White flag is where the meter base will go. There will be a service rated transfer switch mounted next to it for the whole house generator. The 200A breaker panel will be about 30 feet away in the center of the Eastern basement wall.

A view from what will be the rear deck, looking back at the house.

Oh, and the trailer (and truck) handled that first load of cut logs that I took to the mill very well. I hit the scales at 29,180 lbs entering the yard and 14,060 lbs leaving, so my payload was 15,120 lbs, not bad. The trailer is rated at 22,500 lbs, so I could have loaded even more logs, but being that my truck's official GCWR is 23,500 lbs, I'm probably good sticking with about 15,000 lbs per trip. I do have the MaxBrake controller, which connects to the brake lines at the master cylinder, so the trailer brakes are controlled very tightly and proportionally with those on the truck itself. Much smoother than the Prodigy controller I used to have back in the day.