Creating an Entrance

[EddieWalker]

The first cap is out and it's a failure. Several problems. First I should never have used silicone. It is glue for the morter. I had to take off the sides of the form and slide a thin piece of metal throught o break it free. During the process, I broke off a corner of the cap.

The shape is good, and I'm on the right track, just need to make a few changes.

The next one will go in with no silicone and I'll just grind off the edges an sand it smooth. Or at least that's my plan. I will also make the edges thicker by 3/4 of an inch. This will take more morter, but it's so cheap that's not a concern.

 

[EddieWalker]

While the new cap is in the mold, I decided to take out my dying pine. It's bigger than any tree I've ever taken out, and I'm a little intimidated by the damage it could cause if it fell on me. It's right out in front and will fall in time if I don't address it now.

 

[EddieWalker]

I thought about just using a chain saw, but it sits right next to my entrance road, and I don't want a stump right there. Ther is also a drainage ditch that goes behind the tree, and I want to clean it up when I'm done.

To take it out, I need to creat a space to work from and then dig out around the trunk and push it over.

This means using my favorite toys.

 

[EddieWalker]

I want the tree to fall into the smaller ones and disapear over time. This means digging the deepest part on the back side of the tree so it will fall that way. I needed to clear some room to work and level out the drainage around the tree.

With the right tool, this only takes a half an hour.

 

[EddieWalker]

The bigger the tree, the deeper and bigger the hole around it. They really don't want to fall over and it takes some encouragment on my part. This photo is the back side of the tree and I ended up going around 10 feet deep.

 

[EddieWalker]

Once I got a good trench around the tree, it's just a matter of pushing it over. Of course, the wind started blowing in the wrong direction while I was almost done digging. It makes me real nervous being on the downwind side of it. Once enough dirt is out, it will just lay down where I push it.

 

[EddieWalker]

It fell just about exactly where I wanted it to. They usually do, but I've had a few suprises, and when they get this big, a suprise could be very bad news.

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( never have used silicone. It is glue )</font>

Eddie, I've wondered whether wax paper would work; never heard of it being used and there may be a good reason, but it just seems to me that it would work. Or butcher's paper. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[dummy]

Nope, the best is to use nothing. For a wooden form, watering down first doesn't hurt, but nothing else will help. I built a few and had to learn the hard way also.

 

[BB_TX]

When you put in your culvert, did they mention concreteing the sloped ends? When I put in one 4 years ago, they said I would have to concrete the sloped ends to their specs. I put in the culvert, covered with dirt, and have not yet done the concrete. I don't live there yet, but my neighbor (who I bought the property from) said they have stopped by his place a couple times asking when the ends were going to be concreted. He just told them it wasn't his anymore and he didn't know. I thought I had heard that they did not require concrete anymore, but haven't been able to confirm that. Mine would be the only one within miles any direction that had concrete.