Earth work

[desertdog71]

We're 16 inches here for "frost line" although it rarely freezes for long. Not sure on the septic, it's the only inspection that my county requires interestingly enough. The dirt is spoils from old mines that are over 100 years old, its pretty compacted and doesn't cave in, there's a good amount of clay in it. I really won't know a lot until I dig into it. After discussing with my wife, we are most likely going to purchase new and go with the 2510H. We can rent equipment for the bigger jobs and the 2510H gives us the best long term use. One of the bigger tractors would be better short term, but after the first year or two it would sit around and not get used much at all. At least with the 2510 we can get the mid mower and have a decent and durable mower for years down the road, still cut brush, drag the driveway and pick up heavy stuff from time to time. I'd like more tractor but then we're talking a jump of a good 8-10K then still need to buy a mower. That's money I can spend on the house build and renting equipment. My brain usually wins after fighting it out with my illogical side for several days or weeks. :laughing:

I have 2 years to complete the build, so I have plenty of time. I work 16on/14off so it's not like I'm depending on just a weekend here and there either.

This is the thing I keep coming back to though. I want to be able to look at my completed new home and say "I did that" so I keep fighting the urge to just let my buddy rent a dozer and knock it out. It may come to that in the end, but slow or not I'm going to attempt it at least on my own. Just something I feel like I need to do. I could easily just pay a contractor and have the place built for me, but what's the fun in that? Besides I like saving money and I hate contractors in general. (yes there are a few good ones that won't bend you over a tree stump while stealing from you.) I just haven't met any yet. I can save over a $100K and do things myself and know that I'm going to care about how the work is done more than anyone else will.

I'll find out about the septic tomorrow. The permit has signatures and such for the plumbing pro, so I suspect that you may be right about a pro needing to do it.

Thanks for all your input.

 

[LouNY]

You could rent a small excavator for your site work, pulling and loosening the soil.
Then a box blade or bucket to carry it a short distance.
That would also do your septic.
Around here you have to do a perc test before putting in a septic system,
dig a hole dump some water in and time how fast it goes down,
to fast or to slow and no permit. Then it requires an "engineered" system $$$$$$$$.

 

[4570Man]

You could rent a small excavator for your site work, pulling and loosening the soil.
Then a box blade or bucket to carry it a short distance.
That would also do your septic.
Around here you have to do a perc test before putting in a septic system,
dig a hole dump some water in and time how fast it goes down,
to fast or to slow and no permit. Then it requires an "engineered" system $$$$$$$$.

Here you have to have a perk test done and you have to get a permit which involves inspections but a homeowner can install their own system without a license.

 

[desertdog71]

Went out yesterday and had the property lines surveyed and marked. While I was out there, staked out a general area for the building and ran some string lines with line levels. The biggest variation of grade was 15 inches, so it's fairly flat I guess. I dug a couple small holes and the soil has a lot of clay in it but drains well. From soil surveys I've looked at in this area, the clay is not the expansive type so building slab on grade shouldn't be an issue, I will make sure the area is well drained and sloped away from the building. I do need to get a septic guy out there to evaluate where and how they would install a system and get a quote or three. If the quote is reasonable I won't bother trying to do it myself. If they come in high I will see about the DIY approach.

I did order my tractor this week, and I decided to go with the smaller option with MMM to keep my wife happy about the purchase. It's going to be far less capable than a heavier machine, so moving dirt around may be off the table now. I am going to at least make an attempt at some of it though just to see what I can and cannot do. I think some of the driveway work can be done with the smaller tractor, there is little to no topsoil so I won't need to do much more than rip up the organic matter and level a few areas. That's the first step of the process anyways. So Feb 18th I will pick up the new tractor and get to work with it.

Next few steps.
1. Install the driveway with just the heavy base material for now (rip rap, railroad ballast, 4inch, whatever you want to call it.)
2. Get a 40 foot container delivered and placed to store materials and tools, and probably the tractor.
3. 6 more acres of bush hogging.
4. Remove 5 cedar trees from the build site.
5. Remove organic material from build site and any topsoil
6. Attempt to level the build site and evaluate feasibility vs hiring it out.

I'd like to be in a position to start construction by September and be dried in by the end of October. I'm probably being a bit optimistic since its a DIY build.

 

[desertdog71]

Hillbilly perc test completed to satisfy my own curiosity. It drains pretty good, between 4 and 7 inches per hour. I did some looking at the local regs for septic, you can install your own system but the county has to certify you, which may or may not involve testing. So this is probably best handled by a local plumber rather than me.


In the process of doing a little digging, we do have some stray coal mixed in with the dirt. The top about 8 inches of soil is decent and loamy then you start to hit clay mixed with some of the coal shaving below that. It was all fairly easy to dig in with just a hand shovel. This bodes well for the later projects of moving dirt. It may come down to needing to bring my buddy in with a dozer, but I am going to attempt it at least. We re-aligned the proposed house footprint a little bit while we were there as well, which will give us a larger back yard. About 50 feet now before it drops down to the water.


This photo is what the lot was like and what half is still like. I've identified some of the plants, weeds, trees, whatever. There is a lot of Sumac, blackberry, and multi-flora rose mixed in with native grasses. There is also quite a few vines mixed in among the larger trees. I'm not sure what kind those are yet. One grove of trees had what appeared to be nightshade growing under it and a huge hole dug by an animal. I don't know what dug the hole. Fox, rabbit, badger? :laughing:



Few more pics of the proposed house site, I'm parked in the kitchen. Then where we are doing to run our driveway. I have about 8 cedar trees and a couple other small trees that I will need to be yanking out. That should be fun. I have some ideas on how to accomplish that without the need of bigger equipment. I'll make sure to do video in case it all goes bad.