Lakeview Farms project (house)

[wroughtn_harv]

If there is any way to dig a storm celler as part of the project aht would be worthwhile. I know that you don't build out full basements, but a storm celler in case of a tornado wold be great to have espcially with did you say 10 kids.

The subject hasn't came up Rox. I'll mention it to them. Few people here consider it much of an issue. I guess most of us are still stuck with a little of that superman stuff we're afflicted with as teens.

Today I made two kinds of chili, one with beans, one without. Both of them had the meat browned off with onions, garlic, jalopenas in olive oil. I thought about you and all the fun you're having over there.

 

[txdon]

Harvey, interesting project in a project. I really like those saw horses. You make them look so simple: estimator - cut, cut , zap, zap, it's done!

Like Rox we have been thinking about a root cellar/storm cellar also. I have myself wondering: "How would Harvey build it?"

 

[MF1455v]

Double doggone darn James! Are you really moving to Austin? If you do you'll have to join the Balcones Forge blacksmiths. They're the greatest.

Give Barb a hug for us. We're hoping we can make it to Eddie's octoberfest. It's happening the same time we usually head out west to visit dad.

Yep, Harvey I am. It took a lot of time making the decision and after a week on the new job it was the right one. Well be looking those guys a Balcones Forge up as soon as everything calms down. We are hoping to be at Eddies in the fall.

Don, you get started let me know. I'll be having project withdrawals in a few weeks. I work cheep on the weekends.

James

 

[jinman]

Don, I think a storm shelter/cellar is a great idea. Rox has raised a good point, and her timing is perfect in relation to Harvey's project. As a kid, we were in our storm cellar probably 5 times over the years and two of them we had a very good reason to be. Our house never was hit, but we lost a wooden frame shop building to the foundation and also a barn. It was very comforting to be in the cellar while that twister was just outside.

I have a corner of my walkout basement that will be a fairly safe spot, but a storm cellar would sure make me feel even better. Harvey if your client wants a shelter, no better time to do it than when the excavating equipment is there.

 

[Bird]

Now that I'm an old man, I'd like to have a storm cellar, but I hated that thing when I was a kid. I don't know how many times our folks woke us up at night to go to the cellar, and of course the only light outside the house and in the cellar was a kerosene lantern. Sure was boring and tiring, sitting or standing in that cellar waiting for the clouds to pass so we could go back in the house and go back to bed. And when we moved to town, we had a place with no cellar and I was glad of it. But with my usual luck, the elderly couple next door did have a cellar, so they'd come over in the middle of the night to wake us up to go to the cellar with them because there was a cloud somewhere in Oklahoma.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Hmmmm, I've been asleep at the wheel evidently. I've let this thread die and it doesn't deserve that kind of treatment.

Here's some shots of the piers poured with the roofing felt instead of sonotube tubes.

All total we used fifty yards of concrete to fill all the piers.

The felt tubes worked perfectly. By the time we reached the end we were using only small pieces of duct tape on the tops to hold the shape full of concrete.

The way it would work is I'd fill the pier hole to almost grade. Then we'd put the felt tube in place. Using the lazer level we'd shoot final grade and make it with a nail through the felt wall. We'd then fill the tube to that mark.

Nothing but a thing, as they say in France I hear.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Once we had all the piers complete it was decided due to time constraints to have the professionals come in and form up the grade beams and handle the pour.

I wasn't back on the job until my services were required again.

The framers had the ground floor complete.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

The reason I was called was the builder was in a little bit of a bind. The company that had agreed to go into the timber lease and bring out the cedar logs along with milling them into beams and planks had pulled out of the deal.

I was asked if I could bring out the logs if they were on the ground in the lease and already de-limbed.

Nothing but a thing as they say over there.

We rented a Bobcat T250. That's a tracked ten thousand pound approximately skid steer. It's a hoss.

The reason we needed tracks is it's sandy loam bottom land with seeps and the only thing more of than poison ivy is places to get stuck.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

As some on TBN might have guessed by now I like a challenge.

We had challenges.

First was access. A county road about one and a quarter lanes wide with bar ditches on both sides just begging for tires to swallow, especially if they're attached to a red truck named Lucy.

I had one opening in the fence/tree line. It was about eighteen feet wide and was for utility company access. Inside of the tree/fence line I had a staging area to bring in the logs.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

It was interesting. Except for one and a half days I was all alone with the tractor, the chainsaw for trimming and the woods. I made all the trails trying to keep them down to a minimum.

Last evening I faced the real problem with working by myself long days and no one expecting me home until well after dark. About five or so in the evening while trying to find logs de-limbed I came upon a clearing one thicket away. I put the forks up at an angle for breaking through the thicket and charged on through. About half way in an arm sized cedar limb stabbed the back wall of the tractor about six inches off from my neck. I never saw it coming. I guess it was like one of those walking into a tree limb when it's in that blind spot between your eyes and the hat brim.

Cedar lower limbs die off as the tree grows upwards. Dry cedar doesn't bend, it shatters. This was a sharp ended broken piece still attached to a tree. A little to the right and they'd been looking for an old man in a tractor in woods after dark. In woods that are easy to get lost in during the daytime.

I belive that was either number eight or number nine. I can't remember which. I'm sure it makes a difference.

I learned how to put a track back on by myself. It happened twice. The first time I called Sunbelt and told them I needed to talk to a good mechanic. I asked him to walk me through it because I didn't have time for him to come and find me. I was out in the woods and the only thing harder than him walking in would be me giving him directions on where to walk to.

I've decided the smartest SOB on the face of the earth is the guy/gal that invented the grease gun tensioning device for adjusting the tracks. He/she is one sharp cookie.

I also got it stuck. Something I thought could never happen. I buried it bigtime. But I got it out without using the cell phone.

The way it worked was I'd pull in front of the opening in the tree/fence line and drop the trailer. Using the trackloader I'd manuever the trailer into the clearing for loading. When it was loaded I'd use the trackloader to manuever the trailer out on to the road and down to an intersection. There I'd turn it around so I could hook it up to the truck. The alternative would be to back out almost a half of a mile with a couple of nineties to make it interesting.