Land Clearing to House Building...

[hunterridgefarm]

Starting to put the banister/railing around the front porch. this is one I really battled as I was not sure I wanted the railing. We went with treated wood and made our on rails out of 2x's. This was about 1/4 the cost of vinyl. I will have to let the rails dryfor a couple of months, most likely stain/paint this summer.

I know I should have went with vinyl but when you are not sure thats what you want better to go the chearper route and can always go to vinyl in a few years. But I had to put something up due to code.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

Continues to impress, David!

Glad i'm not the only one struggling with the front porch railing. We want a darker brown. Darkest brown in vinyl we can find is khaki. Not dark enough. I have no interest in the composite stuff, heard too many horror stories. That leaves us with doing your way (treated/paint) OR going with ironwood and staining it. got a sample yesterday of the stained ironwood and it is perfect for what we want. BUT it cost more than composite.

Anywho - not trying to crash your thread, sorry! So what color will you stain the railing? Will you paint the columns to match the stain color or leave them white?

Getting

 

[3RRL]

Hi David,
I saw you are planning to bury the gas tank. How many gallons is it? Is it propane? Is it different than above ground ones?
I was also wondering about burying it, can you do that and what/how are you doing it? Any special provisions when you do that like do you keep the dirt off by making a cellar like for it? Just curious about that.
Mine is above ground.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Continues to impress, David!

Glad i'm not the only one struggling with the front porch railing. We want a darker brown. Darkest brown in vinyl we can find is khaki. Not dark enough. I have no interest in the composite stuff, heard too many horror stories. That leaves us with doing your way (treated/paint) OR going with ironwood and staining it. got a sample yesterday of the stained ironwood and it is perfect for what we want. BUT it cost more than composite.

Anywho - not trying to crash your thread, sorry! So what color will you stain the railing? Will you paint the columns to match the stain color or leave them white?

Getting

Michael, What are you talking about "crash my thread"...I was talking about killing cows in your thread!!

As far as the columns I am going to try a white stain. I have never used "white" stain, but have used several different colors of stain, mostly a dark color. So I will buy a small sample of the white and try it on a scrap piece of treated wood. The stain penetrates better so I hope it works. If not I'll us a white paint.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

Good to know. Can't wait to see it!

And by the way... just beyond that cow are a buncha chickens. Some good eatin' around my place!

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Hi David,
I saw you are planning to bury the gas tank. How many gallons is it? Is it propane? Is it different than above ground ones?
I was also wondering about burying it, can you do that and what/how are you doing it? Any special provisions when you do that like do you keep the dirt off by making a cellar like for it? Just curious about that.
Mine is above ground.

Rob,
You know I'm not sure now if its propane or natural gas but I'm thinking its propane. The tank is 375 or 325 gallon. We thought a 250 would be too small and a 500 to big. They charge $65 a year lease on the tank unless you us 2 tanks a year. So since the guy could not decide he add to my contract that as long as I use 1 tank a year they would not charge the $65. Of coures if the wood furnace does its job I'll gladly pay $65 a year and fill the tank every 3 years .

As far as special provisions; just needs to be located a minimun of 10' from the house. They give you the size hole you need to dig for each size tank and they just set it in and cover it over. There is a small dome above ground that you open to check fuel level. If mine was above ground I would have set it back in the woods. I am farily sure it is the same tank that they use for above ground.

I have everything located on the same side of the house, meter box, heat pump, and propane tank.

I'll take a pic when they get it buried and show you the dome part that is on top of the ground.

David

 

[hunterridgefarm]

And by the way... just beyond that cow are a buncha chickens. Some good eatin' around my place!

Just don't tell Tony123 "woods too eggs".

 

[3RRL]

Thanks for the explanation David.
So I gather from what you said they will bury it with dirt right against the metal then ... not like an underground cavern? If that's so, I wish I would've thought of that. My tank is leased also but they didn't tell me I could do that. Of course I didn't ask either. Just never thought of it.

I like the fact your porch posts will be white too. I think that is the perfect color for your place.
It looks elegant and regal that way.

 

[westbrooklawn]

David -

Looking better every day!


A note about your propane tank... I have a propane tank at a summer place I have on a lake. I was being billed a large lease fee because I didn't use enough propane to negate the fee. I found out that I could purchase the tank for a little over $200, and since I then owned the tank, I could shop for best LP prices, which turned out to be substantially lower per gallon than what I was paying under the lease arrangement. The funny thing was that even the company I was leasing from agreed to sell me LP at a cheaper per gallon rate after I bought the tank. Bottom line, the payback was less than 3 years, and I can enjoy the lifetime benefit of paying less per gallon. I checked with several suppliers, and this is apparently common in the LP business.

Your tank is much larger than mine (I think mine is 110 gal.), but I would bet you could still purchase it and realize a break even point in less than 5 years... after that you continue to save on lower prices. Might be worth checking into.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Ron,
You are correct it is dirt against metal.

Westbrook,
Thank for the info. I will check on buying the tank.