Moving Dirt

[EddieWalker]

schmism,

In Turbo's defense, I grew up in California, worked construction there and my parents had rental homes. It's a mentality that you grow with and expect to be the same everywhere. I never imagined that there are places without building codes. It just didn't seem possible.

Even after 4 years of living here in Texas, I still build everything to California earthquake standards. I worry about liablity all the time and expect any day to have a dozen goverment officials to show up and tell me I can't take out a tree or move this dirt pile for some reason. I think one of the things that drives me is I expect this to happen sooner than later.

Eddie

 

[schmism]

schmism,
worry about liablity all the time and expect any day to have a dozen goverment officials to show up and tell me I can't take out a tree or move this dirt pile for some reason. I think one of the things that drives me is I expect this to happen sooner than later.

Eddie

see its that kind of attitude that really worries me. its that kind of thinking that will eventually lead to govt telling me how and how i cant F in my own house!

why do we need to legistlate responsiblity? Granted i see the "good" in "regulating" people that build stuff for other people for "public safty" but if i build a shack out of cardboard and paperclips to live in... and it falls down and kills me, how is that ANYONE elses fault! so why do i need someone telling me my cardboard shack doesnt meet "code"

there are those of you u that would say "what happens when you go to sell your property with cardboard shack?"

at which point see my comment about sold AS IS. dont like my cardboard shack, pass!

 

[schmism]

oh sorry to hyjack your thead Eddie....

 

[turbo36]

you truely must be a person of 21 century.

i have never owned nor lived in a house that wasnt 80 years old or more. in 1920 many of the "building codes" you speak of didnt exisit. The house on my property i just built dates back to 1900. (gasp yes dam near 120 years old)

you make it sound like with out building codes the world would stop rotateing and everything would fall down and kill us

My property is sold AS IS. you want to get inspections so be it but im in no way obligated to fix anything! You dont like it.... find you a nice new POS in the middle of suburbia h3ll that was built 2 years ago (or less).

Ah yes "Caveat emptor" - Let the buyer beware.
Wow! Sorry if I P*ssed in your corn flakes!!

I do have one of those "POS" homes you speak of and love it, I had it built last year and fully expected my builder to meet all applicable codes at the time. I grew up in a house that was built in 1863 and was heated with coal until I was 10 years old, sloping floors, cold drafts, leaky roof, and one bathroom for 11 people. Oh yeah I know all about old houses and all the ways so-called smart guys figure out how to get around the applicable building codes at the time and create unsafe conditions for the unaware future buyer.
Sorry, but as an engineer I prefer to do things the right way the first time and avoid future problems.

By the way, here is a link to a real easy spell checker. ieSpell - Spell Checker add-on for Internet Explorer

 

[schmism]

By the way, here is a link to a real easy spell checker. ieSpell - Spell Checker add-on for Internet Explorer

i 2 am an engineer. Could care less how i spell....

and only a fool uses IE for a web browser.

 

[turbo36]

i 2 am an engineer. Could care less how i spell....

and only a fool uses IE for a web browser.

Personal insults are not tolerated on this discussion board please keep your comments to the subject manner.

 

[turbo36]

schmism,

In Turbo's defense, I grew up in California, worked construction there and my parents had rental homes. It's a mentality that you grow with and expect to be the same everywhere. I never imagined that there are places without building codes. It just didn't seem possible.

Even after 4 years of living here in Texas, I still build everything to California earthquake standards. I worry about liablity all the time and expect any day to have a dozen goverment officials to show up and tell me I can't take out a tree or move this dirt pile for some reason. I think one of the things that drives me is I expect this to happen sooner than later.

Eddie

Eddie , I enjoy your reading about your projects because you impress me as a person that takes great pride in doing it "right", if I was having you do work for me or buying something from you I would have a high level sense of trust due to you honest personality.

 

[Renze]

By the way, here is a link to a real easy spell checker. ieSpell - Spell Checker add-on for Internet Explorer

i 2 am an engineer. Could care less how i spell....

and only a fool uses IE for a web browser.

Personal insults are not tolerated on this discussion board please keep your comments to the subject manner.

Err... what's the exact definition of personal insult ?

A. To imply that someone cant spell and should use a spell checker before he's worthy to disagree with you, right after you told him you're an engineer ?

B. to generalise MS IE users as being fools ?

answer: none of the two.
Answer A is defined as plain arrogance, and anwer B is generalising and subjective, so not up to the standard of a literated person.

Come on, both you engineers, you should be able to get over something as simple as a difference of opinion

Oh... just one more thing: i 3 am an engineer

 

[turbo36]

Err... what's the exact definition of personal insult ?

A. To imply that someone cant spell and should use a spell checker before he's worthy to disagree with you, right after you told him you're an engineer ?

B. to generalise MS IE users as being fools ?

answer: none of the two.
Answer A is defined as plain arrogance, and anwer B is generalising and subjective, so not up to the standard of a literated person.

Come on, both you engineers, you should be able to get over something as simple as a difference of opinion

Oh... just one more thing: i 3 am an engineer

I suggested ieSpell because it is the easiest to use and there have been many times on this board that people say they won't use a spell checker because it is a pain in the butt. Since you are an engineer you must realize that things are easier to read and comprehend when they are properly spelled.
The comment about being an engineer is to explain my training in the correct way to perform a task. I am an obsessive/compulsive so anything that is not spelled right, out of plumb, not level, off key etc. etc. tend to drive me crazy. Arrogant? I don't think so. Mentally imbalanced? Most decidedly so!

 

[Renze]

Paper is so more willing than actual practice

I am an obsessive/compulsive so anything that is not spelled right, out of plumb, not level, off key etc. etc. tend to drive me crazy. Arrogant? I don't think so. Mentally imbalanced? Most decidedly so!

It surprises me that your own out of plumb, off level, off key -ness doesnt drive yourself crazy then...

 

[turbo36]

Paper is so more willing than actual practice



It surprises me that your own out of plumb, off level, off key -ness doesnt drive yourself crazy then...

What do you mean by that? Did I insult you?

 

[Renze]

What do you mean by that? Did I insult you?

...No... you just surprised me about how you contradict yourself... You say something out of plumb, off level, off key drives you crazy, though it seems you dont care to bother other people with your obsessive/compulsiveness as you say... O/C may be a reason, but not an excuse.

On paper you might be right but in practice, one cannot get ANYTHING level, key or plumb. Please bear in mind that most of this forums contributors are practical executors that dont like theoretical skyscraping.

 

[turbo36]

...No... you just surprised me about how you contradict yourself... You say something out of plumb, off level, off key drives you crazy, though it seems you dont care to bother other people with your obsessive/compulsiveness as you say... O/C may be a reason, but not an excuse.

On paper you might be right but in practice, one cannot get ANYTHING level, key or plumb. Please bear in mind that most of this forums contributors are practical executors that dont like theoretical skyscraping.

Sorry Renze but now you have set the high mark for arrogance and far reaching analysis; "Theoretical skyscraping" what are you smoking????

Time to hit the ignore button and go trick or treating.

 

[BTDT]

I wish I was as smart as ya'll think you are

Just kidding.

 

[BTDT]

Here's a few more pics on the road project. The rains made it too muddy to move dirt with the dump truck for a few days, than I had a few good days, and now it's raining again. Yesterday the forecast was 100% for rain for last night and today. For once, they got it right!!!

I had about 40 loads all lined up and decided to smooth it out before it rained. Dirt piles are like a sponge when it rains. After a certain point, the dirt just absorbs all the water and it's impossible to work it. The only solution is to spread it out a bit, let it dry, and spread it some more. Not fun, and it takes months to get it dry enough to be usable.

The first pass is just to knock off the tops of the piles and start spreading the dirt a little. It takes allot of passes to get it where I want it. The ground slopes down quite a bit on one side because it was a drainage area, so it's taking twice as much dirt on one side than the other. It's impossible to get the dump truck into that area, so I build up my piles and spread with the dozer.

I'm leveling it by eye for now since I'm only rough grading it. I still have several more feet of fill to build it up, but I'm not wide enough all the way through yet either. The road needs to be 36 feet wide across the top when finished. I need to have two RV's be able to pass in oposite directions and room for people to walk along the side of them.

Eddie

What's that bent bar sticking out of the top of your blade in pic 32,33?

 

[EddieWalker]

BTDT,

The metal trianglular shaped attachement on my dozer blade is to stop logs from rolling over the blade. They start to build up when pushing them and will pop over onto my hoses.

It's pretty effective, but in a day of heavy tree work, I'll have to get off the dozer a few times to pull something out of there. Usually it's the smaller sapplings, but sometimes I have to get the chainsaw and do it in pieces.

Eddie

 

[Renze]

Sorry Renze but now you have set the high mark for arrogance and far reaching analysis; "Theoretical skyscraping" what are you smoking????

I think you understood what i said.
Now i say something, suddenly your definition of arrogance has altered...
The theoretical skyscraping, you come running by with the books, to bother people with building codes. This is a thread about Eddie being happy while moving dirt, not about dry theory codes.

Time to hit the ignore button and go trick or treating.

This is the first thing where i agree with you !
Nice talking to you, but if you dont mind, i'll go back watching some pictures here.

 

[slowzuki]

Another engineer stepping in, codes have a place, its to keep people safe when someone else constructs something for someone. The reason they have begun to regulate what an owner can do is frequently this impacts someone else beyond the owner such as their family or whatnot.

My biggest problem is codes which attempt to regulate beyond safety into resale value. If I am in a wheelchair, I don't want to install electrical outlets inside my upper cabinets just so the next person doesn't have to replace the outlets when they do the cabinets back to normal height.

Locally, no one can do electrical work except licenced electrical contractors. I can't legally change a lightswitch in my own house. I have a fairly heavy electrical background, even including electronics so I know I can safely find the information I need, meet code and do most any residential work in a "good workmanship manner" but there are some stiff penalties.

 

[Renob]

I didn't realize there were so many people that drive trains on this site! .

 

[mudcat]

Eddie,
Sorry to see your thread get so far off topic. Anyway,Great Project. Keep the pictures coming.