My Homestead in the making.....

[12Bravo]

Just wanted to make a new post about my adventure in the homestead making process. Will be adding a lot of photos, so you all can watch as the process continues. Slow process, but will update weekly at least! Maybe even daily, if time permits.

So here goes!

Me being goofy with my new Straw hat!


Working on driveway, trying to get the water to cut across instead of going straight down and washing gravel into road. Later will come a culvert or french drain system.

















Piece of equipment that is just as important as the tractor! Must have!

 

[davesl708]

Nice project.

 

[farm boy00]

Love the dog. St benards are one of my favorite breads

 

[EddieWalker]

Looking forward to following your progress. Never use a french drain instead of a culvert. French drains are more for appearances around a house, and tend to fail rather quickly. I hate them, but understand their need. With the size of your hill and guessing that you get a lot of water running down it, I would only consider going with a 18 or 24 inch culvert. Bigger is better!!!

 

[/pine]

...French drains are more for appearances around a house, and tend to fail rather quickly...

As a general statement I have to disagree with this...if installed correctly and used in the right situations and away from invasive roots etc...
I have several (4" pipe) drains that were installed over 30 years ago that still work well...
Before the advent of infiltrators and other technical advances...almost all septic system leach lines were nothing more than french drains...and in areas where the earth has a good perc rate...they have been known to last a very long time...

 

[12Bravo]

Love the dog. St benards are one of my favorite breads

This is my first St Bernard, we love here. Our next dog will be a Cane Corso, waiting for the kids to get a bit older before we get a 150 bully breed dog.

 

[12Bravo]

Looking forward to following your progress. Never use a french drain instead of a culvert. French drains are more for appearances around a house, and tend to fail rather quickly. I hate them, but understand their need. With the size of your hill and guessing that you get a lot of water running down it, I would only consider going with a 18 or 24 inch culvert. Bigger is better!!!

Where everything is located around the house, I'm not putting multiple culverts in down the driveway. That would look horrible....

I might put one culvert in at the bottom of driveway and then run french drains along the length of the driveway and under driveway at two different points.

One issue I will have, I share a driveway with my neighbor. So when I finish the driveway it will only be 2/3 finished. Not going to put money into a driveway the will wash out of be under cut because they won't concrete or blacktop their section.

 

[newbury]

<snip> Never use a french drain instead of a culvert. French drains are more for appearances around a house, and tend to fail rather quickly. <snip>

French drains definitely have their applications. My house in Virginia is on 1/4 acre suburban lot surrounded by other lots of that size. At the southeast corner there is about 10 feet of concrete culvert which drains to the fields about 75 yards away. the drain into that was a slight ditch about 5 yards in from my rear property line and parallel to it. I also have a sump pump that the #$%^ builder drained to the middle of the back yard (which is relatively flat) about 10 yards from the house. This then drained to the ditch. In the pic red is property line, turquoise is drain.



The first couple years I put up with it. The back yard would flood in the spring and we would have a skating rink, mowing was a pain maneuvering around the ditches. Finally about 1987 I replaced both ditches with a hand dug french drain. I dug the ditch, put in a few inches of river washed gravel, laid a 4"(?) Perforated flexible plastic drain pipe down, laid a piece of tar paper over that (to cover the top holes), threw in a little more gravel, covered with dirt and sowed grass.

I expected it to last about 10 years before it filled with silt. It's lasted since '87. If 30 years is rather quickly I'll put up with it.

 

[12Bravo]

Time for an update, it's raining today so there isn't much going to be happening for a couple days till it drains and dries out a bit.

First, for all the dog lovers.....My big baby


Took a trip to the store to get some gardening supplies, about that time to start sowing seeds indoors and getting ready for the upcoming canning season.


Starting the clearing of brush, took advantage of the wet weather and burned the pile in place. Of course I had tools and a water hose just in case it got a little bigger than I prepared for. All was good and at the end of the day I have a 2 foot thick bed of coals, I burned a lot of wood yesterday.

 

[handirifle]

I am on 3 acres and in order to build my workshop, I had to dry out an area that was saturated due to hydraulic pressure from basins uphill from it. That was what the geologist said, and he recommended the french drain. I ran an 85ft french drain behind the shop area that is 3ft deep at the deepest end. The ditch is lined with cloth designed for them, and the cloth covered 4" perforated pipe sits on a 3" or so, base of gravel, and the rest is back filled with gravel to about 3" below surface. Then the cloth goes over the top of the gravel, and dirt covers the cloth.

That area dried right up. We had 33" of rain that year, and 40 the next. Kept the flood waters at bay.

I also have culverts under the driveway in front of the shop, and near the main house. Each has it purpose.