New Site Work for the new homestead

[paintman161]

So we bought this property at the end of April and had plans for building our home, but first we wanted to raise the house up as well as the pole barn. We decided to keep the basement floor above our swale out front so we would be able to do a gravity drain and to keep everything dry. Also doing this we would be able to get a nice walk-out basement. I hired a contractor to take fill out of the back part of the property (will be a pond when done). In 5 days phase one was completed, which is basically, the pole barn pad (raised 8'-0") the new driveway and two culvert pipe. The contractor used his dirt pan and dozer to compact the new hill and driveway. The driveway feels very solid which had the best fill used. The pole barn pad area was a wet sandy/clay that once dried out will be very solid. Pole barn should be up in about 4 weeks.

 

[dave1949]

That's some serious dirt moving. It must be exciting to get started.

Good luck with your projects.

 

[paintman161]

That's some serious dirt moving. It must be exciting to get started.

Good luck with your projects.

it is very exciting, we hope to build our house next year. It sucks that we had a lot of rain this year in NY so it kept being put off.

 

[oosik]

That IS some serious dirt work. You are in for the time of your life - continue documenting this adventure with pictures. Chances are you will probably never have this opportunity again. I built a cabin in a most remote location in Alaska and relive those times thru the pictures taken.

 

[paintman161]

Another thing i was wondering is, he did not have a roller to compact the dirt, he said that the heavy dirt pans would compact it down. Should i rent a roller to compact some more before i build my pole barn on it? The barn wont be built for another 3-4 weeks though.

 

[dave1949]

Not sure, but if the pole barn area was raised 8', I don't think compacting now is going to change much. The poles will be in fill all the way to their bottoms I assume. You would need to compact to a depth of ~8 feet to make a difference for the poles. I don't think a roller would do that.

 

[paintman161]

Not sure, but if the pole barn area was raised 8', I don't think compacting now is going to change much. The poles will be in fill all the way to their bottoms I assume. You would need to compact to a depth of ~8 feet to make a difference for the poles. I don't think a roller would do that.

The poles will be going down 8 ft and sitting on virgin ground.

 

[dave1949]

The poles will be going down 8 ft and sitting on virgin ground.

Then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[farmer2009]

I know you said the poles would be sitting on virgin ground but you want to be sure. I had a builder tell me once that if they weren't and you added the roof before the concrete floor was poured and pinned to the post then just the weight of the roof could cause the post to be pushed into the fill, which was compacted with a dozer and tractor while still wet. When we pulled the concrete truck in it didn't leave a track but we didn't want to take any chances.