Road building with 2305

[chipsndust]

Here are some pictures of my summer project. Beavers built a dam on neighbor's property, flooding 6-8 acres of my wooded land, and causing loss of access to part of my property.
I put 6'-8' logs in, covered logs with field stone, then covered stone with dirt/gravel. The earth moving/leveling was done with FEL and box blade. I started out moving the field stone in the FEL, but found it was more efficient to use my 4-wheeler (see a Gator HPX in the future). Water is about 3' deep in deepest spot, average is probably 18".

 

[Skipholiday]

Very nice road ..

 

[MacLawn]

Man, I cannot believe you did that! Really looks great to me, and makes me want to take a drive down it on my JD2210... I guess the logs will rot fairly soon though, and you will have to refill?

 

[EastTnFarmboy]

Very impressive. What is the reason behind laying down the logs initially?

 

[chipsndust]

Man, I cannot believe you did that! Really looks great to me, and makes me want to take a drive down it on my JD2210... I guess the logs will rot fairly soon though, and you will have to refill?

Thanks, Mac, I estimate it's about 80 yards across the "swamp". The logs are from trees in the flooded area, live trees which would have died. I think if they are submerged, they won't rot out in my lifetime. If they do, it'll give me more seat time.

 

[chipsndust]

Very impressive. What is the reason behind laying down the logs initially?

They make good fill, and I had lots of them available. Also they make a "level" base under the rocks. Without the logs, it was taking too many rocks and too much dirt. I piled field stone on top of the logs until the stone was above water level, then covered the stones with dirt and packed it down.

 

[EastTnFarmboy]

Thanks, Mac, I estimate it's about 80 yards across the "swamp". The logs are from trees in the flooded area, live trees which would have died. I think if they are submerged, they won't rot out in my lifetime. If they do, it'll give me more seat time.

I didn't realize that a submerged log will not rot as fast as one that isn't submerged.

 

[jbrumberg]

EastTNFarmboy: Once they get exposed to air and sunlight they rot pretty quick.

Chipsndust: Beavers can be such pests. There is quite a bit of legitimate beaver trapping/re-location in my area. In some ways I am lucky about my sloped property. I do have a spring, but there is no place those beavers can dam . That is one great looking road, good work !

Jay

 

[TheHammer]

Chipsndust,

Now that's some nice work. Just curious as to about how much time it took you to complete that project. Seems like that would be a lot of trips for stone and dirt! Impressive to say the least. They say beavers are quite the engineers, but I think you're one-uppin' em.

 

[chipsndust]

Chipsndust: Beavers can be such pests. There is quite a bit of legitimate beaver trapping/re-location in my area. In some ways I am lucky about my sloped property. I do have a spring, but there is no place those beavers can dam . That is one great looking road, good work !

Jay[/QUOTE]
Jay:
When I was a teenager, a buddy and I used to trap beaver and muskrat, so I know a little about their habits. Tearing out the dam just causes them to work all night to repair it. It wouldn't take long for more to move in if they were trapped out. My wife and I decided to accept the change and adjust to it. We are getting a lot of waterfowl moving in. I lost access to a hardwood ridge so that's the main reason I built the road. It was a nice project, lots of fresh air, excercise, and tractor time.

 

[chipsndust]

Chipsndust,

Now that's some nice work. Just curious as to about how much time it took you to complete that project. Seems like that would be a lot of trips for stone and dirt! Impressive to say the least. They say beavers are quite the engineers, but I think you're one-uppin' em.

Hammer:
I'd be guessing if I tried to estimate the hours. I worked on it all summer, when I had the time, after work and weekends.
The road runs east to west, I started on the west end, so that end is packed down from all the repeated trips. I ended up moving the stone in plywood boxes mounted front and rear on my 4-wheeler (Yeah, lots of hand work). The logs were floated or hand carried. They came from standing trees in the flooded area. The dirt came from banks on either side of the swamp (mostly from the west end, until I could get the tractor across). I used the boxblade to loosen the dirt and moved it with the FEL. I leveled the road with the FEL.
I'm anxious to see how it holds up through the winter; I expect I'll need to do some work on the east end, since it didn't get packed down as much. (More seat time )

 

[Tororider]

Nice work, I would guess that you will have some work to do next spring in upkeep, but like you said, more seat time.

Not to be contrary, but my first thought was that the logs would decompose as well. Why is it that since they are underwater they won't decompose? I know they don't have the air or sun, but I would still think they would have to decompose relatively quickly with wet dirt in contant contact with them.

 

[Defective]

An often overlooked fact: Water does not cause decay, oxygen does. Oxygen is not as free to move from water to wood as it is from air to wood.

 

[EastTnFarmboy]

An often overlooked fact: Water does not cause decay, oxygen does. Oxygen is not as free to move from water to wood as it is from air to wood.

Very interesting. I learned something today. I suppose I should have known it already!

 

[bjcsc]

I have to admit that my first thought involved dynamite, however after seeing your road, and provided you don't need to use the land for anything else, I think your project looks great. The extra wildlife should be interesting, too...

EastTnFarmboy: You would be amazed at the industry that pulls centuries old timbers from the bottom of the great lakes in order to dry them out and sell them (typically as veneer)...