Who's on first?

[MrMagoo]

Who\'s on first?

Hi all,

My wife and I purchased a house and 28 acres last year. Over the next 5 years id like to build a barn, put up a fence around the pasture, concrete or black top the driveway and dig a pond. My question is where do i start first?

My wife complains most about the fence. She'd like a nice pvc or plastic fence up lining the road and driveway. Currently my pasture is fenced in old rusty barbed wire that has barely survived two pasture burn offs. Its broken and patched in numerous places.

Ive back bladed my driveway twice this year. Theres only so much you can do with sand and not enough rocks. At a bare minimum my driveway needs several loads of new gravel. Ive been reading past posts about different kinds of gravel to put down. What id really like though is to concrete or black top the drive. Its about a quarter of a mile from my house to the road with two circle drives by my house.

Id love to dig about an acre pond near the main road. My neighbor has a very nice pond in front of his house and frankly, im jealous. The spot ive picked out for the pond would received most of the rain runoff from the pasture.

My other big project is to build a horse barn/equipment shed. Ive kinda got this covered as my old man builds barns and metal buildings for a living. I think it would look really nice on the hill in the pasture.

Where do I begin? Logically, I would think that I should dig the pond, cover my drive way, build a fence, then the barn. My wife is complaining most about the fence though. Im guessing that heavy equipment to dig the pond would tear up my drive way and need to get through where my would be. Like I said, I plan to complete all of these projects over the next 5 or so years. Do any of you have advice on which ones to start first or any tips on individual projects?

 

[bczoom]

Re: Who\'s on first?

MrMagoo,

I would probably do the driveway last. Sounds like you may have some big (read heavy) equipment coming in to get some of this accomplished.

How much of this do you plan on doing yourself?

 

[MrMagoo]

Re: Who\'s on first?

Wow that was a quick reply.

I plan on doing the fence myself. If I put more gravel on my driveway vs. black topping it id spread the gravel myself. I have no experience digging ponds so id probably get someone else to do that. My old man would probably want me to help him with the barn. If I black top the drive i'd need to hire someone to do that.

Anyone else have any advice?

 

[Deerlope]

Re: Who\'s on first?

Put the gravel driveway in first and let the heavy stuff pack it really good, then later on finish grade it and BT it.

 

[JD3130]

Re: Who\'s on first?

Seeing as you are in MS, I would build the barn first, to have a place to keep my tools and equipment out of the rain and out of sight. I agree the heavy equipment used to build the pond is going to make a mess, so that would be second. It's a lot easier to put the road in before the fence. They most likely have to remove the fence anyway to cut the roadway, if I remember, most Ms red land needs a good base or it will not hold up during the rainy season. You are going to need to cut 12" out and put in a good base with a slight crown. Remember, when planning the road, "what would happen if you got 20" of rain tonight?" Where would all that water go? Of course, you hope that never happens, but if you plan for it, well you get the idea. The fence would be last. I would also think twice about PVC fence!! It hasn't done well out here. It won't stop livestock. Gets brittle in about 5 yrs. I see a lot of the rail type sag in the middle. Maybe it does better in your area, but I wouldn't use it. Lot better options.

 

[Glenn9643]

Re: Who\'s on first?

At least the old rusty barbed wire did survive the burnoff's, which is more than the new plastic fence will do.
Is the fence to be functional, as in keeping livestock in, or just "pretty"? If I didn't need a fence I would take it down so it wouldn't be in the way to mow or bushhog. If I did need the fence I would certainly look for something other than the PVC/Plastic.
Concrete drives are nice; and very expensive for a quarter-mile. Blacktop sounds cheaper in the front, but requires a substantial base to survive, so your price remains pretty high, generally with more maintenance than concrete. Clay gravel is generally available throughout the state at reasonable prices, and would probably be my choice for the bulk of the drive, with concrete within 100' of the house. Materials used or recommended for roads and drives vary across the country, depending primarily on what's available locally that works and people are familiar with. You have some of the best available nearby, and may find that there's some where you want to put that pond!
Where you begin is normally determined by circumstances. If you're trying to keep livestock in the pasture and the fence is in bad shape it probably deserves priority. If not, take up the fence and see how you like it without, especially when trying to keep weeds down. If you're depending on Dad to build your barn, when is his "slow" time of year? That would probably be best to tackle the barn.
It sounds to me like you have a nice place with a few problems that a lot of people would love to be faced with! Good luck with your ideas and projects.

 

[btolle]

Re: Who\'s on first?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( My wife complains most about the fence. She'd like a nice pvc or plastic fence up lining the road and driveway. Currently my pasture is fenced in old rusty barbed wire that has barely survived two pasture burn offs. Its broken and patched in numerous places.
)</font>

"If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

See if can convince her that field fencing looks like you are in the country. I live in the city and put up field fencing on steel t-post with 8" treated corner and brace posts.

I used the steel panel gates since I live in the middle of 3 acres and wanted it to look like a farmhouse.

Bill & Charlotte's home you can see a little of the fence and the front gate in one of those pictures.

One thing I did was leave the bottom of the fence pretty slack so when I ride up against it with the riding mower I can push the fencing over a littl and cut under it. I also kept the bottom of the fence about 1 1/2" or 2" above the ground so the weedeater can go under it easily.

Keep Mama happy and you will be happy!

Bill Tolle

 

[MrMagoo]

Re: Who\'s on first?

Wow lots of good information so far. Keep it coming. To clarify a bit more; I already have a driveway. It needs work. The gravel on it has "sunk" into the clay dirt and sand below. I do like the idea of redoing the gravel. It will solve the immediate problem and create more of a base for a future covering.

The fence is going to be ornamental and functional. Currently I have no animals to be kept behind a fence. If I take it down will that help the wife forget about it (out of sight out of mind)? She does not like barbed wire fences and not many other fences I have shown her. We have seen two fences she has really liked. One; a black wood fence; belongs to Buzz Cook (Brett Farve's agent). Theres no telling how much he spent on it. The other belongs to a lady I work with. She has the plastic fence up (looks like RAMM fence). It has been up almost 14 years and she has had zero problems with it. No need to paint it. It doesnt rot. She had a wood fence up before and the horses kept kicking the boards off and one ran through the fence when spooked. She uses it to keep very high dollar show horses (some are worth more than i make in a year yeesh!). Has anyone else heard of problems with it?

The barn is not a rush because I have a two story shop with a concrete floor and roll up garage doors. That makes a great place to keep my tractor and other tools. I need more tools cause its not nearly full enough. Also I plan to get a couple of horses in the near future (reason for fence). Right now the only animal I have to stall is a hound dog.

So gravel my drive then start on the pond?

 

[OkeeDon]

Re: Who\'s on first?

What's the real estate tax situation like where you live, and does it matter to you? In our area, while they aren't as high as the NorthEast, they are getting more significant. Our tax assessor has some "hot buttons" that he looks for in setting the assessed value. One of the hot buttons is a fancy fence -- field fence is "free", while PVC or board fences trigger an increase in the assessment. A gravel, shell, or dirt driveway is free; a paved driveway is a significant trigger.

So, we ended up with a very nicely done field fence (4" x 4" mesh welded wire, 4' high) on round wood posts -- looks good enough, and didn't trigger a tax increase. Same with the driveway -- shell finish looks good and doesn't cost.

We don't live on our property yet, so our prioities were a little different. First, we fenced, to keep out the ATVs and such, and let folks know it's private property. Then, we installed a rudimentary gate and beginning of the driveway with a culvert so we could drive in. Next, after clearing the property of trash growth while leaving all the native species, we had the pond dug. We used the dirt from the pond to raise the level of the driveway through the rest of the property.

Next, I'll be installing the shell (we don't have much gravel) for the driveway surface, improve the gate with an auto opener, and finally get started with the construction. I wanted to build the barn first so I could use it as storage and workshop while building the house, but our county requires a house before they will permit an auxilliary building. So, the barn will be last, except for final landscaping.

I think the best way to describe it is that we let need and common sense set the schedule. It soulds like you'd be doing the same if you did the pond, first, so the wear and tear would be less. However, it doesn't sound like it would hurt anything if you do the fence, first, to the keep the CFO happy.

 

[MrMagoo]

Re: Who\'s on first?

Wow Don I hadn't even thought about the tax ramifications of my property improvements. I just got a new issue of Smart Money in the mail. In it was an article about how to challenge new increases in your property taxes. One lady remodeled an old bathroom in here house and her taxes went up over 1000 dollars. How do I find out what my red flags are locally? Should I call the tax assessors office? I see very few pretty board or pvc fences around. Most everyone has barbed wire or net wire fences.

I am making progress though. Someone is coming tomorrow to give me a bid on gravel for the drive. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif