Finally Bought Some Land

[mnoble485]

33969B8D-32C0-437A-8C24-2AFBB56635E6.jpg

Jorn,
About a year before I retired my Sr. V.P who I got into riding decided we needed a company kit. This was the result with our professed goal for all projects. I have always hated the expression “ We can get that when it’s on the punch list”.

Hopefully yours will approach zero.

Mike

[j44ke]

Working on the walkway from the house to the parking area below the house. So far we've only used rocks from the site. Once we finalize the arrangement of these giants (might need to be less neatly lined up) the surroundings will be brought up to grade and mostly just the top surfaces of each stone will be exposed. Beyond these, there will be a gravel path and then stone steps down to the parking area.

[gt6267a]

Is the plan to drive up to the house with groceries / packages and then park the car in the garage? What about in the rain? I am wondering if over time the back and forth is dropped, a car is left near the house, and the garage becomes a very nice building for projects / bikes / etc without a car in it. The idea of not being able to walk from car to kitchen rain free would probably make my wife's head explode. Curious to hear the plan on how this will work.

BTW, this thread and project is fantastic. The house looks wonderful and I have been wondering how many projects this thread has inspired.

[takashi]

Looks like the project is really coming along. And itseems like this is a full time job overseeing the work.

Are you retired or still writing poetry?

[j44ke]

Is the plan to drive up to the house with groceries / packages and then park the car in the garage? What about in the rain? I am wondering if over time the back and forth is dropped, a car is left near the house, and the garage becomes a very nice building for projects / bikes / etc without a car in it. The idea of not being able to walk from car to kitchen rain free would probably make my wife's head explode. Curious to hear the plan on how this will work.

BTW, this thread and project is fantastic. The house looks wonderful and I have been wondering how many projects this thread has inspired.

We have a construction drive right now that goes right up to the house and ends just to the right of the stone walkway being built in the photo. That construction drive will be raked and then covered & mixed with topsoil and seeded with plants selected to create a "drivable" surface. Not one you'd drive on really, but a route an ambulance could use in an emergency or a delivery truck could use to get something heavy into the house. Eventually - as we get older - it can be converted back to an actual drive that will allow parking next to the house.

Until then, I'll carry groceries up to the house from the parking area, and then drive the car back down and put it in the garage. I need the exercise. The garage has room for a bike shop, there is hot/cold water, lots of outlets, it is insulated, there's a gas heater and Internet. So yeah, clubhouse in the making.

Looks like the project is really coming along. And itseems like this is a full time job overseeing the work.

Are you retired or still writing poetry?

I am still writing! Not finished stuff - raw materials. I keep telling myself that I will go back through it when the house is finished. Most of it will stay in a notebook, but a few nuggets here and there might start something. I've been writing things about becoming invisible lately.

I think I am a good estimator of time and effort, but I'm not. I definitely didn't understand how much time this was going to take, and if anything, landscaping appears to be more demanding of effort. It takes up a lot of my brain, but I don't think I can claim it is a full-time job. I have enjoyed a lot of it. As long as I am not arguing about money I am okay.

[davids]

That walkway is amazing!

Uh, nothing else to say, really.

Just amazing...

[j44ke]

That walkway is amazing!

Uh, nothing else to say, really.

Just amazing...

Thanks! It is getting edited. A bit too much slope to it, so the first two (counting from foreground in the photo) got re-leveled flat, which created a step between the second and third rock. Then the next three get re-leveled with the 5th getting more space between it and the 4th, and then the 5th 6th and 7th get re-spaced with the 7th a step down to the level of the rock path. There are path lights at each step, 7 total for the whole path link, plus one light in reserve. Here are the stairs up from the parking area so far. The first step may get a wedge-shaped stone on the right side. Landings and path will be a brown multi-color pea gravel. With plants all around.

[davids]

Beautiful.

On the path lights - hard-wired or battery powered? This seems to be the feature that always ends up kind of wonky around here.

[j44ke]

Beautiful.

On the path lights - hard-wired or battery powered? This seems to be the feature that always ends up kind of wonky around here.

They are hard wired low-voltage LED lights. Bega path lights. They work nicely. As it gets darker they appear to get brighter, but really there is no change, just greater contrast between the illuminated area and the dark of night time. So if you look at the lights in early evening, they don't seem that bright. But once night falls, they light up the ground nicely. And there is no light leakage upwards, so you aren't also illuminating the trees and screwing up things for arboreal nocturnal critters.

We'll see how long it takes a chipmunk to chew through the wire insulation.

[htwoopup]

They are hard wired low-voltage LED lights.....
We'll see how long it takes a chipmunk to chew through the wire insulation.

Unlike a lot of folk here, I do not know how to build things...but I know when I had a similar situation at a house outside the city they put the low voltage wire in a plastic conduit that they had drilled drain holes on the bottom of the plastic (that may have had something to do with some of them were along a dock by the water and potential storm high tides but it may have been just to prevent freezing from leakage gotta ask one of the smart folk here who know this stuff).

[Mabouya]

Eventually - as we get older - it can be converted back to an actual drive that will allow parking next to the house.

Or, you could always get one of these: (scaled down to fit your needs)

[SlowPokePete]

Dang...who doesn't love a funicular?

SPP

[j44ke]

There is a cool funicular somewhere I saw recently that runs on water. Two cars acting as alternating counter weights depending on which one had its tanks full of water. I think it was mentioned in the Dieter Rams documentary.

[SlowPokePete]

Roe Jan Kill powered!

Let's grow this one lol!

SPP

[rwsaunders]

I’m looking forward to the inaugural Ronde van Ake ride, aka the Tour de Jorn next year. I’m also a pretty good interior painter and can swap painting and bread making services for lodging during the ride.

More thread related, you’re going to like the look of those stone stairs, especially when the plantings grow in around them. A little bleach or power wash once/year to keep the surface somewhat slip resistant when the moss takes hold...ask me how I know this. My wife and I recently picked up some leftover flagstone (from MD...a little orange/beige/brown tone) from a friend’s project and we are placing the stones in between the moss pathways, that are adjacent to some larger trees by the house...love the look.

[mnoble485]

I’m not good at painting,carpentry, plumbing ... but I could be whatever the equivalent of a bar back in the kitchen is. Not sure I could keep up with you guys but it would be fun to try.

Mike

[j44ke]

The plants begin their return!

Tom Whelan is our tree guy, and I don't think I will ever buy a tree from anyone other than Mr. Whelan. Super guy.

He brought us yellow birch for the north side of the house where it can get a little wet. They act as a screen between the master bedroom and the septic field. Shadblow and musclewood (hornbeam) on the south side. On the south side, we had to find pockets in the stone outcroppings and avoid utility routing and try to keep it random-looking, which took a while. The plants that will fill in between each tree will help randomize things also.

All in all a day well spent.

north







south

[72gmc]

Great pictures. That's exciting and no doubt tiring. Good for sleep!

About that Kubota with backhoe ... need a driver? I promise to ask you if there are any buried lines before I dig.

[j44ke]

I know. That Kubota is dreamy. But Mr. Whelan wouldn’t leave it behind though I said there was space in the garage.

I was watching guys at the local tree farm (conifers mostly, not the source of our trees) driving a Kubota R520s. It is articulated with a hinge in the middle. Sort of a tractor fork lift digger thing. Pretty trick.

In my dreams I want a Kubota BX or similar. A used one that’s broken in by an expert Kubota mechanic who just upgraded and is willing to provide the occasional tuneup. But in reality a shovel a hoe and a rake will be just fine.

[OtayBW]

Sorry - I didn't read the whole thread, but just curious: how did you handle your drainfield situation?