prairieman

Rural electric turned the power back on last week. A couple days later, Joe wired up 110V receptacles in a weatherproof box, providing us electric service. The pole and meter box were on the property when we puchased the place, serving the decrepit mobile home. When construction is nearing completion, we will remove the pole and bury the service entrance wire from the transformer to the house.

Kermit met me at the property on the the day before Thanksgiving to establish accurate building corner stakes and batter boards. We had a little rain over a week ago, and with no grass or topsoil or warm temperatures and long sunny days; locating and driving the wood stakes, was a muddy, slip sliding affair. There was a 90% chance of rain on Thanksgiving, so knew it would be near impossible to accomplish this task for at least a week (or more). The long range weather forecast has us dry through the middle of December. Hoping the ground dries sufficently, allowing us to dig trenches for the concrete footers. With Wednesday’s effort – we are set up and ready to dig.

We are underway, and sooner than anticipated. In a planning discussion with Kermit last week – he expressed frustration that the places he has rented a backhoe in the recent past; did not have any machines available, putting us on hold. I offered to ask Kenny, the excavater we used in April (to remove trees and start the driveway) and Ron (the septic system installer) if they could squeeze us into their busy schedules between larger jobs. The very first task is removing all of the top soil from the building site: a quick & straightforward job for an experienced excavator. I called Kenny on Wednesday evening, and he liked the idea. Although he was busy, thought he might have an opportunity in a week or two. Imagine my surprise when Kenny called on Friday morning – saying he could meet me at the property in an hour to get started ! He arrived around noon ready to work. I showed him the wood stakes, defining the area to be excavated, and where to place the eventual mountain of topsoil he would be creating. Just after sunset, and six hours of work – job completed. Next up: digging narrow trenches to pour the concrete footers.

I have spent more time than I want to admit; placing the home and shop building on the property. We had to meet county setback requirements, avoid the septic tank & leach field, a desire to preserve large mature trees, asthetics/appearance, passive solar, etc. I finally had to admit; the very best location for home and shop buildings, meant having to remove a huge Black Oak and a very large Hickory tree. Both trees were within 5 feet of where the west wall of the shop would be. If we had tried to simply cut the tree roots in the way to enable trenching the footer and building the stem wall, there was a good chance the trees would have died in a few years. Hired a local tree service to remove about a dozen trees in all. There were also dead trees near the building site and out along highway 45.

We have decided to try and complete foundation work (digging & pouring footers, and a concrete block wall stem wall) before the ground freezes. If we are really lucky, and early winter weather is mild, maybe – just maybe; we also get the concrete slabs poured by the end of the year. I’ll be satisfied if typical winter weather means ceasing our efforts after completing the stem wall. We are waiting on our AutoCad guy to complete detailed plans/drawings, so we can apply for a building permit. I’m out talking to contractors and material suppliers, getting bids and quotes.

Milestone reached with a fully functional septic system. The county will not issue a building permit, until we have a county septic installation permit – see previous post. A number of factors were in play, delaying our ability to get the permit. Thankfully, dry weather allowed Ron to get started a week later, and he completed the task on Monday.

While we wait for the building industry to recover, there are plenty of things to do until we commence actual home construction. We hired a septic system contractor in early July (with an 8 week lead time) and patiently waited to reach the top of his to-do list. Got a permit from the Brown County health dept. on August 27th. Weather permitting, Ron plans to begin installing our septic system on Tuesday Sept. 7th.

A picture of the rough driveway from St Rt 45. The COVID pandemic gave me the opportunity to retire earlier than planned which was certainly good news. No. wait… early retirement was (and still is) FABULOUS news. The bad news: Spring & Summer of 2021 found us staring at the reality of unprecedented residential building demand. Contractors so busy they won’t answer the phone, and worse: building material costs that were… ummmm – crazy, impressive, ridiculous, insane ? For us – it meant stepping back and wait to see if or when we might see prices and demand return to earth.

The old saying in real estate: “location, location, location”. That aphorism applies with our future residence. While we want to live away from Bloomington in a rural setting, we also want quick access to town. Having 230 feet of frontage on State Route 45 fulfills that need. This highway was a favorite of mine after getting my driver’s license so many years ago, and is typical of many other twisty, undulating ribbons of asphalt in southern Indiana. Trips to town and back, are certain to provide joy in the Ultimate Driving Machines.

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Oak-zilla

This beast of a black oak log was already on the ground when we purchased the property. Apparently the tree was not healthy, mostly dead and very close to the highway. After cutting it down, and hauling off the limbs, I guess they became bored, tired or lazy and rolled the 20 foot log back from the highway and left it. Thanks INDOT. Not.

From 2014 to April 2021, whenever I would walk around the property, would eventually find myself looking at this monster, wondering how the hell I would ever get rid of it.

It turned out to be very easy. When Kenny was nearly done piling up stumps, logs and limbs, he stopped his excavator to ask if I wanted him to haul off “Oak-zilla”. I said – YES please ! He replied saying it would need to be cut into shorter lengths for him to load onto a truck. Called my close friend Joe, asking if he had a chainsaw with a long bar/chain. He arrived shortly after my call and went to work.

A close friend recommended a local excavator, who we hired in April to remove a dozen trees and a number of dead stumps that were in the footprint of the buildings we intend to construct. Trees were pushed over and cut into 8-10 foot lengths. Stumps and limbs were piled neatly so all of it could be loaded into dump trucks and removed from the property. He also graded off the topsoil where the driveway path will be, bringing in 3 loads of base rock, to serve as the foundation for the driveway. Kenny did a great job for us, we are very pleased with the quality and low cost of his work. Next steps involve collecting documents to obtain a permit for the Septic system.