Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[FairfaxStu]

May I ask why are you trying to keep thee deer out in an area where there are likely to have deer? planning a garden ?

Yes, there are thousands of Deer in that neck of the woods. And, yes, Peter's mother grows lots of flowers.
-Stu

 

[deezler]

I would presume the fence will also be rather handy for keeping the dogs in.

 

[jinman]

Yes, there are thousands of Deer in that neck of the woods. And, yes, Peter's mother grows lots of flowers.
-Stu

We don't have thousands of deer, but the hundreds we do have enjoy the fresh salad of new rose bush leaves and bud growth on a nightly basis. I'm gonna put deer fence netting over the rose bushes this week. I have a 6.5' fence around my garden and no deer ever challenge it. Deer stand around in the woods during the daytime planning their nightly buffet menus of our flowerbeds though.

 

[mkane09]

I've seen deer go over a 6 foot fence like it wasn't even there. I was drawn on a limited hunt at Fort Custer, an Army training ground in Michigan, many years ago. They had an antenna field surrounded by an 8' fence. Opening morning there must have been 50 deer inside the fence. Of course, hunters were not allowed in to the antenna field. I could swear those deer were all smiling.....

mkane09

 

[Ranger Rick]

Meadowlark gardens park in Northern Virginia has a 10 foot fence around it to keep the deer from getting in an eating their flowers. After they put up the fence i was one of many people that helped herd all the deer out the last remaining opening before they closed the fence. It has worked except when a tree falls across the fence then the deer are in without wasting any time. Rick

 

[hddnis]

The deer around these parts easily jump 8' fences. Two solutions have worked here, one adds an extra 2' of lightweight netting to the top of the fence for a total of 10'. The other puts a standard two wire electric fence out about 5' from the 8' fence. The electric fence keeps them from getting into the position needed to make the jump.

Then there are yards with a mere 4' fence and a couple of dogs inside and they have no trouble with the deer at all.




Mr. HE

 

[hddnis]

12345

 

[pclausen]

Mom has had a similar deer fence at her old house for the last 10 years or so. Same height as this one (7') and in all that time not a single deer ever made it to the inside. The deer load will be considerably higher at the new house since the woods are right there, but hopefully it will suffice. If not, we'll modify it as needed.

The secondary reason for the fence is to keep the 2 German Shepard's inside. Right now mom is having to walk them in leashes about 10 times a day. They really miss being able to run around, but she won't risk it with the neighborhood dogs all around.

Fence is metalhexagrid with black PVC coating. It's a fairly new type of fence. Should be much stronger than the all vinyl deer fence she had before that we constantly had to repair at the bottom due to rodents chewing their way through it.

This weekend I was busy building a 12x8 garden shed. Here's a pic from how far I got Saturday after picking it up that morning. It all came on a 4x8 pallet, so a lot of assembly required. The face of the shed will be inline with the deer fence.

Sunday I worked on it some more in the morning getting the trusses assembled and installed. We then had to go pick up all the yard equipment from the old house being it had to be out by July 1st. Shot just before loading up. It took skills getting it backed down the driveway. Nothing was wide enough to hit the outside ramps, so my aluminum ramps I picked up a long time ago came in handy.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture after the trailer was loaded, but trust me, it was fully loaded, with stuff sticking out to the sides even.

Took a fairly meager load of logs to the mill this morning, but the load I just got on there should be right up there with the 11 ton one.

Another 2 loads and I should be done hauling logs for now. I got almost 300 hours on the John Deere tractor now after just 1 year of ownership, so it is earning its keep!

 

[pclausen]

The black powder coated aluminum gates are still not in even though they were ordered more than 10 weeks ago at this point. They came back from the power coat place damaged, so they had to fix that, and send them back to powder coat a second time. Hopefully they will be back and ready to ship sometime this week.

Gate actuators will be mounted on the inside and gates will open inward. There are wands already buried in the driveway on both sides to open the gates when a vehicle approaches from either side.

 

[mkane09]

Peter, are the pillars at the drive going to remain cement block on the outside, or are they getting covered in the same stone as the facing on the house? Those trailer tires look much happier with that load:laughing::thumbsup:

mkane09

 

[pclausen]

The pillars are getting covered with the same stone as the house facing. Just waiting on the gates to show up so that we can get the hinges properly located before starting the rock work. Speaking of the gates, they are finally done. They sent me this picture and they will ship tomorrow hopefully. As with everything else, we're going for a minimalistic style and function, so no curves or ornaments.

After taking a load of logs to the dump this morning, I was able to sneak out of work a little early today, and managed to haul the final 2 loads (for a grand total of 12 loads for the deer fence clearing) to the mill. So here's what the entrance looks like now. Will need another load of crush and run blue stone I think.

A shot the other way showing the garden shed.

Close up. I did get the felt on the roof last night, which was a good thing since it has been raining ever since.

I'm picking up the drip edge tomorrow and hope to get it and the shingles installed Thursday since I'm off work that day. Also need to determine if I have enough exterior wall and trim pain left from the main house to paint the shed to match, or if I need to pick up some more. I'm also picking up some proper blocks to put under the floor. I'll be back filling dirt all around the shed, then mulch and topsoil in anticipation of the plantings around it.

 

[mkane09]

Peter, you are one busy beaver. I get tired just reading about what you did that day..... How come aluminum for the gates and not just plain ol' wrought iron? The place really looks good.

mkane09

 

[FairfaxStu]

As with everything else, we're going for a minimalistic style and function, so no curves or ornaments.

Not surprising at all. Kiss=keep it simple stupid.

I'll be back filling dirt all around the shed, then mulch and topsoil in anticipation of the plantings around it.

I could be wrong, but having white pine with dirt up against it is a bad idea. You are just inviting termites and other critters, slugs, worms, etc. I would put in some rock mulch both under the shed and for about 2.5 feet in a perimeter. Do you have any of those little brown rocks that they did the stairs with?
-Stu

 

[FairfaxStu]

Peter, you are one busy beaver. I get tired just reading about what you did that day..... How come aluminum for the gates and not just plain ol' wrought iron? The place really looks good.

mkane09

I think I can answer that. The purpose behind the gates are to keep out those pesky but cute deer and keep in the dogs. As Peter indicated the gates will open automagically when the buried sensors detect a vehicle in either direction. Given this, the actuators to open/close the gates will last a lot longer moving around 25LB gates than moving around 150LB gates.
-Stu

 

[pacerron]

Peter,
Once the fence and gate are done are you going to move the mailbox over to your mom's side of the road?
Not much traffic on that road but that curve looks like a bad place for a mailbox to have your mom standing in front of
to get the mail or even stopped there in her car. Since it is a dead end road the mail carrier should not care if the box is on her
side, and may even prefer it for their own safety. You should have a good place to put it without the mail carrier running over the
gate activation wand.
Ron

 

[FairfaxStu]

Peter:

Now that I look at those gates again, I have to wonder, where the heck are you going to attach the actuator brackets? I don't necessarily see enough "meat" there to attach them to easily.
-Stu

 

[Don87]

Geez............No comments on the signs.


I mean..........it's all over the radio and the papers. Haven't ya'all heard bout it?


Deer crossing radio station phone call - YouTube



:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[dclynch]

Oh no this must be done no more posts. What am I going to read at work now? I have to say I appreciate all the time you spent posting and enjoyed the build. Thanks for the great read. Now someone else has to start a new build so I can follow that lol. I will be building a 40x48x14 with a 8' over hang on 1 side pole barn here in the next couple of years but we cant wait that long.

 

[J F]

What day are we now on, Pete?

 

[murphy1244]

What day are we now on, Pete?

Sunday.:laughing: