Clearing land for my building and yes more math problems

[1930]

I appreciate all the response, Ive tried that Marion County map deal but cant seem to figure out what all can be done with it and how to do it

I do appreciate the fact that now I know there is 16 feet of elevation, its funny cause when I started with all the trees I knew there was some elevation but now with alot of the trees gone it really sticks out.

I am gonna start at the very least making some detailed sketches of the progress Im making and ideas that I think of so I can make adjustments as I go.

Just to try and answer a few questions Quote:

Is this the main house or is that coming later ? Its gonna be a barndomnium, google has lots of info
Is there a view or a breeze you would like to capture ? Id like to capture and see nothing but the trees that Ive left standing
Is there a wet spot or a rocky spot you would be better to avoid ? No wet spots and nothing but sand
Is there a sunny spot where solar panels will work better ? Its all sunny, its like a desert
How far do you need to bring power in ? Extra poles are expensive . Thankfully not far. Back in 1982 the guy that own the 65 acres behind me was planning on building I guess so he had a line brought in on the property next to me
Is a long driveway going to be expensive ? Not sure what Im gonna use. Its a dirt road unfortunately coming in so I dont see the point of having asphalt poured
Do the neighbors kids have dirt bikes and barking dogs etc etc . I am hoping not!

 

[1930]

Im gonna post some pict

 

[Rmart30]

I have <7 acres. And during the growing months I can not see the neighbors. But during winter I can. I have planted 6 cedar trees. They are just beginning to do the job after 5 years.

I have 10 acres and that is the way mine is.
I chose to build in the center of mine as much as possible but I cleaned out a lot more area than the OP is talking about. I didnt want any trees close enough to my house to fall on it, and , no roots close enough to mess with foundation or septic.
On the borders I will use giant green thuja, or holly bushes that will grow to 10+ ft tall for some privacy barrier. The Thuja grow pretty fast and will live longer than leland cypress.

 

[ovrszd]

Trees within 20ft of a structure are a hazard.

 

[1930]

Ive made some progress this weekend to clear the area where I plan to build.

Its up the hill of the property, just about the area where the land even out. Hard to see how much of a slope there is but this is looking down.

Im amazed at the work the tractor has done for me, I would not have been able to do the work I have done without it in this amount of time.

The oak stumps are pretty easy to remove, the small pine are easy as well, the large pine will be another thing. Havent quite decided how Im gonna deal with them yet.

 

[1930]

I put the car there just for reference of size, this brush/wood pile is compacted. There are easily 200 trees that Ive removed and dragged toward the front of the property with my Kubota and grapple.

Havent yet figured out what Im gonna do with the mess either, Its gotta go.

Ive called around and some people will come out with a big dumpster and haul it away, Im guessing that its gonna cost me north of a thousand bucks to have it done

 

[1930]

Where would I find a synopsis of the steps I should consider when it comes to land clearing for a new home.

Example: the land isnt stupid sloped but there is some slope, ........I dont understand or know if that has to be corrected before building? Maybe they just sink the rear portion of the foundation a little further in the ground so that the front of the foundation balances out?

Maybe I need to consider that instead material has to be brought in so that the land is leveled ( or relatively level to allow drainage )

If material is brought in than what material is that......my current soil is sand mixed with sand and then topped of with more sand....so would the same sand be used?

Ive been told that once I have completely cleared the land someone with a root rake or a grapple with a larger tractor than I have has to clear the earth of all roots, I understand why this might be done assuming this is the case but if the land has to be filled anyway than does the roots have to be cleared anyway?

Ive pushed alot of Oak trees over, theres a big ball at the bottom but I know there are a ton of roots still left in the soil.

 

[ovrszd]

Wow, you've made a lot of progress. Vastly exceeded 1/10 acre.

Hate it for you to pay someone to haul off brush debris. Is there a reason you can't burn it, then haul off remnants?

Thanks for the update.

 

[1930]

Wow, you've made a lot of progress. Vastly exceeded 1/10 acre.

Hate it for you to pay someone to haul off brush debris. Is there a reason you can't burn it, then haul off remnants?

Thanks for the update.

Yes the 5 acres was almost wooded enough to say heavily wooded. Little sunlight came thru in most places so at least no brush growing, just trees.

I hate to pay someone to haul the stuff away, burning would be a huge undertaking and I dont want to chance a brush fire. I think Im gonna let it sit for some time, see how it settles after a year and then go from there.

 

[tradosaurus]

This was the only way I could get privacy. Plenty of trees and house almost in center.

Moved from neighborhood because of idiot neighbors. The only way I would ever move into a neighborhood is with a draconian HOA.

 

[Rmart30]

Where would I find a synopsis of the steps I should consider when it comes to land clearing for a new home.

Example: the land isnt stupid sloped but there is some slope, ........I dont understand or know if that has to be corrected before building? Maybe they just sink the rear portion of the foundation a little further in the ground so that the front of the foundation balances out?

Maybe I need to consider that instead material has to be brought in so that the land is leveled ( or relatively level to allow drainage )

If material is brought in than what material is that......my current soil is sand mixed with sand and then topped of with more sand....so would the same sand be used?

Ive been told that once I have completely cleared the land someone with a root rake or a grapple with a larger tractor than I have has to clear the earth of all roots, I understand why this might be done assuming this is the case but if the land has to be filled anyway than does the roots have to be cleared anyway?

Ive pushed alot of Oak trees over, theres a big ball at the bottom but I know there are a ton of roots still left in the soil.

Slope is a good thing imo on a build site. I wish it was code down here that if no natural slope that build sites would have to be built up to allow for good drainage.
On my property at my build site I have built it up and it has a 18" fall from build site to the 100 ft out mark. The quicker you get the water away the better.

As far as material brought in. Contact a local contractor and see what they recommend and have to offer. Mixes of dirt have different compaction rates. Some will compress and hold and some will always be loose. Paving contractors for state hiways, interstates etc do soil compaction tests to tell what kinda fill material it is.

 

[1930]

Thanks for the info

 

[1930]

I had a bit of time to poke around before dinner...

Jason - your county has an online tool that is easy to use (it's the same one used where I live). There is some information there that might be useful to you in your planning (property boundaries, zoning, etc.) . If you can figure out how to take pictures on your phone/camera and upload them as attachments to a post on TBN you're computer literate enough to use it
Geocortex Viewer for HTML5

Here's the latest aerial/satellite photography of your property from 2017 overlaid with the land contours (labels in feet). So you can see a 16 foot elevation difference between the northwest corner and southeast corners of your property. Not much else to see in the aerial view except trees.
View attachment 613710

It used to be that if a property was shielded from the road by trees or something else that people couldn't really know what you were up to. That has all changed with detailed aerial/satellite photography available to everyone, including the folks setting our property taxes. Forget putting up a building without a permit - the view of our property is so detailed I can see the BBQ on the back deck of our house.

Chris

Is it possible for you to explain to me how to use some of the features on the Marion County GIS deal.

If I click on the link you have provided here and wait for it to load and then go to upper right hand corner and click on parcel search and enter my parcel id number 17325-015-00 it will bring me to my property.

Id like to start out with understanding how you could see the elevation figures you came up with, are you able to explain this too me?

Ive been on this site many times and played around but Im just not seeing much that Im understanding.

Geocortex Viewer for HTML5

 

[1930]

Also you gave me this attachment but I do not know what all the various numbers represent in the photo?

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...earing-land-my-building-yes-jasoncontours-jpg

 

[1930]

Ive measured distances already on the map, I can measure all the boundries and see they are close to what survey says. Thats about as far as Ive been able to go

 

[Ford850]

On the county site, after finding your parcel and clicking Map It, select the Mapping link in the upper right section. Then select Layer Control, and check any layers you want to add and finally select Update Map at the bottom of the layer list.
The numbers in the contour map represent actual elevation. The one he attached has more detailed elevations, but it aligns with the elevations on the county site which only shows 10' increments.

 

[ovrszd]

I also struggle with sites like these. If your patience is strong they can be learned. Then the benefits are pretty amazing.

 

[1930]

On the county site, after finding your parcel and clicking Map It, select the Mapping link in the upper right section. Then select Layer Control, and check any layers you want to add and finally select Update Map at the bottom of the layer list.
The numbers in the contour map represent actual elevation. The one he attached has more detailed elevations, but it aligns with the elevations on the county site which only shows 10' increments.

Thanks, Ill try like you say

I also struggle with sites like these. If your patience is strong they can be learned. Then the benefits are pretty amazing.

Im not really a comp person. Id rather be doing things with my hands

 

[Chris616]

Is it possible for you to explain to me how to use some of the features on the Marion County GIS deal.

If I click on the link you have provided here and wait for it to load and then go to upper right hand corner and click on parcel search and enter my parcel id number 17325-015-00 it will bring me to my property.

Id like to start out with understanding how you could see the elevation figures you came up with, are you able to explain this too me?

Ive been on this site many times and played around but Im just not seeing much that Im understanding.

Geocortex Viewer for HTML5

Sorry for the delay, Jason. TBN didn't give me any notification that your discussion thread was still active.

Mark's response (post #36) left out a few details, so here are the steps in great detail:
- Click the link to the Marion County GIS viewer.
- After it finishes loading, click "Parcel Search" in the "Basic Tools" menu.
- Input your parcel ID into the rectangle and click the "Search" button.
- After it finishes loading, at the bottom-left of the screen click the tab heading labelled "Layers".
- Click the plus sign to the left of "Elevation Information" to open up a sub-menu.
- In that sub-menu, click to select the checkboxes next to "Contour Labels (1 ft)" and "Contours (1 ft)".
- If you want to also see the satellite/aerial photos like in the picture that I uploaded, then in the same list where you found "Elevation Information" scroll down and click the plus sign next to "Aerial Imagery".
- In the sub-menu that opens up, click to select the checkbox next to "Aerials 2017".

By zooming in and out (making the magnification bigger or smaller), you should be able to get the exact picture that I got (except that I blanked out your parcel ID and another identifier so that I didn't give out any information that you had not already done). You can do that using the plus/minus signs at the top left of the image.

A contour map shows lines of constant elevation. If you walk along any of the lines you're not gaining or losing elevation. The numbers indicate height above some reference level. I'm guessing that in Florida that the "122" at the top-left of the image (north-west corner) means 122 feet above sea level. The reference elevation doesn't really matter, though. You're just interested in the difference between the numbers on your property. I see "122" in the north-west corner and "104" along the southern border (near the centre east to west).

Since the contour lines shows constant elevation, drawing a line that is perpendicular to the contour line shows "straight downhill" or "straight uphill" depending which way you're looking. In the following picture I've drawn three lines that go roughly perpendicular to the contour lines. It seems from your other thread that you're in a dry area, but if surface runoff was an issue the green lines congregating at one point show a place where it probably wouldn't be good to build a house.

Chris

 

[Corkpuller]

If you could make a few smaller piles or get someone with a bigger machine to do it, it's best to burn that stuff when it's green. If you let it sit there and dry out and then decide to torch it, you better hang on. You ever lit off a dry Christmas tree?

You want to burn it with the logs horizontal just like they are stacked. When they get a good bed of coals going they'll just fall in place.
Don't make a tee pee out of it.