Progress!

[Torvy]

Does that come in 9mm? Wife shoots a Walter 380, maybe that's an option.

I don't have any standing water or ponds, hopefully that will mean fewer cotton mouths. I didn't realize that rat snakes went after eggs. We will have to work on that.

 

[EddieWalker]

I call every snake that isn't a cotton mouth or a copper head a rat snake. They are black, super long, and they love to eat eggs and baby chicks. I never see them on the land, or anywhere besides inside the coops. They like to leave their skins in odd places, but other then seeing them in the coops, they are invisible.

 

[two_bit_score]

Watch out for green tails!

Baby copperheads have a green tail until they are about a year old.

 

[Torvy]

Electric lines are being run along with the associated switches, outlets and fixtures. We're heading out there in a few hours to check it out and haul some belongings to store there.

It has been wet enough that the driveway is becoming a complete mess. I'm trying to decide if it is better to have a load of rock delivered now or just wait until they are done and fix it once. I think this is helping my wife understand why it is time to get the tractor. I could have done some minor repairs for now to alleviate some of the drainage issues and move about some dirt to fill holes. Instead, it is just shovel and wheelbarrow as options.

Any idea if using pine straw as a temporary binder would make things better or worse? I'm considering trying some lime to dry out a bit, but only as a test for now.

 

[bnold]

Geotextile under the rock on the driveway highly recommended.

But yes, wait until the heavy traffic is complete, get it smooth, wait for dry.

Then 12’ wide fabric and rock of your choice, depending on how strong you want it you can do a base layer of larger gravel/rock and come back with a granite base/limestone base/ crusher run … something with fines to pack and lock it in.

Skip the fabric and pay more in time and money adding/ spreading rock in the future.

 

[EddieWalker]

Spring is coming and it's just going to get worse. The sooner you get some rock down, the easier it will be to finish it off. One of the bigger issues you might have is if your subs or deliveries can't get to your house because of the driveway.

 

[Torvy]

Just got home an hour or so ago. There's a mini-bog of sorts about 50 ft in from the gate. Lots of ruts with standing water. For now, I manually dug a channel and diverted the excess water to the side in a natural low spot. Wife got a quote for #3 base delivered for $750. Does that seem right to y'all? I'll need to rent a skid steer to handle the rock for now. We've got some soil berms left over from the last time they cut the timber (12? Yrs ago). Also a bit from the septic dig. Supposed to be mostly dry for a day or two. We have a 4 day weekend for Presidents Day, so will be back Friday. May be able to pick up our trailer then, too.

Good news is about half of the electric boxes and wiring (maybe more) is done in the house. We managed to haul some excess into storage there along with the tools. Nice day overall. We are both tired.

 

[ponytug]

Have you thought about how you want to fix the bog for the future? Culvert? French drain? Fill?

All the best, Peter

 

[Torvy]

Have you thought about how you want to fix the bog for the future? Culvert? French drain? Fill?

All the best, Peter

Yes, actually.. Rent a mini-ex and put in about 700 ft of drainage. Mostly French drain. The only think we haven't finalized on that plan is if we are going to terminate into a small retaining pond or a leach field. I'm going to dig a continuous run about 300 ft along the driveway and gently slope the driveway toward that side. The west end of the driveway slopes down and away from the building area naturally. I thought about just doing a ditch with rip rap, but we get a lot of rain out there and the French drain will prevent nearly all of the erosion.

The runoff directly from the roofs will go into gutters and then into pipes that will eventually join the end of the driveway drain with a y. They make some nifty filer/diverter things that seem to do a pretty good job of keeping debris out of the pipe at the bottom of the downspout.

I'm going to need a lot of rock.

 

[EddieWalker]

Every French Drain will eventually fail. It all depends on how much rain you get, how much materials is carried by the rain to the French Drain, and how well it was built. The design of every French Drain is flawed and it should be avoided.

Open ditches are the only thing that lasts long term with solid results.

Most people try to find alternatives to open ditches, but eventually, they end up taking out the trees, or moving the road, or both, so they can get the ditches they need to deal with the water. It's better to do what it takes to get it right now, then to fight it for years, and then spend more money to do it later.

For everyone that disagrees with me, I totally understand that your French Drain hasn't plugged up on you yet. I also understand that it will plug up on you, and it's just a matter of time until you have to deal with it.