Garage and road project

[Sir Henry]

The D7 was offloaded a few minutes ago and the work will start in an hour. I’ll have a road cut up the hill so I can build a barn style garage. Tomorrow Alice will get electricity and they will run power up the hill.

Here the cat is at the bottom of my existing driveway and Alice is to the right.

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[BrokenolMarine]

I could do some damage with that dozer. Miss T could REALLY do some damage.
She spent seven years running a landscaping crew.

[daytime dave]

Good luck with the work.

[Sir Henry]

The work has started. The D7 can do in one day what my tractor can do all summer.

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[Ernie]

Are you driving the dozer? Looks like fun.

[Sir Henry]

Are you driving the dozer? Looks like fun.

No. It’s the neighbors dozer and I hired him to do the work. He really knows what he is doing and people want him far more than anyone else.

[Sir Henry]

I have three different contractors here today -the electrician, the trencher and the dozer.

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Two spools of 2-2-2-4 weights about 450 pounds.

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The dozer guy pushed the topsoil to a pile so he can level the mineral soil and then replace the topsoil. I’m thinking 100 yard berm and said leave it where it is.

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[Sir Henry]

Not a good picture because it’s way past sundown. The platform is nearly level and the water is funneled to the side and back. It still needs some final cleanup but it’s mostly formed.

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After the annual ice age I’ll build a 30’x72’ garage. The power has been buried and waiting for the building to be completed before being powered.

[dave77]

Nice dirt. Anytime I've seen major cat work done close to my place there's as much rock as dirt. I can occasionally dig a hole without hitting rocks but I'm happy if I just don't hit any big rocks.

[Sir Henry]

Nice dirt. Anytime I've seen major cat work done close to my place there's as much rock as dirt. I can occasionally dig a hole without hitting rocks but I'm happy if I just don't hit any big rocks.

It’s mostly clay. The piles of dirt in the last picture was topsoil which he separated out from the clay fill. The dozer guy really has an eye and got it quite level with a drainage trench on the hill side which will keep the water out of the main flat space. Next spring I’ll have 200 yards of gravel delivered.

[Hatchdog]

“ After the annual ice age” Good one.

I thought that was clay I was seeing in your pic. Nasty stuff but it sure keeps your place green with all that contained moisture.

[Sir Henry]

“ After the annual ice age” Good one.

I thought that was clay I was seeing in your pic. Nasty stuff but it sure keeps your place green with all that contained moisture.

I’m amazed how green it keeps the grass. I’ll need at least six inches of gravel on top of it before I pour the concrete. That will keep the moisture away and prevent the concrete from breaking.

[Travlin]

Great photos. Those D-7's sure have changed from the ones Container Corp. had in Waycross Ga. in the seventies and eighties. I have two pistons from a seven in my reloading room. Did you know they are four cylinder diesels .

[dave77]

“ After the annual ice age” Good one.

I thought that was clay I was seeing in your pic. Nasty stuff but it sure keeps your place green with all that contained moisture.

I’m amazed how green it keeps the grass. I’ll need at least six inches of gravel on top of it before I pour the concrete. That will keep the moisture away and prevent the concrete from breaking.

I can go a couple of weeks between watering the pasture with my clay soil if the grass is not too short when it's in the mid 90s. The school I worked at was pure sand and 3 days in the 90's without water and it was turning brown. It does get watered for 12 hrs while the school grass got an hour every day except the day before it was mowed.

I poured 6 inches of concrete directly on my clay soil for my 20' x 25' garage floor, it did sit for several Summer weeks with no water before the concrete was poured. I did use concrete reinforcing mesh and had fiberglass added to the mix. Made 2 relief cuts sideways and 1 lengthwise, poured it in 2006 and it has no cracks or breaking.

Do you have ground water near the surface that would make a difference? Our well was at least 50' deep before we got any water at all.

[Sir Henry]

Great photos. Those D-7's sure have changed from the ones Container Corp. had in Waycross Ga. in the seventies and eighties. I have two pistons from a seven in my reloading room. Did you know they are four cylinder diesels .

I did not know that but it does run at a low RPM so that makes sense.

[Sir Henry]

“ After the annual ice age” Good one.

I thought that was clay I was seeing in your pic. Nasty stuff but it sure keeps your place green with all that contained moisture.

I’m amazed how green it keeps the grass. I’ll need at least six inches of gravel on top of it before I pour the concrete. That will keep the moisture away and prevent the concrete from breaking.

I can go a couple of weeks between watering the pasture with my clay soil if the grass is not too short when it's in the mid 90s. The school I worked at was pure sand and 3 days in the 90's without water and it was turning brown. It does get watered for 12 hrs while the school grass got an hour every day except the day before it was mowed.

I poured 6 inches of concrete directly on my clay soil for my 20' x 25' garage floor, it did sit for several Summer weeks with no water before the concrete was poured. I did use concrete reinforcing mesh and had fiberglass added to the mix. Made 2 relief cuts sideways and 1 lengthwise, poured it in 2006 and it has no cracks or breaking.

Do you have ground water near the surface that would make a difference? Our well was at least 50' deep before we got any water at all.

Yes on the surface ground water. It’s not a lot. The main problem is it freezing deep. Open areas the frost goes dow three or four feet while roads can freeze down ten feet or more. I know of one spot on a local road that is two feet higher in the winter.

[Travlin]

The two D-7 pistons that I have are of 5 1/2" diameter and 8" long with a 2 1/4" hole for the wrist pin. I don't think that something that big would rev too fast. Ring Power rebuilt the D-7 at Waycross and my good friend who worked for Container Corp. gave me the old pistons.

[Sir Henry]

It’s hard to take a good picture of clay. It’s just plain ugly.

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This will have 200 yards of gravel on it.

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The bonus to this project is I also get a 100 yard summer range. The roll bar is about 8 feet high. I’m taking the picture from a lower angle so the berm doesn’t look like it’s 12 feet high.

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I can even store stuff behind it and it will be out of sight.

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The edge of the level platform is above Alice.

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[Sir Henry]

If it remains in the teens for a few more days and doesn’t snow I’m going to order gravel. I figure 200 yards of 3/4” minus and 200 yards of 5/8” minus should give me a good gravel base on top of the clay.

The driveway leading up to the garage area

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Looking at where the garage will be

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Additional flat area behind the garage

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Looking back at the driveway, RVport and house

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[North Country Gal]

Interesting difference in the soils for us, even though we are only a couple of counties, away. We are sand with ridges of gravel, all outwash from the glacier melting. It's also why we have so many lakes. If you want clay, you have to bring it in.