Hey SG,
Our property is very rugged with the house being almost on the top of a hill. Now, the usable area where the house is has maybe 1 acre before it slopes down to
When we bought the property we tried to think of another way to do it but we finally bit the bullet and hired a guy with a D-9 Cat to terrace the top so we’d have enough room for the house, outbuildings and gardens. It cost us $1500 and he was finished in about ½ day. I’ve never regretted spending the money even though it set us back in our time-table because we’d kindof earmarked that money for something else… but now we have a good place for the house & gardens while keeping the great view we bought the property for. The big rocks the D-9 dug up (some of them the size of a Volkswagon) they buried on the edge of the slope to help stabilize the top terrace. They also scattered some around in the landscape so that I could make little micro-climates around the boulders.
One other little suggestion. Before you start tearing up the land, make sure you have some vegetation established on your slope and get vegetation planted on the part you’ve terraced ASAP. Even if it’s rock & rock dust the rain will carve valleys & small canyons in a remarkably short period of time.
Good luck on your quest for land!
Pat S.
From:
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 5:19 PM
To:
Subject: [papercreters] Rocky, Wooded Slope -was- Re: What are you building with Papercrete?
I agree that a tractor is far more economical. The problem is that
driving one on the slope would be suicidal. I'd guess it's close to
a 100% grade. That's the catch-22. Once a house is built, the slope
will make for a fantastic view. The price for that view is the
difficult construction, especially initially. The very reasons the
land is unusable for farming/grazing are the reasons it will be
challenging to build upon desirable to live there once the structure
is finished.
If I were to use one of those walk behinds, it would be a rental.
I'd get some friends together and we'd try to knock out the critical
work in one or two weekends. I even can imagine tethering it, just
in case it wants to roll.
The other alternative would be to do a lot of hand digging. I'd
probably need to buy a jackhammer to get the big rocks down to a
manageable size. It's mostly limestone, so breaking it up shouldn't
be unreasonable. I wouldn't even consider attempting construction on
this site if the rock were granite. Ideally I'll use a lot of that
rock in the structure.
--- In papercreters@
wrote:
>
> Slurryguy wrote:
>
>
> Building a road and digging out for the foundation will be no small
> tasks. It won't be easy to use heavy equipment at the construction
> site. I saw a tiny tracked walk behind skid steer the other day on
> the boob tube. Something like that might be ideal, at least at
> first. If it can handle the slope well, it might make things
easier,
> especially initially. It would be nice to excavate without
> destroying the natural beauty that exists.
>
> I think after about a day and a half if you last that long the walk
behind
> will drive you mad.
>
> They are very expensive for what you get because of their unique
nature and
> limited application. They are also terribly slow. I picked up a
used 34
> horse JD 4wd tractor loader backhoe for $18k Canadian. I think it
would
> likely have cost about $14K US. For another $3k you can get a pin
> attachment if the rock is a real problem. If they are over 5 years
old they
> tend to keep their value very well so you could sell it when you
were done.
> The combination of loader, backhoe with side stabilizers make this
a very
> agile little beasty. Plus there is so much more you can do with
them. PTO
> driven mixer? Cut the brush, dig the septic, lift 600lbs up 8'..the
list
> goes on and on.
>
> Hope you get your property
>
>
>
> Nick
>
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