Making a Driveway

Not what you want to see the night before putting in a driveway....tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings.

Wednesday morning the sky had cleared and we got ready for the arrival of the first load of crusher run stone to put down on the driveway. We laid a fabric which was supposed to keep the stone from sinking into the mud. Gary at the stone yard estimated we would need 4 truckloads (21-22 tons each) to fill the driveway, but by the end of the day we were up to truckload #9, and not finished yet. Thursday morning we had the final load (#10) delivered, and a truckload of 2 inch minus stone for the base of the foundation.

After the first load was in, Pjor dug out the place for the flares for the culvert and Rob installed them, so the water can go under the driveway.

Excavating the Foundation

The foundation of the workshop/studio is excavated!

We bought drainage pipes this morning which will route the water around the workshop/studio.

What to do with all the mud?

We're spreading out the mud, flattening it, and moving some to a pile in the front that we're going to try to give away. Need to get the culvert pipes in this afternoon, since the driveway stone is coming tomorrow!

Excavating the Driveway

Rob arrived back in the US on May 21 with his friend and expert excavator Pjor and his girlfriend Lianne. We rented a bad ass excavator the next day and started digging out the driveway on May 23. Within one day the driveway was cleared - we harvested many small trees and a couple bigger ones:( - more than we even thought were there, but Rob is excited to use them for building the structures, staircases, and furniture. Rob bought an awesome chainsaw and has barely put it down since he bought it. 

Marking the Driveway

Over spring break in April, Don helped me mark the position of the driveway. We needed to be 10 ft from the side border of the property and we marked 15 feet across all the way back to the site of the workshop/studio. Working our way through the invasive barberry was quite prickly, but we picked this path because there were few trees and alot of invasive bushes that we want to get rid of anyway.

Soil Test - Board of Health Approval

Strange weather in January allowed us to get the soil tests done. Our neighbor John came over with his excavator, and we had an engineer come out to determine our soil type and kind of septic we needed. We dug three test holes, and the engineer conducted perc tests to determine the water capacity of the soil. Amazingly, our soil was good enough for an in-ground leach field, which should save a good deal of money (as opposed to having to build an above-ground leach field). Board of Health inspector came out during the same day and inspected the test holes - good to go! We filed for official Board of Health approval and received the design of the septic and site plan from the engineer.