Build thread: house of freedom

[freedom_in_4low]

Leaving most of the woods because otherwise what's the point? But we do want some clear area in the back for the kids to play.

A forestry mulcher mounted on a skid steer has to be the most efficient way of clearing woods. I mean sure, there's wildfire, asteroid impact and nuclear blast, but this gives you the option to keep some of them.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Grabbed this on Friday of my 7yo doing a little climbing. So pleased with himself at the end, he cracks me up.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

we didn't have sod in place before closing, due to builder scheduling it for the day before and then weather came in and it was too muddy to even cut the sod from the field. We were in a corner because our mortgage lock from last May was expiring and we couldn't afford the interest rate hike that would come with waiting.

After the weather, I told builder the grade past the side and back of the driveway was unacceptable and that needed to be fixed before sod goes down. For one it's too steep, also it's not compacted at all, it's like a soft dirt pile. She gives me the number to the guy that did the dirt work originally....like I want him back after doing such a half ass job. I go ahead and have him out and he quotes a $10k retaining wall. Ultimately, maybe that's the best solution but hell if I'm gonna hire HIM to do it. He was gonna throw some gravel down under it and some sort of mat behind it, no means for drainage.

So then we have a landscaper come and look at it and tell us what he thinks. He'll do a better retaining wall, for less, but also suggests we would save a lot of money just putting 2-3 loads more fill out there to smooth out the grade. I like this option.

problem is, we can't seem to get more than 2-3 days between precipitation, which means by the time things dry out enough to do anything, it's raining again. Last weekend I rigged up a drain (the concrete work isn't pretty) thinking it would buy us time, but the first rain brought a bunch of mud from the front yard and clogged it right up, so the water just ran over the sides, washed out underneath it, and then it sagged away from the driveway so the water just runs right over the edge as it was to start with.

Now I've got all means of downspout catchers, tarps, lumber scraps, rocks and bricks to catch the water and direct it down the slope before it goes under the concrete. Also, a pair of very wet, muddy Dickie's and mud boots. I've got 36 tons of fill dirt and 12 tons of topsoil scheduled for delivery at noon on Friday but the rain has continued longer than forecast so I don't know if I'll even be able to get it by then. Guy we wanted is also noncommittal about getting it done, but we have another guy that can probably work us in and if all else fails, my father in law has a skid steer and we'll just do it ourselves.

but at least the back yard is cool.

 

[Modoc Guy]

If it were mine, I’d put up a stair step set of retaining walls with a steep slope like that. With some deep posts driven down across every stair step. And an adequate drain for every tier.

Given how it’s eroding now, anything else would be asking for trouble in the future.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

If it were mine, I’d put up a stair step set of retaining walls with a steep slope like that. With some deep posts driven down across every stair step. And an adequate drain for every tier.

Given how it’s eroding now, anything else would be asking for trouble in the future.

Just my 2 cents.

you're not wrong.

if I can get it out to no steeper than 1 foot of fall for every 2 feet of horizontal distance (in compliance with international building code 2018 Appendix J section 107.6) and install a couple of concrete flumes to give the water a place to come down without taking soil with it, without using some massively ridiculous amount of dirt, then I think I can get away without a wall. Otherwise, yeah I'm probably gonna have to put in at least 50' of retaining wall.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

I went out and took some measurements, and we have spots as steep as 68-73% grade. IBC calls for no more than 50%.

There's argument that even 50% isn't safe for intended use, since intended use includes mowing the lawn, but for now I can settle for my driveway not ending up in the creek. Building on a cost-plus agreement (which is what all the custom homebuilders do around here) means that I would have paid for it anyway if it had been done before closing, so I don't have any entitlement to it being done at no cost to me. It's actually kinda better because this way I don't have to pay the builders percentage.

I pulled out a little trig and it looks like 3 truckloads (2 of "red select" fill dirt with good clay content so it sticks together and 1 of topsoil) will do the job. It's scheduled for delivery tomorrow and the work to be done this weekend, as long as the dirt has under 20% moisture content (otherwise it won't pack). Sod is still up in the air, so we'll probably have some silt fence to control the erosion until we get out of this weather pattern. We're still mud from getting close to 2" of rain this week, then there's more in the forecast Tuesday 2/14, and then again Monday 2/20. At best we might be able to get sod laid on Wednesday 2/15 if they cut it on Monday.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

this is really more my office than my house, but I got tired of the spaghetti of wires I had connecting all the HVACR control devices that I program and test. I had built a small 24"x24" panel with plywood that just sat on the floor, but I've accumulated more stuff and the wiring had become unmanageable.

This was the mess before I took it all apart at the rent house.

My wife is in radiography school and wanted some old-school x-ray viewing lightboxes, so I found some on marketplace from a neurologist that was retiring and selling off his office. He had them mounted on this wooden rolling stand, but my wife wanted them wall mounted so I got to repurpose the stand for myself.

This is what I have done today. I have a switch for 120VAC and one for 24VDC, and then the big gray box has a 120-24VAC transformer inside it with which I feed 24VAC devices.

Devices that lack any human-machine interface are on the back; no need to see them if there's no display or keypad.

I've still got a fair bit of wiring to do to get the less commonly used devices going but for now I at least have the ones I use more than once a week.

The best part is, most of these things have a web interface so I just have to run them all to a switch and into my house ethernet and I can roll the whole thing into a closet and not have to see it at all. For now it's out because I need to add a receptacle to my closet, but once that's done it'll be out of sight.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

3 weeks in, we finally have sod.

My neighbor is building some serious retaining walls around his creek crossing.

 

[2001slvrstntj]

Feels good to finally be in the house I bet, I am sure not fully finished inside and out but still nice to be in. Enjoy it and make some memories.

 

[ColoJeep]

this is really more my office than my house, but I got tired of the spaghetti of wires I had connecting all the HVACR control devices that I program and test. I had built a small 24"x24" panel with plywood that just sat on the floor, but I've accumulated more stuff and the wiring had become unmanageable.

This was the mess before I took it all apart at the rent house.

View attachment 401160


My wife is in radiography school and wanted some old-school x-ray viewing lightboxes, so I found some on marketplace from a neurologist that was retiring and selling off his office. He had them mounted on this wooden rolling stand, but my wife wanted them wall mounted so I got to repurpose the stand for myself.

This is what I have done today. I have a switch for 120VAC and one for 24VDC, and then the big gray box has a 120-24VAC transformer inside it with which I feed 24VAC devices.

View attachment 401161

Devices that lack any human-machine interface are on the back; no need to see them if there's no display or keypad.

View attachment 401162

I've still got a fair bit of wiring to do to get the less commonly used devices going but for now I at least have the ones I use more than once a week.

The best part is, most of these things have a web interface so I just have to run them all to a switch and into my house ethernet and I can roll the whole thing into a closet and not have to see it at all. For now it's out because I need to add a receptacle to my closet, but once that's done it'll be out of sight.

OR ....

 

[freedom_in_4low]

OR ....

View attachment 401425

Not if you want to actually sell the equipment you build in 2023. The efficiency and reliability expectations established by the market are impossible to achieve with traditional electromechanical controls. (Talking commercial here...I don't work in residential where the typical homeowner neither understands nor cares and the efficiency requirements are the minimum mandated by legislation).

 

[ColoJeep]

sell the equipment you build.

This fully sums up the reason for DDC in a building smaller than sky scraper. DDC is nuts in a residential setting , how many single family homes a VAV system installed. I am yanking your chain a little , freedom in 4low , please don't take this too seriously. To each his own.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

We've finally got at least a short term answer to the storm water runoff/washout issues.

1. Reworked grade in front yard to direct neighbors runoff to other side of house, cutting what goes off the back of our driveway by ~60%.

2. Sod

3. Concrete anchors, some roofing tin and a sheet of pond liner to catch the driveway runoff, held down by some riprap at the top. We're waiting on a quote for some concrete stairs that will function as a sort of flume, but if that comes back too expensive I'll just finish the riprap and pond liner all the way down.

I didn't get a good photo from up close or up top, but you can see the makeshift channel off to the left.

I've also reworked about half the downspouts. This one was previously extended out to empty onto the sidewalk for some reason...but it was barely pitched so half of it leaked out and the rest ran to the edges of the walkway and tried to wash out underneath. I dug a trench and buried a 4" drain pipe that flattens out to an oval shape where it goes under the rocks and onto the driveway.

This one, likewise emptied onto the front porch (but aimed at the farther edge) soaking the bottom of that 8x8 post and standing at the edge of the patio. So I turned it 90 degrees and again ran it into a 4" drain. For now it just ends at that little pile of rocks because it's a pretty short section of gutter but I may end up extending it out of the planting areas if the flow ends up enough to float my mulch.

These are just temporary, but another example of the gutter subcontractor terminating downspouts where the water would just run off the pavement and wash out underneath. I did this last night ahead of an incoming storm, in the absence of the correct parts to run them down and away.

An unfortunate event is when setting up the riprap runoff channel, one of the landscapers had a rock fall off his wheelbarrow and landed right on my fiber internet line which has been waiting for AT&T to get someone out to bury it. Somehow it actually still works, but it looks fragile as hell so I got in touch with them about running a new cable before the burial crew comes out.

Chances are good that'll come out of my pocket, but I'm not gonna press it on the landscape guy because I appreciate that he was honest enough to knock on my door and tell me what happened, which makes him probably the most upright individual to work on this site.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Stepped out on the back patio last night to listen to the wind in the trees.

The kids are loving it. They wanted to go explore in the dark tonight so they grabbed some camping lanterns they got for Christmas and we walked around out there after dinner. They really want to build a treehouse in this tree but it would be way high for their age. They'll get a treehouse, but I've got another spot in mind.

My oldest was helping me mulch the planter and wanted me to take a photo and of course he has to clown around with the facial expression.

 

[2001slvrstntj]

Treehouse for them will make lifetime memories, very cool.

 

[wborisenok]

Treehouse for them will make lifetime memories, very cool.

I’m 37 and I like to remind my dad that a treehouse is the ONE thing he never gave us as kids.

 

[cliffish]

I’m 37 and I like to remind my dad that a treehouse is the ONE thing he never gave us as kids.

Still hear that from my kids and they are 21 and 24...lol My dad put up a 2 story "fort" on his last house for all the grand kids and they still talk about that to this day.

 

[Zorba]

What am I missing here? We built our own forts and tree forts.

 

[ColoJeep]

What am I missing here? We built our own forts and tree forts.

This ^ Me and my little brothers would design our tree forts based on what ever we could find. I learned at an early age that adding , " one more nail " to a rotating foot cleat used to get up to the fort , was rarely effective ...... This is how you see how real life works !

 

[Apparition]

This ^ Me and my little brothers would design our tree forts based on what ever we could find. I learned at an early age that adding , " one more nail " to a rotating foot cleat used to get up to the fort , was rarely effective ...... This is how you see how real life works !

I installed my own zipline out of mine. I learned that you want to keep the slope close to flat or the other tree will hurt.