Thursday, January 8, 2015

driveway "enhancements"

jambaloney here!

first off - i spent 2 weeks in early december completely re-doing the septic drain field by hand - i will spare you all picture of that! mercifully the weather held, it didn't freeze and i was able to get it working properly as opposed to the nightmare that the previous owner cooked up!!!

on top of that - our driveway is a never-ending chore..

it is always rutting and i am forever re-trenching and filling in by hand - it is a lot of work so this december - i decided to REALLY try and change the way it is fixed... look - old chain and free iron!!!


i have lots of old chain that i got over the years scavenging - i had no idea how expensive it is!!! this spring i will oil the whole lot, but right now, no time...


look at this awesome thing - too heavy for my purpose though... chain on other plates


and rutted driveway - AGAIN!!!!!!


the ruts become ditches and it gets worse near the bottom over time...


first, i dug out all the big rocks with a pick-axe - my teeth rattled for days after..


so the plan is to scrape the driveway flat....


not really much of a dent..


but this worked well..


and so did the hookup...


so i brought out the "i-don't know what"  - i found it in the trash of a nearby fisherman - i THINK it is some sort of boat spade - the rollers are definitely for a boat..

here it is behind the truck..


it worked okay


but there is still room for improvement - problem is, the soil is clay so i ended up doing the whole thing by hand anyway - no matter - the trenches needed another scraping - i put the excess soil and rocks in the ruts - no pics as it snowed the day after i was done - i do this kinda work in the rain when the soil is soft..


you can see some added soil here..


part of teh problem is that water drains around the curve at the top...


so i am trenching that curve..


and laying in perf pipe (thanks ted!)


here it is all dug out...


it needs some soil fabric wrapped around to keep the soil from clogging it (this was a bit less porous that i would have liked, i ended up using different fabric on the ends)..


and a mesh cap on the end...


i got rocks from the beach, put a small bed of them down first, and laid the pipe in place, then covered it with more rocks... the round rocks are perfect - i used a lot for the septic drain field as well....


here is a different angle...


back to the beach for more rocks - i have to use a wheelbarrow - i got stuck in the sand ONCE ;-) that is a new 9 foot surf rod i bought - no bass this day though ..


back to finish the trench


here is a good view of the finished job - it works really well - almost all the water that comes down the top part of the driveway is now diverted into a ditch - in the spring i will place a couple more in strategic places, add more rocks, grade and the driveway should be MUCH better...


things i should have bought years ago - after the trench was finished - i found i could buy a 150 foot roll of perf pipe with fabric sock included for 80 cents a foot including tax - oh well it is there for spring ;-))


it is now cold but not as cold as the rest of you - no more outdoor projects until then it warms up.


cheers all - stay warm!!

23 comments:

  1. You have worked so hard. And such heavy work. Stay indoors and keep warm for a while you deserve it.
    Rosezeeta

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    1. thanks rosezeeta!

      lol - even indoors - there is stuff to do - i will be under the crawl space this week jacking up the hose!!

      cheers!

      Delete
  2. Had you bought that Massy tractor we looked at in Toronto last year you could put a blade on it and be finished in no time....

    I told ya to buy it and stop flirting with that girl.

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    1. i would have, but you let me blow all my dough at the casino anyway so it was moot!!

      ROFL - stay warm pal!

      Delete
  3. Wow that is a lot of work! Good reminder to me that a BOL can be a lot of work cos it is remote.... Now, go paint inside or something ;)

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    1. it sure can be - will be painting a in a week or two - so you are ahead of us ;-))

      all my best to you!

      Delete
  4. Dirt roads are difficult. My parents ended up having to put down some gravel on theirs as well as doing some of the trenching work you did to help the keep things from rutting or washing away. Looks good!

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    1. thanks!

      dirt roads are a pain - the slope is steep which makes it worse - i will be getting gravel down this spring ;-)

      thanks for stopping by!!!

      Delete
    2. Jambalone - I do not know if they have such things in Canada, but my parents have used what they call grindings, which is the output of when the grind blacktop before they reseal it. This has worked pretty well for them, but I imagine you would have to have a road works department nearby that handled such things.

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    3. we do - problem is there are so many dirt roads around here that it gets used up pretty fast...

      but it is worth revisiting...- i will keep an eye out when i go into the BIG city (35,000 people - lol!)

      Delete
  5. The dire seems like a never ending 'big' job. I don't know what to suggest except buy a tractor with a scraping blade, bush hog and a rototiller attachment for your garden.

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    1. hey mike!!
      yep - it is work - more drainage will help bigtime - a tractor would help but no good for the garden as we have all raised beds - maybe in the future though..

      keep warm down there!!!!!

      Delete
  6. Down in the mountains of Arkansas where everyone has steep gravel/mud driveways, they all put in humps of gravel running perpendicular to the driveway and slightly downhill. Water runs for just a short distance and then gets shunted off to the side of the road where it can more easily be dealt with. They do this about every 30 or 40 feet where it is steep. The best part is once done, you rarely have to do anything with it for many years and they never have to worry about it plugging up.

    Funny thing, I tried googling various combinations of the words gravel, driveway and runoff to see if I could find a picture and I kept coming across many pictures of your driveway!

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    1. hey ed!!!

      that is hilarious !!!

      the only problem with your idea is winter snowplowing - so i have to opt fo rteh buried drain otion - but teh principal will be the same... it is super soft in early spring so i should be able to make quick work of the rest...

      hope you are well!!!!

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    2. Good point about the snow. That does make it a bit more complicated!

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  7. You sure stay busy, looks great.

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  8. Thanks for the timely post. Similar problem here. First time 'round some kind soul did the dirt work & added rock, but I took notes & added some of these projects to our do-due lists.

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    1. hey - i am really glad if it gave you any help at all - for trenching you WANT:

      http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=51123&cat=2,42578,40769&ap=1

      stay warm!!

      Delete
  9. Keeping up a rural driveway is always hard. Looks like you have it under control though.

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    1. hey harry!

      looks can be deceiving - i would say i am keeping teh monster at bay ;-)

      cheers friend!

      Delete
  10. Ghostwriter brought me outside to survey their work. I was not impressed, even though ghostwriter said they did a good job. The foul odor was overpowering and I was not allowed to set foot on it. custom fence

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  11. Congratulation for the great post. Those who come to read your Information will find lots of helpful and informative tips. Dirt work near me

    ReplyDelete