Diggin' it

Ended up looking around on the net trying to find out how to survey my backyard and find the relative elevations based on the level of the dirt at the house. I had a really hard time finding anything that wasn't just for surveying property lines, but I did find that transit levels could do the trick but are basically just a laser pointer with a level on it. So I got the idea to use the rotary level I have, which you can't see for nothing outside, and use it like a transit level by turning it way down where it didn't rotate and using the large ruled straightedge I have to compare the height at the laser to other places in the yard.

It turned out to be a real pain to get it lined up right, to keep it level and to keep walking back to it every time I wanted to change the "direction" I was measuring, since it was only pointing it one direction at a time. It got a little easier when Aimee was able to come out and move it around for me as I checked different places in the yard.

I was able to identify that from the level at the house where the dirt is a little below the sheeting under the siding, the railroad ties along the back fence raised beds are about 6 1/2 inches higher and the ground 9 feet out from the south side of the house, where the raised planting beds will be next to the deck, is about 3 inches higher.

about 3 inches high at the line where the raised planting bed will be at the end of the deck that will be between the house and the planter along the south wall of the family room.

6 1/2 inches too high at the back fence planting beds.

There is the laser level at the southwest corner of the family room.

There will need to be a slope from where the level is out to the 9 foot mark where the trench is, but there is just too much dirt to remove if I try to level the whole yard from that point, so after talking with Aimee we decided to put a step up at that 9 foot point (at the same line as the end of the planter, ie extend the trench in the picture out to the left to the nearer stake in the ground). This will only be about a 6 inch step up to the grass and will basically mean I won't have to remove much dirt from the main grass level; I will just need to add about 3 inches of good dirt and level it out after tilling up the top layer of what is there after tilling up leveling and compacting the dirt that is currently there.

There other project that I got done just before coming in for dinner was to extend the pavers in front of the shed so that the dirt didn't spray the shed when it rained. There is a little more grading around the shed that needs to be done, but with it being a good 2-3 inches above where the grade around it is probably going to end up it should keep water from pooling around the shed or getting in it at all.

I am feeling more and more confident about our plans for the back yard now and with them coming together a little bit, it is getting kinda exciting. There have been changes along the way as we have had to adapt to difficulties or to make the work more manageable, like putting in the step-up in to accommodate the higher than expected lawn area, but it is starting to come together. There are still a few things that we have to figure out, namely the main part of the deck and how to possibly figure out how to place the pier blocks precisely enough that the deck will be stable and flat forever more.

On we go.

Memorial Day 2012

We had a pretty low key weekend; didn't go anywhere except Walmart, didn't have anything special for food, didn't have anyone over. It was kind of nice to have a long weekend all by ourselves.

We watched several movies, played trains, planes and cars with Sam, had a couple tickle fights and rough-housed, and otherwise just hung around the house. Oh, we did make it to church too, in fact we all went together even though Aimee had to go early to do the Resource Center.

I did get out today and do a little on the yard. I got the extra boards on the middle garden bed to bring it up to the same height as the other two and got the strawberry cage started. I don't, however, have pictures since my phone decided to not save the pictures I took today; only one picture of some fire boxes at Walmart was there when I went to post this.

I will hopefully have more success tomorrow posting the pictures after I retake them.

Second raised bed, planer dust port started

It wasn't raining for a little bit tonight after we got done with dinner, so Aimee suggested we spend some time out back. So we got out work clothes on, bundled up a little bit due to the cloudy weather and went outside to directly take the bundling back off since it was like 80% humidity and almost 70 degrees. Anywho, I started by going through the leaves of the second raised bed and finding all the lava rock, then started loosening up the dirt and pulling out any rock I found.  It was slow going and so mucky that I was having a hard time with it; I decided to try the dirt sifter and see if it was any better going. It was, slightly.

Sam did have fun helping to shovel dirt into the sifter so I could push the muck through the grid uncovering the rocks. There don't seem to be as many in this bed but there are a lot of smaller rocks. I only got about halfway through the bed before it started getting dark and we realized that is was well past Sam's bed time; time to go in. So I helped Aimee weed the last bit she was working on in front of the lilies by the garden.

We picked up and Aimee got Sam in while I put the tools away. I got Sam in bed and then went on a search for my glasses; still haven't found them btw. I ended up just going out in the garage without them to try to figure out how to put a dust collection port on the Delta planer my brother has let me "borrow", well he hasn't asked for it back yet, for several years now.

It took some doing and I first started by taking off the deflector but that didn't work very well. It all has to do with a port off the motor that directs air through ports in the deflector; presumably to help eject the shavings, but it was impossible to figure out how to build a port around it. So I left the deflector on and build a surround that collects the shavings as they come out. To keep the dust port hose out of the way, I think I am going to put the port on the top but I may have some difficulty attaching it until the Dust-Right port comes from Rockler. I was going to see if there is anything at HD or somewhere else local, but may just have to wait til next week.

Hating the rain

It has been raining since last weekend and I haven't been able to get outside to work on anything cuz everything is all muddy. It is really amazing how day the weather went from the 80s and sunny to rainy and 60s. There was only about a week of 70s and on and off clouds between the two.

I need to finish the sprinkler repairs but can't when it is wet. I actually got a lot of the sprinkler repairs done last week but finishing them up will probably have to wait until this weekend when it is suppose to be dry for a couple days. I have to get the filter installed before I can eventually cap all the sprinkler heads, pressure test all the lines I repaired (actually that is all of them), purge all the lines to get out any dirt left in the lines and then install the sprinklers and adjust them

I also got the downspout on the east side of the driveway connected up with the drain grate and the grate set in gravel ready to pour the cement around it and fill in the gap in the driveway. I may try to do the cement this weekend, if the weather is as nice as they say.

I just realized that I also need to get the gutters cleaned out since there is a lot of debris left over from roofing on the south side of the house and to get out the general buildup from tree needles and moss in the rest of the gutters. I really don't want all that stuff down my new drains.

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Labor days - the next week

So far this week I have:

• raked out the dirt over the pond and tamped it down, with Sam's "help"
• cut the drainpipe in the front, on the east side of the garage, to length
• filled dirt and gravel in around the drain pipe and installed the connector for the downspout
• dug out the gravel from the driveway trench
• dug out halfway, another 4-6 inches of dirt from the driveway trench; to a total of about 12-16 inches
• dug out more on the west trench in the back to slope it down from the downspout to the drywell
• Connected the drainpipe on that back west trench to the drywell and filled it the rest of the way with gravel, covered the gravel with landscape fabric and then with some dirt, that Sam also helped with tonight even though he is kinda sick right now.
• cleaned out the valves for the front sprinklers so they wouldn't leak when I watered the new tree.

will update this post and add pictures as the week progresses...

Labor Days, the rest of the week

So for the rest of the week after Labor Day I worked on:

• digging the rest of the trench to the downspout on the east of the garage including tunneling under the front sidewalk
• filling up the hole in the front with gravel to the drain ports
• installing the drain pipe from the east garage downspout to the drywell and filling in the trench
• capping off the sprinkler lines I hit so I could still water the tree in the front
• digging out the rest of the trench to the downspout on the west side in the back, including tunneling under the sidewalk
• breaking up the sidewalk over my tunnel in the back and removing the cement pieces (I was able to break them by putting a broken piece of cement under one corner after prying it up with the pick axe, then when I found I didn't have a sledge, I jumped on it and it broke)

It was pretty hot that week so I really only worked in the mornings when it was cool and picked Sam up early from the babysitter and had him nap at home. I got to spend a little more time with him once he got home, before his nap, got to put him down for a nap by reading a book to him and got to play and hang out with him when he got up from his nap, when he woke up before Aimee got home that is. On Thursday, he had fallen at the library with the babysitter and had a pretty big goose egg on his forhead, so he slept really good that afternoon. The pictures don't do it justice, especially when the babysitter, Sarah, said it was at least twice as big right after he did it, prompting them to go home and ice it.

Here are some pictures from the week:

Front drywell filled to ports with gravel and trench extended to the sidewalk

Front drywell drain line in, under sidewalk

before I started extending the trench, but after removing some of the loose dirt from the machined trench.

trench under sidewalk

removed sidewalk

Trench under the sidewalk with sidewalk removed

Labor Day #3, Sept 2011

We had a quick breakfast on Labor Day morning, day 3 of the work weekend. Aimee's dad got started doing the hole for the sump pump and I went and got another load of gravel I was thinking I would need for the holes and trenches, hopefully another 2 yards isn't going to be too much.

Dad worked with a short shovel I had and that 5 gallon bucket on it's side cuz it barely fit under the floor joists when upright. I emptied the first couple buckets for him, but Aimee helped out the rest of the day so I could work in the holes in the yard. Is it just me or does he not look too amused I took his picture?

He got quite dusty working under the house and crawling around to run the electrical line and the garden hose out the vent at the other end of the house.I am kinda excited about this being done, but kinda not looking forward to running the electrical line over to the panel in the garage and snaking it down to hook it up.

Dusty Bob.

Anywho, I dropped off the trailer at the rental place after I dumped the gravel in the driveway and then proceeded to dig out the end of the trench going to the east side drywell, wrap the hole and container with landscape fabric, insert the drainage pipe coming from the downspouts, fill the hole with gravel, put an extra piece of landscape fabric on top and start filling the remaining 12 inch deep hole with dirt. By about noon, I had gotten all the loose dirt around the hole scraped back into the hole, about half filled. I will have to move more from the other pile in the back, but after I get the other holes buttoned up to at least this stage.

Hole with gravel in the bottom and well container



Well and hole wrapped in landscape fabric



fabric folded over and dirt starting to fill rest of hole

After filling the east hole with dirt about half way, which is when I ran out of loose dirt by the hole, I think I had lunch and then started on the west side drywell. We hit some gravel which looked like some kind of drainage field, which would have been under the grass; maybe something left over from a septic system, I don't know. It will help disperse the water though so we left it alone.

It didn't seem like it took that long, but I got it wrapped and filled with gravel to the drainage pipe holes. I will need to empty the trench and grade it to the hole and fix the sprinkler lines I hit with the trencher before I can put the pipe in. I did realize that working in the full sun was really hot and put the canopy over the hole. It was hot that day, like close to 90 I think, but this made it at least manageable. Now I know why Dad wanted to work under the house instead of outside; much cooler, but more dusty I think.

Second drywell on west side of back yard, there was some kind of pre-existing drainage field that we hit, maybe from an old septic system?

West drywell filled to the drainage pipe connections, .

Labor Day #2

Day two started with a quick breakfast and trenching... lots of trenching. It took a long time cuz it again kept locking up on rocks and was a little underpowered for the depth and type of soil.

I decided to keep the loader past the 8am return time; for $35/hour. I was hoping to get it done in the 4 hour timeline, so it wouldn't get too expensive. It was well worth the extra time we had the loader and I was almost sorry I didn't keep it for the rest of the day. Anywho...
We got the trench along the back side of the house for the new sprinkler run that will water the new grass I will be putting in later this fall. Then we moved to the west side trench that goes to the first dry well we dug. I hit just about every existing sprinkler line in that area, sometimes in multiple spots... I will have a lot of repairs to do but it really wasn't that bad considering. I finished with the trench for the front yard hole but couldn't do more than like 4 feet due to not being able to back the machine through he side of the garage.


I was happy when it was finally finished and we were ready to unload the trencher back on the trailer.

East side - first trench

South Side of house

West side of house, with busted lines




Another on the West that I nicked

 

After trenching I decided to run as much gravel as I could to tarps in the backyard next to the two holes. I got a good pile next to each of them, hoping that I didn't do too little and praying I didn't do too much to have to move it back.

We took the loader back about 11:30 and paid for a day plus the 4 extra hours. It was some of the best rental money I have spent. We took a break and went to lunch when we got back; Dad took us out to Mexican and we started talking about what else needed to get done. The sump pump came up and Dad was eager to volunteer to get out of working in the heat on Monday; smart man.

I went and got another load of gravel that afternoon before the landscape supply place closed. Then I think I messed around outside but didn't seem to really get all that much done for the rest of the day... it was too hot. The front of the house looked like this at the end of the day.

[Next: Labor Day #3: "Labor Day"]

Labor Day #1, Sept 2011

We started early with a big breakfast that Aimee and her Dad made: Cabbage, eggs, ham and bananas.

We started right off with finishing the hole we started the night before and cleaned it out as best we could with the auger before putting another hole right next to the other one.


The first hole



The second hole



Sam and Aimee came out about then to see what was up and Sam wanted to see the machine but got really timid after stepping onto it, then didn't want to be near it any more. Aimee got this pic just as he was stepping on:

Sam inspecting the holes



Sam on the loader

So while Bob, Aimee's Dad, cleaned out the remaining dirt in those holes, I went and started on the other location in the back. The dirt on that side of the yard was quite a bit wetter down about a foot so it clung to the auger bit pretty well and I was able to clean that hole out more than the first one. Bob then started cleaning out that one while I went to do the hole in the front.

Second location, first hole of 3

Cleaning out what the loader left

I made quite a mess in the front yard since I was planning on putting two of the 50 gallon dry well containers in the ground right next to each other to handle the front gutter and the runoff from the street that collects in our driveway. I ended up deciding that was way overkill and just put one in. It will have a lot of extra capacity with the extra gravel that got put around it anyways.

5 holes later



Note the flying dirt clump.



About the time I started digging out the left over dirt from drilling 5 holes, Aimee and Sam came back from doing a project at the home store; a dry erase board. I was kinda sad I missed doing the project with Sam, but it gave Aimee a chance to do one with him.

And of course Sam wanted to get in the hole with me; it was deeper than he is tall at 38" and ended up about 50-54 inches deep when I was done cleaning it out.

I think it was after lunch that I was done with the hole clean out and Bob had finished the ones in the back, so I started hauling the dirt from the back yard to the pile I had started in the front until it was time to go get the dump trailer I had reserved. I got the majority of the extra dirt moved and was just piddling around with the loader, leveling off the side of the driveway and digging a little in the lawn area in the back yard.

We went over to pick up the trailer at about 3 and got a bit of a break in the heat until we got back and started loading and hauling the extra dirt.





We got the trailer fully loaded, dumped at the landscape place, refilled with the rest of the pile, dumped, and came back with a full load of 3/4 open gravel before 5:30. It was well worth the rental fee to have the dump trailer so we wouldn't be killing ourselves with unloading my little utility trailer and making about 6 trips for every full load of the dumping trailer. It would have taken a full day just to get rid of all that dirt the other way.

We took a break for dinner and then went back out, put the trencher on and did the trench along the east side of the house, from the second hole in the back yard. It took a long time cuz the machine seemed to be a little under powered for a foot deep trench and it kept getting bound up on rocks. I had to keep raising the trencher, reversing it to kick out the rock and then try to lower it to the same depth again. Needless to say the trench was not too consistent. It got dark before we finished, so we left the other trenches for the next morning.

[Next: Labor Day #2 and cost vs effort decisions]

Labor Day Prep, Sept 2011

So now that you know the back story of the issues we are having with water under the house, etc. The in-laws showed up about 5pm on Friday, Pre-Labor Day #1. We had dinner and I made sure I had an alarm set so I would remember to go get the utility loader after 7pm but before they closed at 8pm, so that I could skirt their open hours and have the loader until Sunday morning at 8am for a 1 Day rate.

I borrowed the neighbors truck and took off for the store and found that the loader was still there, which was a concern. I got it rented and as we were hooking it up realized they didn't have an adapter for the round 6wire terminal on the truck to go to the 4wire connection for the trailer lights. So I called up a couple local auto supply stores using my phones google maps to search for near ones and found one at a store back by the house... so I got the keys for the loader, went and got the adapter, then came back to hook up the trailer with the adapter and got it home about 8:00.

I unloaded the loader and got the auger bit attached and it died; out of gas. So I put the gallon or so of gas I had in the can for the lawn mover and got the thing to the back yard. I was eager to try it out, but it took us almost another half hour to get the hydraulic connections for the auger connected since one of them was sticking and wouldn't lock on.

It was probably about 9pm or later when I got the thing fired up and started digging the first hole.  The auger went through the dirt with little effort and I had the thing buried to the full depth in no time. I backed it out and pulled the auger back a little so we could check out the hole and it was awesome. The bit took a lot of the dirt out with it so the hole was really pretty clean; we were going to be able to do these holes with only some clean out.

Wish we would have gotten pictures of that night, but didn't think of it. Sam and Aimee came out at that point for Sam to say goodnight and we all went inside for the night.

[Next: Labor Day #1]

Labor Day backstory and planning

For Labor Day this year, Aimee's Parents drove down for the weekend to help me with some of my ongoing projects, in fact two of the most daunting ones I have been planning for awhile.

When we bought our house 6 years ago, the inspection report identified that there was standing water under the house. In the months that followed, I realized that there were probably a couple things that may be contributing to it:

1. the plugged downspout drian by the garage that was pouring water right next to the garage foundation
2. the downspout drain that runs from the other side of the garage across the front of the house and somewhere to the backyard could have a break, hole or simply just be clogged and leaking out a seam
3. the 300-400 gallon pond by the front door which may have a leak
4. and possibly the fact that our groundwater is probably not far below surface since we live within a half mile to a major river running through town and it is just finding it's way into our house when it rains a lot.

I decided to have the downspout drains scoped with a camera to find out if they were clogged and where they drained.  It was almost a waste of money since they found that both of them were completely clogged and nothing else since the service guy was not able to get the camera past the debri. So...

Phase 2 of the plan was to take the downspout water out of the equation by diverting it to drywells that I would dig at the corners of the property to help dispell the water from around the house. I was not looking forward to this due to digging a 3 foot in diameter 4 foot deep hole by hand or at least with limited help of an auger.Hand opperated ones only get up to about 12-16 iunches and you still have to dig out the rest of the hole and loose dirt. But when I was at the big box store, I was talking to the tool rental mechanic and discovered that they rent a utility loader that has a 24 inch auger bit, a scoop bucket, and a trencher; all the things I would need for digging out the holes and trenches and moving the dirt and gravel around. So that solved a lot of the issues with digging holes that big.

Phase 3 was going to be regrading the ground around the house to help runoff go away from the house. There is a general bowl shaped grade to the ground around the house, so this would help direct any surface water away from the foundation.

The last phase was to eventually put in a sump pump under the house and move any water that may collect under there. This was going to be the last effort after the other phases were unsuccessful in removing enough water from around the house. I had looked into having a the crawlspace enclosed, but when that was not cost effective for our already upside down house, I looked into other contracted foundation draining systems. These were less expensive but still not very cost effective for our situation.

So the work began...

[to be continued...]

Garden auto-watering

Finally got the drip watering system installed on the new raised garden beds. It took almost all of yesterday afternoon messing with it. Although, I did get distracted by pruning the tomatoes (they are in their pre-pruned state in the picture above) and getting them tied up and supported better; they had fallen over and were starting to grow up from laying down. They look a lot better now and are not so dense with dead leaves/branches on the inside.

pruned tomatoes

Since the sprinkler system is having problems, due to the irrigation well producing a rust or clay that is clogging the valves every time I turn it on, I decided to buy a faucet timer I saw at the wholesale store and bought an adapter so I could hook a hose to the drip system I had attached to the irrigation well system last year. It works pretty good, looks like everything is getting adequately watered this morning, but we will have to see how it is at the end of a long hot day; may need adjust the time up if it is not getting enough.

new timer

water lines

I also transplanted one of the pumpkins on Saturday from the raised bed since there were 3 on each of the two hills I planted in there. They are getting kinda big and invading the tomatoes. I may just have to find someone to take a couple of the smaller plants, but need to make sure I can successfully transplant one before I try that... I moved it into a large bark section of the yard just outside the garden area, where Aimee was going to plant some wildflowers but I guess gave up on the idea. I had to get more dirt for the transplant to make a small mound for it. I watered the heck out of it but the next day the leaves were all yellowing. It looks better today with several waterings yesterday and today.

pumpkin transplant

On the positive side, the one pumpkin plant is going gang busters and has like 15 little pumpkins forming all along it. On another note, the big one on the other mound I tried to get to hang over the side of the raised bed but I noticed yesterday that it twisted the vine and it was kinda splitting. I tried to support it better, but not too successfully, so we get to see how it does, hopefully it will adapt well.

Oh and the lillies are still doing really good, too.

front lilies

back lilies

We had dinner outside that night and ate almost nothing from the store; it either came from our garden or from the farmer's market.