Badger Hollow: Construction

Our first priorities for the new property were to build a barn, fence a 5 acre pasture area near the barn, and reside the house. While we knew the roof would need replacing fairly soon, we thought we could keep the old roof for a couple of years, but we thought wrong.

2010/03/13

As construction of the barn loomed ever nearer, we began assembling the stall doors.
We also had fencing and gate material delivered, plus more lumber for the stalls.
A local family of tree cutters (we call them The Tree People) are clearing out the juniper trees. They age the wood and sell it as firewood.
The trees in the first pasture are nearly all cut.
Millagro and Whitney should have plenty of space for frolicking about.
Out fences will be 5' tall, 5 wire electric, with 5" corner posts. The field posts, however, are 11/16" fiberglass.
With the new water pipe and conduit in place for the pump house and barn, the trenches are filled in.
The corners for the barn are finally staked.
The last bit of grading is finished. The site is now ready for rock and gravel to be spread out, and then the barn can go up.

2010/03/12

While marking the location of the barn it became apparent that the location of the water and power lines to the pump house were exactly where we needed to drill for the barn's support poles.
The solution was to dig a new trench for utilities to and from the pump house and move the lines out of the way. We could then use most of the new trench for running power to the barn.
The new trench was quickly dug through the soft soil where the barn will be, but we ran into a little trouble once we hit the hard rock near the house.
The original owner of the house had run the power line to the pump less than 12 inches below ground level here (no doubt because of all of the rock), and we cut through it.
We decided to take advantage of having the heavy excavation equipment on site and had the steep embankments near the barn smoothed out.
We also adjusted the height of the barn site, and made it perfectly level.
In the mean time, trenching continued slowly through the rock towards the utility pole.
When the line to the pump house was cut we discovered that the original owner had spliced the wire underground with nothing more than electricians tape and wire nuts!

2010/02/27

The tractor, parked in the garage -- I guess we need a bumper sticker that reads "My other car is a New Holland TC45D".
The house with a new roof, siding and paint.
The house and garage, which also has a new roof. The top of Grizzly Mountain looms beyond.
For the house we will create terraced gravel patios that surround the house much like the old, poorly built, rotted out and now gone deck did.
The barn area. Note the old dilapidated shed has been demolished, with the salvageable material stacked and ready for reuse.
Looking down from the barn area onto what will be the first pasture. The tree clearing people have begun to cut down the junipers.
Most of the junipers on our property will be removed. While junipers are native to central Oregon, the wild fire suppression measures of the past century have allowed them to invade other habitat zones where they do not belong, forcing out the native vegetation that does. Grizzly Mountain should be mostly grassland with ponderosa pines, and fortunately most of the grassland vegetation remains, and once the junipers are gone it should expand back into its former range. We will plant several hundred ponderosa pines this fall to replace the junipers.

2010/01/28

The snow and melt plus the construction have reduced the ground around the house to a muddy mess.
As the roof work nears completion, the siding work starts back up.
The steep section of roof is the last to be completed.
The south side: roofed and awaiting siding.

2010/01/24 - 2010/01/25

We returned to a trip to Portland on Sunday only to find a heavy snowfall in progress.
The wind was constantly blowing hard, with powerful gusts making outside an unpleasant place to be.
The clouds began to break up by morning, and I trudged around to take photos of our new trailer for the insurance company.
A cat had walked about our place in the early morning hours, leaving its prints from our front door to the trailer. Perhaps the previous owners have left a cat behind: we'll be on the lookout for the phantom kitty.
Earl and his crew arrived and removed the snow from the top of the house so they could install the new metal roofing.
They worked quickly to try and get as much of the lower roof replaced in case we got more precipitation the that night.
Earl working frantically to finish the north side of the house.
The good news for the day was the approval of our site plan for the barn. Earl can now submit the building plans with the county tomorrow.

2010/01/15
We've submitted the permit application for the barn, which required a site plan for the lot and building area (among other things).

The overall lot plan.
The building area plan.

2010/01/13

The two large "view" windows have been replaced as work progresses around the house.
The lower section of the south side nears completion: the upper have must wait for the new roof.
Elayne is mastering the chainsaw, and this is the first juniper tree of any size she felled and limbed.
The first of thousands.

2010/01/12

The barn area after Earl made it level.
The lower front of the house already sports new trim and siding.
The south side of the house has most of the old siding stripped and new vapor barrier installed. The windows and doors already have new trim.
Earl installing corner trim.