Finally broke ground

[rabler]

Got the new shop finished last year. Decided last winter that we were going to build a new house. Frustrated with living in a manufactured home, tissue-paper walls on a crawl space. I've spent too much time in that crawl space! And the place has poor insulation and not very confidence inspiring in stormy weather.

This summer's assorted medical adventures put that on hold. In true impatient cart before the horse fashion, I decided to go ahead and start excavating the site, even though we haven't gotten final plans. Cleared the topsoil with the tiller on the back of the tractor, and the loader bucket. Then put some time in with an excavator. This will get dug quite a bit deeper before done, but it is definitely started. A real basement!

If you look really closely there is a wheel barrow on the left side of the picture. There must be a story there.

This will be a slow build, we're doing a pay as you go rather than taking out any loans. We're retired, don't owe any debts, and will keep it that way. This is about 300 ft behind the current house.

 

[mmcmdl]

I enjoyed machine time , but there is NOTHING that even comes close to tractor time . It's my therapy either on the Cubs , Exmark or Kubota . I love my seat time .

 

[NCjeeper]

I guess you were finding all sorts of treasure in the ground hence the wheelbarrow?

 

[MikeInOr]

I REAL basement will be very cool! There is no such thing as a basement around here in volcano country. I have only found 1 rock buried about 6" down in my yard, it had a little plac attached to it labeled "North American continental plate".

 

[extropic]

 

[DavidR8]

Definitely following this build!

 

[FOMOGO]

Congrats on getting going. Nice site, would make a great location for an earth sheltered home. Is it south facing? Mike

 

[wachuko]

Question: Was there a body on the wheelbarrow? A friend wants to know.

 

[rabler]

I enjoyed machine time , but there is NOTHING that even comes close to tractor time . It's my therapy either on the Cubs , Exmark or Kubota . I love my seat time .

The excavator is a lot of fun, as long as you're not trying to actually get anywhere. With a max ground speed of 3.5 MPH, a determined walk is faster.

 

[rabler]

Congrats on getting going. Nice site, would make a great location for an earth sheltered home. Is it south facing? Mike

Just the opposite, north. Climate here is warm enough that it isn't a major factor. Finished basement but it'll have significant above ground component.
Planning a moderate size solar electric system with standby capability, and a ground-loop geothermal HVAC.