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Third New House Build along our Hikes

18K views 359 replies 25 participants last post by  Jere39 
#1 Ā·
As I mentioned in another thread where I followed the construction of a modular home near where I live; a new lot has been listed for a house. The lot is about 20' from the end of my driveway, which makes it easy for me to check in daily on progress. And 1500' from my house and lawn, which makes it far enough away that I don't hear the construction process.

In that other thread I already shared a couple pictures of the corner stakes and this one identified as the "Infiltration Test" location.

Plant Terrestrial plant Grass Groundcover Grass family



This morning Scout and I took a longer hike, and heard an excavator, so we wandered to the end of the drive and found the source:

Plant Wheel Sky Tire Tree


They've dug a trench about 6' deep near the Infiltration Test stake and set a 5 gallon bucket in it. There is a guy sitting in the truck. Maybe having a coffee, maybe waiting to see if the bucket fills, not sure.

The Lot for sale sign still shows: "Sale Pending". Again I am not sure if the sign is out of date, or if the Infiltration Test is a pre-condition of sale.

FWIW, It appears Scout and I will follow another house build, and this time never even leave our driveway. Stay tuned!
 
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#2 Ā·
Nice looking area!

If this is for a septic field, it might be what is called a perk test. If that is what they are doing, it determines how much water a given area will absorb naturally. Lots are often sold with a contingency that they have a satisfactory perk test. Otherwise, there can be added costs for engineering drain fields come into play. Perhaps it is why "sale pending" still on it awaiting the clearing of these contingencies. Just a guess of course.
 
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#3 Ā·
This is not likely a perk test as the lot is close enough to the road to require connection to municipal water and sewer. I believe this is a test to determine if run-off controls will need to be developed into the lot plan. The modular house I mentioned earlier and tracked the development of also required connection to water and sewer, but had to develop a water run off control field.
 
#7 Ā·
Ah,... municipal sewers, didn't realize. Area looks like a great rural setting, very nice!
 
#8 Ā·
Will be following too.
Probably like others have said for storm water run off. Ever since Sandy, a lot of places are requiring retention/detention to mitigate flooding issues, especially if areas are paved over.
 
#11 Ā· (Edited)
Scout and I walked back down later in the afternoon for a peek into the trench to see just what they actually did.

Plant Green Tire Grass Groundcover


That should really clear things up, eh?

I am still convinced this was a test of some sort to determine if the ground will require run-off remediation. I don't know if it passed or failed, but mid afternoon they refilled the trench, leveled it, and took the excavator away. QED.

And @MARK (LI) The Drone is still here on loan from my son. I could get some video now, but now there is just a dirt patch where the trench had been earlier today.
 
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#13 Ā·
Probably is, though I can't see any neighbor from my house, which is just the way I like it. I guess with all these new homes representing new tax payers, I can expect a tax rate reduction - right?
 
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#14 Ā·
Roy replied..."but I wonder why they wait until so late in the year."

Here is a just guess: Lumber prices spiked in early and mid summer. Any builder who didn't have an solid "contracted" price, likely took a little time off on new builds to see if the prices would come down. They did, but not to old days levels.
 
#21 Ā·
It is funny though, as "IQ smart" these people say they are, the less competent they are for simple thoughts and reality.
 
#22 Ā·
Not so sure about that. Man has built on stone for hundreds and thousands of years. Many of those structures are huge and still standing.
Compacted crushed stone can get just as hard as a poured slab.
The force of hydraulics on basement walls will destroy more walls than lack of huge footing below frost line in our part of the country.
I would be more concerned about lack of drainage in this case than a concrete footer.
 
#23 Ā· (Edited)
This thread peaked my interest and Infiltration Testing is done for a number of different reasons. This information seemed very close to what you had going on with the guy in the truck sitting and waiting??

Second page talks about structures less that 10,000 sq ft.

Likely a mandated state building required test.

If that is the guys full time job just doing those tests then he has pretty relaxed work environment..LOL Says that only a certified expert can do it...

 
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#24 Ā·
I think you've nailed it. And, I think he was performing the Simplified Infiltration test. He had a 5 gallon bucket in the bottom of the hole. I think you can see the outline of the bucket bottom in the picture in a post above.
 
#26 Ā·
Yes, I did notice the black bucket and it could be like a tool. Like maybe filled with water with a hole in the center that opens from inside. Maybe a 2-3" protruding pipe that he sticks in the ground. Like the pipe test later in that document. May have calibrated white markings on the inside of the bucket that he can take pic's of as proof. Maybe his camera shows date and time on the pic's.

You likely could get the results of his tests as they may be publicly available and learn more about your soil.

All I know that if that is his full time job then I really missed my calling in life..:cool:
 
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#27 Ā·
Think the boring factor would kick in really fast. Dig a hole, place a bucket, insert water, sit and watch the water go down, do some paperwork then fill the hole and leave. I think the most exciting part of this would be operating the equipment to dig and fill the hole. That is if the equipment was not junk or a shovel.
 
#29 Ā·
In the

In the instruction sheet it says a post hole digger will work fine, but the bucket watcher and back hoe guy got a great racket going so don't mess with a good thing..:ROFLMAO:
 
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#30 Ā· (Edited)
Hey followers of this build thread - here we are 10+ months since the infiltration test, and the work has restarted in earnest. This past Saturday a timber/land clearing company started bright and early and took down literally two dozen very large Tulip Poplars. I posted a couple video of those fellings in a general thread. Here is one in case you didn't see them: (40 seconds of skid steer steering, saw sawing, and excited grandson commentator)



And an end of day drone summary of what the results of the day were: (24 seconds)



We had some rain that slowed progress, but a stump grinder got in there Tuesday along with a stake pounder:

Sky Plant Natural landscape Tree Grass


This is the site as of Wednesday from the middle of the road where my interpretation of the driveway cut will be:

Sky Plant Water Natural landscape People in nature


You can see the poplar logs are still there, at the back of the lot. This morning (Thursday) a crew was on site blowing mulch into the silt management rolls:

Plant Motor vehicle Vehicle Tree Truck


Making these surrounding the site:

Plant Cloud Sky Leaf Tree


The excavation company was there, and did cut the drive where I expected it. Not sure how I feel about them having to cut a new driveway to the road, rather than using the shared driveway beside the property. Means I'll have to rewrite the directions I give people coming to my house. I got busy with life, but noticed they delivered a couple loads of stone to the driveway, and a couple bigger excavators that started digging out the basement.

I spoke at length with the excavator and the builder. They had no problem with me documenting their progress. It turns out both did the house I documented last. And, the builder told me he'd be using the same Amish carpenters on this house too. For this house, I can watch it from the end of my driveway. Scout and I walk to get my mail every day, so I won't likely miss much. As always, comments welcome. I won't necessarily be able to answer all questions, I'm just an observer, but I've watched a couple of these and am familiar with building practice in this area. I suspect they will have this under roof while the weather is good. Welcome back to the followers of these threads!

One last thought before Scout and I take our final bio break by a tree out back:

Anyone else missing TNF tonight?
 
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#35 Ā·
I do share my driveway with one neighbor and one municipal half million gallon water tank. That hasn't changed. The driveway beside mine (separated by about 20' is also a shared driveway and it borders this property, but evidently did not have access rights. Or perhaps the township has some new zoning requirements, so it is no longer allowing new sharing options. I don't know. I think the end of my drone video shows me standing on my driveway in a JD t-shirt guiding my drone over this lot and shows the shared driveway they did not use. I don't expect everyone to watch all my videos, so no problem if you didn't. I'll drone again tomorrow and make sure it is clearer what I am describing.
Jere, did you tell them you can save them money by them delivering those logs to your property and you won't charge them? Looks like they did a massive clearing of trees.
They are 90% tulip poplar. I don't want them. I know people, especially in other regions use poplar for firewood, and it is probably good when seasoned, but it is one of the softest "hard" woods, and around here only beggars will use it with so much oak, hickory, locust, even maple and beech available. I process oak exclusively.

I see that big roll of filter cloth they lay down before placing the stone.
That's actually a filled tube of silt filter to stop run off of soil during the excavation phases. It is delivered empty, and they use giant fans to fill them with mulch onsite. That large white truck in the one picture is a load of mulch with the giant fans blowing the mulch into these long tubes. You can see the stakes driven down through the middle of these tubes after they are filled to keep them from moving.

I recon those are tubes used to control erosion. Often used in place of geo fence. That ground must not be as flat as it looks.
You are right, that is exactly what they are. Ground is pretty flat, but TWP building permits require erosion control during the excavation phases - right up to when the property is seeded, and the grass is growing again.
 
#36 Ā·
I could never understand why you would buy a wooded property and cut all the trees down. šŸ˜Ŗ
 
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