3 - Planting New Roots: Site Clearing, Maintenance, and Fencing

Cold temps and lots of snow in early 2015 lingering through early April drove our schedule a bit, but that's expected up north. By mid-April, temperatures started to warm (30s-50s), rain came along to melt the snow, and in two weeks it was melting away and getting muddy.

Our plan was to start building our barndominium in 2015, a 24'x36', two-car garage with almost 500sqft of living space on the second floor loft.  We selected a building design from CADNW and purchased the plans in PDF with hard copies mailed to us, including a materials list.  This was a huge decision for us to settle on.  We looked at a lot of floorplans and went with a very simple layout that we could customize beyond the structural design.  We went with the CADNW plan because it gave us the most information, including a materials list, it the most freedom to customize while meeting building code requirements.

The old foundation is too close to the road for current building code.  Even if we built on that site, it would be a major undertaking to reconstitute a house on an old stone foundation that served as a base for two old structures that burned down in the past 70 years, so we planned to take the driveway back into the property about another 80 yards.

Will it have electricity?  Sort of...we will run the wiring in the new structure eventually, but we will have to run a new line from the road underground back to the house and don't have any plans to do that immediately.  We do have a generator for temporary power now and it can be used for emergency use later. 

Will it have running water and sewage? Again, not at first.  We will also have to run the existing well line underground (currently located near the road) back to the new site and we have to put in a new septic system because the old one near the old foundation is probably as old as the old house was. 

So what's the plan? We plan on using a composting toilet and bottled water.  Interestingly, there is a fresh water spring on the property and rain is usually not a problem.  We also plan to build an outdoor shower, consisting of a combination of rain barrel collection and a pump-supplied receptacle.

For our April projects we accomplished the following:

1. Met with excavation contractor to go over work needed for extending the driveway and digging out the foundation.
2. Raked out all underbrush and juniper bushes from pad and future yard site.
3. Cut down trees in and around pad site and driveway.  We also cut down any trees that pose a future threat of falling on the new house due to a weak root system, dead or otherwise unhealthy, and some that were just unsightly.
4. Installed split rail fencing from north end of property to a point past the driveway along road frontage.
5. Chipped and burned brush from cutting last September and this project's cutting/clearing work.
6. Sprayed brush killer on blackberry, raspberry, and sumac.
7. Staked out the new driveway and foundation pad site.

The land was still heavily forested, so we had to clear cut an area for the foundation and extend the existing driveway back about 80 yards.  We purchased a Ratchet Rake for the tractor bucket to help tear unwanted vegetation and rocks from the ground and perform a rough grading of the driveway.

The tractor was bought by my wife's late father years ago and is about 30 years old. This tractor is a workhorse and is still in great condition. The family has been good about maintenance, however some things can't be prevented. As my wife was starting to fill in a deep depression in the yard caused by the previous owner, the arm on the bucket gave way--there was already a stress fracture and it suffered a clean break straight through.

Our brother-in-law knew a welder, so the next day we took the bucket in for repair.  A slight setback, but we were able to use the tractor on other projects, like installing fencing along the road frontage.

With our brother-in-law's help operating the tractor, using the post hole digger we purchased from Tractor Supply Company (TSC) we made short work of the fencing, installing over 220 feet of split rail fence.

We also purchased a gate from TSC to control vehicle access to our property.  We had trespasser problems twice last year, and yes we caught them on camera.

After meeting with the excavator at the beginning of our trip, we scheduled the earthwork for early June 2015.  The concrete team would follow up with their work and once the foundation walls were poured we started building.

2 - Property Lines

After retiring the old house, we set off to clear some brush, saplings, dead trees, and other overgrown shrubs along the property lines.  Rumor has it that this ~12ac parcel was clear cut a long time ago and probably farmed.  That explains why the property lines on the back side are bound by old stone walls, pulled from the ground, and laid to mark the boundary--they are not moving.  The south end is bordered by a seasonal stream, which flows out to a lake not far away.  For four days, we ran chain saws, pole saws, and pruning shears to remove unwanted trees, debris, and brush.

   

By September 2014 we cut the majority of the property lines wide enough to drive a tractor through, pulling a few stumps, moving rocks, and making brush piles to burn later.  We cut the evergreen wood to dry it out to burn later in the use of making maple syrup, while other wood varieties were cut to firewood length to burn in wood stoves. 

Cutting paths opened up the tree canopy some, enough for sunlight to come in and help some rye grass and brassicas to start growing.  We trimmed back some high limbs, a lot of dead and broken ones, and limbed up a lot of trees to open sight lines through the woods.  This also helps ensure that, while we are walking or riding through the paths, branches don't take an eye out.

In October we posted No Trespassing/No Hunting/Keep Out signs along the entire property line.  Our family is very active on the property and it's not public land.

Fall is a beautiful time of year in Maine.  Temperatures are cool, which makes work easier, and though we aren't done, we were happy with the cutting and trimming we were able to complete before winter set in.

1 - Things Have A Way of Finding Their Way Back Home: Land Back in theFamily

Our property was once owned by my wife's aunt and uncle.  It was a place where they made memories with their children, grandchildren, and nieces.  It was also a place my wife loved too.  As children might do when they don't get their way, she would threaten to run away from home--well, she ran to her aunt's house (a short 100 yards away) across the street from her parents.  She loved the smell of the lilacs that once grew there and I assure her that we will plant new ones when we reach the landscaping part of this project.  

The house on the property before we bought it was built by my wife's uncle.  My wife's sister and her husband own a camp not far away also built by this uncle.  He used to barter his services for leftover material.  In the case of their camp, it was the property and the materials to build it.  Our brother-in-law has some great stories to share on the construction methods used on the camp. We don't doubt those same practices were applied to the house.  At any rate, by the time we took ownership of this property it was too far beyond repair for us to consider to renovating it.   

We've been told that prior to this home being built, that previous structure burned down and my wife's uncle built this house on the old foundation, a hand laid stone basement with large granite slab foundation walls.  After my wife's aunt and uncle passed away, this property was sold to an owner who lived in it for about a decade, but didn't take the best care of the home or the property.  The property was foreclosed on and he was evicted in 2011.

Once the previous owner was evicted in Fall 2011, the condition of the house got even worse.  After the bank took ownership, they didn't take any precautions to mitigate the effects of winter in Maine.  The pipes froze, later bursting, causing extensive damage and the peripheral winds of Hurricane Sandy at the end of October that year brought a tree down through the roof.  The bank actually put this house up for sale on a realtor site as needing, "a little TLC."  To us, the house was ruined, infested with rats, covered in mold and mildew, and rotted to the sill plate.  This house was falling apart at every angle.

We acquired this property through a foreclosure auction in 2012, one where my mother-in-law drove through a snow storm and was the only person who showed up.  The bank tried to haggle for their price, but she's a shrewd lady and has lived across the street from this house for close to 50 years now.  They couldn't pull the wool over her eyes on this one, and she got her price by calling out the bank on the specific conditions of the property.

It wasn't the house my wife and the family used to know.  Their memories of this old place are the best things to keep.  We plan to make more memories with our plans.

The house needed to be retired.  My mother-in-law coordinated with the local volunteer fire department in 2014 for a controlled training burn and on 28 June they put that old house to rest, but not before using it for a number of live training exercises for weeks leading up to the day of the fire.  The house was completely engulfed in 10 minutes, burned down in an hour or so, and the remains smoldered for at least a week.

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My mother-in-law signed the property over to us in September 2014 on my wife's birthday.  I know she would like to have her daughter closer and a vacation home across the street is pretty close.  With the property officially signed over to us, we began planning to build the first phase of our dream vacation home--a Barndominium.