Let's talk about Country Living - Page 4

Soil test could also be for expansive soils such as Bentonite...we have a problem with it in areas around Denver and it can ruin a foundation.

Originally Posted by KzScrapper

Soil test could also be for expansive soils such as Bentonite...we have a problem with it in areas around Denver and it can ruin a foundation.

Hmmm good to know.. It's these gold nuggets that come up that are invaluable information for someone in my situation.. attempting to take a plunge! Thank you Sir!

Water wells vary according to the local geology. There are different kinds.

The first is what's called a dug well. You know ... you walk the property and look for a wet area. You might even find a boiling spring where the water is bubbling up out of the ground. You dig a three foot diameter hole there and wall it up. That's your source of water.

Dug wells aren't used very much anymore. The water quality isn't very good and they tend to run dry in the summer.

(There are exceptions. I knew of one gent that was drawing 20,000 gallons of water a day from a ten foot deep well.)

The second kind of well is a drilled well. In this area we have anywhere between 1 - 12 feet of ground cover over the bedrock. The well driller will come in and drill a six inch hole straight through the ground cover into the bedrock. As he's drilling down through the bedrock he will hit and number of "seams" along the way. The seams are cracks in the bedrock that water runs through. You could almost think of them as being natural underground water storage tanks. Rain water from above eventually trickles down to refill the seams as well water is being drawn out.

Around here, your average well depth is about 100 - 200 feet into the bedrock. I've seen some as deep as 500' though. It's all hit or miss with the seams because they run in all different directions. You might get a dry hole in one spot, set over ten feet, and hit 20 gallons per minute at a depth of fifty feet.

The well drillers seem to develop a knack for knowing where to drill over the years. Some of the old timers even used to use divining rods or a forked willow branch to locate the best place to find water.

The third kind is what's called an artesian well. It's a drilled well with one or more seams under hydrostatic pressure. You don't really need a pump because the water will come bubbling up from underground all on it's own. They're not common but i've seen a few. They're usually at the base of a hill down near the shoreline.

Jon-
I noticed that as of now it appears this topic may have "run its course"
Regards to the property you are correct. One thing she and I have discussed is that we would like to find something that urban sprawl has little chance of creeping in on. There would be nothing more disappointing than having a strip mall pop up right outside the front door. We also are trying to get a grip on where trends seem to be with housing developments. A lot of farm land here is being gobbled up to put in housing editions. As of right now. The NORTH side of Indianapolis suburbs are where they are exploding. When I moved here in 1998 "Deer Creek Music Center" was literally accessed by cowpath roads and back country roads. I went to see a concert there in 2009 (11 years later) and it has been completely developed. In 1998- 96th street was the basically the border of development- this became the hotzone.. now the venue (that sits at) 146th street is in the middle of everything.. Sprawl has gotten up to 216th street.

Luckily for us we live on the SOUTH side of Indianapolis, and no one "pines" to live down this way- which is perfectly fine with me. We have some growth- but no where near the Northside expansion that I have seen in my time here.

Oooh Fuel to keep the topic burning.

Background: Pool finally reached its demise.. tore down the pool yesterday.. went home to work on tearing down the deck around the pool. Ate my lunch.. turned on the garage stereo.. put on some of my favorite tunes and opened the service door so I could hear my music out at the "pool"
About 15 minutes into demolition a city police officer comes in my back gate. He says "Hello" I said "Good afternoon sir" Wiped off my hand and shook his. He said "Well someone anonymously called us.. apparently they don't like your music" I said "Ok" so I went in and turned it down. He said "Nothing like doing some work with some tunes jamming while you work right?" He seemed sheepish about having to be there- but he knew and I know he was just doing his job. He informed me of the "ordinance" (can't be heard more than 50 feet from the source) and told me he didn't even hear it until he pulled up to the house.

He and I small talked about what I was tearing down.. pool, deck.. and a 2nd officer came through the gate also.. I know her pretty well so I said "Hello Ms. Mary" He told her he couldn't hear it until he pulled up.

So this just puts an exclamation point on the move. Anonymously calling the police instead of having the stones to come over and talk to me on your own. Anytime I have a problem with a neighbor I talk to them.. not "call the law" I even told the officers "Ha.. my wife and I were just discussing a move out to the country.. Officer #2 said "THAT'S WHY I LIVE IN THE COUNTRY!!"

Originally Posted by Scrappah

Just thought i'd throw out a bit more for you Sledge.

If you're moving out to the country you might want to weigh the pro's & con's of buying an existing place vs. opening up a piece of land.

Not every piece of land is good for building. That was one thing about the old timers .... they lived closer to the land and instinctively knew where to build back then. Some of the best lots were built on 50 - 100 years ago. The problem is that the houses on them are getting pretty old and crappy now.

There was a revolution in the building industry during the 1970's. There was a vast improvement over previous building techniques. There are a lot of advantages to building new as opposed to trying to fix up an old place.

About 80 - 90 % of the new homes i see going up now are factory built and trucked to the jobsite in pieces. I still much prefer a home that is stick built on site because i think you get better quality but these pre-fab homes are pretty efficient. The cost is lower and more within reach of the average working man.

If you do decide to open up a piece of land make sure that there's a clear title. You want to get a soil test done so as to make sure that you can actually build there because it's useless to build a house if you can't get a septic system in. You ought to have a survey done to verify that it is what they say it is. Sometimes a piece of land that was represented as being five acres is actually much smaller.

Maybe run the numbers ahead of time? There's a road in & site work. Electricity & telephone wires need to be run in. You need a well & septic. There's the cost of the land. Lawyer & title fees. Something in the way of a foundation....etc.

Look & see the height of the land as compared to the road. It's better if it's even or a bit above so that you don't get all of that runoff from the road washing down on your property.

~ Just random stuff to chew on .~

All great points and appreciated!! I think we are probably looking at an existing. I think it would be far too much that we know so little about to build a house on land. Boy this is really a whole new ball of wax isn't it? My head is starting to spin a bit! But your insight is MORE than appreciated. Anything else that you think of.. the knowledge will not be wasted on me!! I assure you!

Well, my issues with country living = the septic is too small and raccoons. I just spent 6 hours cleaning the shed of raccoon poop. Hadn't gotten in there since I moved here and finally decided to clean it out to make a work space. Well, the time between them living here and me living here = raccoons had a field day. I burned the clothing I wore lol.

Septic issue can be upgraded but that costs money I don't have as of yet.

Benefits are: bigger yards, not as much traffic though I seem to be under the airports busy traffic lane for helicopters and planes. Crickets and tree frogs loll me to sleep at night and thats something you can't beat!

I can have bigger bonfires too!!!!

< Gentle laughter > Nature abhors a vacuum !

If there's a spot that you're not using plants or critters will move in and try to take over. Seems like it's a constant battle. I only use my yard truck for plowing in the winter. Seems like the mice are always making nests in either the air cleaner or heating ducts while it's sitting idle over the summer.

I was having problems with the septic cause at one time there were about seven people in our family. One newborn, three teens, two parents, and one elderly grandmother in her 80's. That's a lot of water !

The biggest waste water maker was the washing machine. I was doing three to four loads a day at 35 gallons a load. I put in a separate grey water system and that solved the problem with the septic. You're not supposed to but .... i know more than a few folks that just run the water from the washing machine out into the woods somewhere. Just make sure you keep it at least a hundred feet away from the nearest well and don't dump anything on your neighbor's property.

The other big offender is the toilet. They can leak something wicked and you would never know it. It's good to check em' once or twice a year. Just lift off the tank cover and look at the overflow tube. The water level inside the tank should be about 1/2" below the top. If it's quietly running over the top it can waste as much as 50 gallons of water a day. In the city that can double your water bill. In the country it can overtax your septic system and flood it out.

For whatever it's worth .... there are some advantages to getting a new -or- newer place. It's a better,cleaner,warmer, home for your kids to grow up in. The folks that do the factory made homes will usually take care of all of the complicated details like getting power & a road in, sitework,septic, well etc. It's all part of the package price.

There's a thing called the USDA Rural Housing Service. They will help you through the process and sometimes even lend you the money to buy a home if you qualify for one of their programs. The mortgage payments are based on your income and adjusted yearly. What it comes down to is that as long as you are reasonably responsible your home will never be more than you can afford.

~ Just more food for thought. ~

ETA: You guys are so lucky with the bonfires. It can take me weeks or even months to get a burn permit. The granolas are drivin' me nuts. They hate anything that makes fire. A bonfire,an internal combustion engine, a heating system, etc.

NH, {edit: Sorry...meant NA, but NH is OK, too!} you betcha!! One of the joys of country living = huge bonfires.

We accumulate all the stuff that we don't wanna put through the woodstove in the house into a big pile our the back 40. Old hay tarps, raccoon poop(just kidding), wood fulla nails, old furniture, stumps, land clearing brush, you name it... When the pile is about 40 feet around and as high as we can push it with the Cat, and there's snow on the ground, we burn it.

Great fun. Any metal left over gets picked up and put in the shred pile.

Sometimes a couple of old tires are "accidentally" left under the pile to help start it. Maybe even a little waste oil helps it get going, too.

In BC, the Ministry of Forests wants a phone call before a "machine piled" fire is started, = anything over 1 meter in diameter by 1 meter high. They give you a (free) registration number and if the time of year is such that they are still patrolling for fires a plane may fly over, checking you out.

Great fun. But keep a hose and fire tools handy.

Jon.