Downtown drainage project - Phase II

When the customer was ready for round 2, we moved fast to beat the rains that were headed our way that same evening.  It was a definite rush to action and we beat the weather but just a couple hours.

HERE is a description of Phase 1 of the project.

On Phase II, the customer wanted an unsightly hill taken down on his yard.  Turn out, it was full of construction debris and lots of concrete refuse. You can see the hill in red in this picture. He also wanted it to roughly match grade with the blue circled area in the center right of the pic.

After I was finished with the project, I drove by the next day during the rain to see how things looked.  Drainage was PERFECT, just as we'd spec'd out.

The water used to back up and cover almost the entire concrete part of this driveway.

There was no longer ponding in the yard, either.

The view from the street shows a very even flow through the entire area.

Downtown drainage project

Talk about a fixer-upper! This customer's house was built in 1911, not longer after statehood.  It is located just a few blocks from the capital building and is in a very historic neighborhood.

The problem this family was having is that their yard was a little bit higher than their their driveway and water running through their downspouts dumps right on their drive.  As you might expect, this is a recipe for trouble.

Here is a shot of the really cool house.  They've done a great job fixing it up and making it very attractive.

It's important to consider the drainage of the entire property before any dirt is moved. Fortunately in this case, the backyard was not contributing to the problem.

The stain on the driveway next to the trash can is evidence of the water that was being retained and the obvious starting point to moving dirt.

It's important to shoot grades throughout the project to keep a close eye on things.

Mid-project...

The final product...now water can move away from the driveway and out onto the field. As an added bonus, I raised the level of the yard where the water was leaving the driveway.  Now it is being properly re-directed onto the street where the city's storm water system can collect it appropriately.

Harrah Yard Levelling Project

Last week in Harrah I made a new yard and a new friend all in one stop.

I forgot to take a before picture but imagine a really uneven, rugged, eroded surface and you'll have an idea how it looked before I got started.  Obviously it had to be bad to hire someone to get the yard ready for fescue sod.

This is one of the great things about the equipment I operate.  Although it has the highest horsepower in its class, it has a pretty narrow footprint.  That came in handy as we moved into the backyard.  I hung the 6ft box blade from the loader and eased into the backyard.  The industrial tires I run are easier on the yard than agricultural tread.

While I was there, the homeowner apologized for the old clothesline posts being in the way and that she was hoping to have someone come take them out........so I just took them out. :-)

The are by the air conditioner condensing unit was horrible but now the sod will have a nice surface in which to take root.

Here is a picture of the finished yard.  We're hoping for very little rain before the sod gets put down so the dirt won't wash out.

Pretty in Piedmont

One of the things I LOVE about this job is sharing with genuine enthusiasm a landowner/homeowner's excitement for where they live (or will soon live).  Such was the case with this project halfway between Piedmont and Cashion.

When possible, I like to start every project at my favorite time of day.  Ideally, I get to work before the sun does.  On these cold mornings, I let the hydraulics warm up while the sun makes its entrance and I enjoy the show.















The driveway started out rutted and rough, to say the least.  These pictures were taken on my first surveying trip to the property.

Notice the hackberry trees there running right through where the landowner wanted their new access.  I removed over 30 trees, a few of which were 4-5 inches in diameter, in 15-20 minutes using the loader.  I'd normally like to use a backhoe for this task but this was one of the many times where we had to call an audible with the project barely underway.

Midway through tree removal.

Shooting some grades with the 360 degree rotary laser.

Let the grading begin.

What to do with all that dirt?  The landowner had a low spot that was suffering from a LOT of erosion.  I used the extra dirt to build about a 2ft swale to re-direct the water off his property and back into the county drainage.  The red lines I added show where the water originally dumped left (in the picture) onto this land.  My hat in the left of the picture shows the elevation change and the tractor is sitting in the middle of the new runoff area. Prior, most of the watershed in this area dumped straight onto his land.

Some before and after pics of the main grading project. The picture does a good job of underestimating just how much dirt was re-located down the hill. It was A LOT.

BozHog rides again to the next jobsite! :-)

New driveway add-on via a retaining wall

Every now and then I get to work on a project that, when finished, the result is something much more than purely aesthetic.

We're not yet finished but with a couple sessions on-site, the results are working out great.

The young man with whom I've been working is confined to a wheelchair due to a freak swimming incident.  He didn't dive in and hit his head on the bottom of the pool but instead crashed head first into the side of an above ground pool.  The injuries were instant and near deadly.  I'll not go into the full details here except to say that it's been a pleasure to meet this young man and help build a spot where he can park his new wheelchair accessible van.

It was almost dark and absolutely freezing when I finished so I forgot to take pictures of just the dirt.

Before:

After - he can now turn his van around at the top of the driveway and not back blindly down the otherwise steep drive.

Driveway erosion eradicated

This project involved traveling to a very remote area south of Perkins.  My customer has a beautiful acreage but consistently struggled with erosion across their driveway.  Here are some 'before' pictures showing all the erosion.

 We didn't have much to work with so I harvested some dirt from an obscure place on the property and used it to help level the driveway.  I also used the rippers on the box blade to work the dirt a bit.  Because I already had the backhoe on the tractor, I attached it to the front end loader to save time (and money for the customer).

This is not a very good picture and was taken before final grooming of the trench.  To the right, the land rises for quite a distance and this new trench will capture the water before crossing the driveway.


The end result was not only immediately driveable, as a long term solution it is ready for the customer to have gravel delivered and thus make a very nice entrance into their fantastic property. On the left of this picture is a new trench to capture most of the water before it ever hits the driveway.

Carports aplenty

Carports are pretty hot right now due to their low cost and quick assembly.  However, most carport companies require the installation area to be level within 3" upon their arrival.  Otherwise, they'll just install it where you want it and the whole thing will not look right.

My last carport customer had a real mess on their hands.  They needed the carport installed in an area that was full of trash, limbs and old pieces of plywood.

Me and my helper here (my son, who was out of school that day) loaded up all the debris and moved it about 70 yards away for the customer to their burn pile.



Here are some after shots.  It turned out great!



The customer was so pleased he sent me pictures after installation as well.