Grading the Lot with Bobcat T190

Last weekend before it started raining here like you wouldn’t believe, we began grading our lot with a Bobcat T190.

The Bobcat was great at digging down around the roots of large trees in order to push them over. I had 2 large white oaks right in the center of the home site that needed to be removed as well as 6-8 sweet gum trees. The white oaks were pretty easy to push out with the Bobcat, but the sweet gum’s have a tap root that runs very deep and is larger than the trunk of the tree at the base.

I was impressed at the power of the T190 with it’s track system. Those trees came down fairly easy.

I probably could have used a little bigger equipment to get the job done, but I didn’t have access at the time and a Bobcat is fairly easy to operate with it’s hand controls. I had my best friends dad, who’s like a 2nd father to me, Charlie come by and help me do some of the grading work. He mainly loves being on a machine, plus it was nice to have him there while I was cutting up the trees with my Husqvarna chain saw.

Rain Rain Go Away! New Plans Anyway.

I’m very happy to have all this rain considering just last year we were in a drought situation here in Georgia, but it’s really messing up my plans to get this house started. I guess it’s a good thing though because it’s given us some time to consider changing our plans and budgeting those plans.

We are going with a house plan very similar to the house plan seen here on FamilyHomePlans
We are planning on building the main house then adding the garage in the near future after the house is finished since we don’t want to spend the extra money at this time. With all the rain though, it’s almost impossible to get this project started. So, we’re praying for a break in the weather.

I don’t mind framing in the cold, but I need that foundation to set right and before the rain, we had a cold snap.

Looks like warmer drier weather is right around the corner. Permits are the next project this next week. I’ll keep you posted on our owner builder process. Attached are the engineered trusses I will be using that integrate the floor system for the second floor into the truss.