Shannon’s goal for his vacation week was to get our water line put in. It is about 500 feet from the road to our house site so it was quite an endeavor! He first reserved a 36′” trencher but when he picked it up that didn’t have the one he wanted and he ended up with a smaller one. Between all of our wet weather and having the small trencher the first few days he didn’t make much progress. Only about 150 feet. He wanted to bury the line about 3 feet deep (which is way overkill but at least that way we know it will never freeze!) so getting the smaller one that deep was a chore. He had to return that one and then wait a few days for more rain and storms to pass and then he finally got a big ride-on trencher. That thing was a beast and handled the job so much better. Plus, he got to sit and let the trencher do all the work so he enjoyed that much better! It was still a slow process since the ground was wet but it got it done. We decided to put a faucet every 100 feet so that we would have lots of places that we could water plants from. Shannon went with PEX instead of PVC because it is a lot more flexible and resilient to the ground shifting, roots, etc. It is a little more expensive but it cuts down on the time of connecting all the PVC pipes together so that is a plus! We have about 160PSI of pressure coming out of the water meter which is a ton of pressure! So much in fact that we need to put a pressure reducer in or it will damage all the fittings in the house! But I would rather have too much pressure then not enough that’s for sure. Our guest cabin has to have less than 80psi of pressure.
The faucets are in little boxes in the ground with a cover over them so we don’t have to worry about them freezing in the winter.
This is how far he got with the little trencher. Pretty impressive considering how much work it was. He was so sore the next few days!
On Saturday, Tristan and I went out there to check on the progress with the big ride-on trencher. Tristan loved getting to sit on it even though it went super slow! And don’t worry that is red hair gel in his hair! haha
Tristan and I hung out for awhile and Tristan drove his little jeep all over the property. He would go from the very back all the way towards the front and would give Shannon a little wave every time he went by. It was so cute! He loves being out there. That little jeep battery lasted a long time. He probably drove a few miles all together! He is getting a little too big for it though. I told him we may have to ask Santa for a bigger jeep for Christmas. Anyone have any recommendations? Here he is driving around:
So the water line is in! The property is getting a little more live-able every day! Shannon also buried a small electric cable so we have power by the front gate for the gate openers, lights, etc.. That will be so nice to have! Here is a run down of the costs for the whole project:
Water Meter – $3400
Pipe and plumbing supplies: $663.45
Trencher Rentals: $557.32
Wire for the electric at front gate: $395.82
Total: $5016.59
Whew! That is a lot! I can only imagine how much it would have cost to have a plumber do it! Next things to go in will be the rest of the driveway and the electric. Both of those things should happen in the next 30 days! Lots of progress going on!
May Family Adventures 