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Building Our Barndominium

I dug a whole mess of test holes to find an area without limerock. Every spot I dug limerock was 2' down and can't put a leaching field there, but finally got a spot in front (in the first pic you can see to mounds of dirt/sand and those were good, so that's where the leaching field will go.

The plumbing under the slab will be dug by hand as it offers a cleaner and smaller trench.
Sometime you can punch through the hardpan to better soil and go with a standard drainfield. We did that with our home and never had one issue for over 12 years. On a side note, our oldest son & wife just returned from Ohio where they are building their dream home on a lovely 5+ acre piece of farmland, about 25% treed. They had some massive equipment in there late last week and this weekend digging the foundations and pouring footers. The driveway is several hundred feet long from the road. His shop will be a 40ft x 50ft building (stick, not a pole building). black metal siding and roof.....gonna be real sweet!

Obviously they are super excited, and they should be.

Some good things can happen during shitty times! Nice to see some positives. You don't even want to know how my IRA is tanking (there goes the Chevelle!) :cry:
 
Sometime you can punch through the hardpan to better soil and go with a standard drainfield. We did that with our home and never had one issue for over 12 years. On a side note, our oldest son & wife just returned from Ohio where they are building their dream home on a lovely 5+ acre piece of farmland, about 25% treed. They had some massive equipment in there late last week and this weekend digging the foundations and pouring footers. The driveway is several hundred feet long from the road. His shop will be a 40ft x 50ft building (stick, not a pole building). black metal siding and roof.....gonna be real sweet!

Obviously they are super excited, and they should be.

Some good things can happen during shitty times! Nice to see some positives. You don't even want to know how my IRA is tanking (there goes the Chevelle!) :cry:

Problem is when you hit limestone it can go for hundreds of feet deep so there is no drainage.

I'm happy for your son and his wife... Building your home from scratch that you designed is most people's dream come true. Good for them.

Keep your chin up John, the market will crash, but will it rebound again.
 
Problem is when you hit limestone it can go for hundreds of feet deep so there is no drainage.

I'm happy for your son and his wife... Building your home from scratch that you designed is most people's dream come true. Good for them.

Keep your chin up John, the market will crash, but will it rebound again.

Kevin,

You are right. Sarasota near the Gulf is not a large limestone area at all...the water table is more of a problem there. But, "hardpan" is quite common in those areas as it's like a clay layer that can impede the flow of water downward in the soil. So, it was common to punch through it for on lot septic system drainfields. I remember only designing a couple standard septic systems and limestone was never an issue in those areas. I believe limestone is much more prevalent "inland" in Florida. But, I know it can be pretty much anywhere actually.

How many snakes did you come across clearing your lot? Ha! I'd be surprised if you say "none"! One thing I don't miss about Florida is the snakes and the lizards! :) As a kid in grade school we used to play with scorpions when shooting marbels in the sand during recess! Good memories!
 
Kevin,

You are right. Sarasota near the Gulf is not a large limestone area at all...the water table is more of a problem there. But, "hardpan" is quite common in those areas as it's like a clay layer that can impede the flow of water downward in the soil. So, it was common to punch through it for on lot septic system drainfields. I remember only designing a couple standard septic systems and limestone was never an issue in those areas. I believe limestone is much more prevalent "inland" in Florida. But, I know it can be pretty much anywhere actually.

How many snakes did you come across clearing your lot? Ha! I'd be surprised if you say "none"! One thing I don't miss about Florida is the snakes and the lizards! :) As a kid in grade school we used to play with scorpions when shooting marbels in the sand during recess! Good memories!

No snakes I saw when they were clearing. Our last place we just sold we had lots of black racers (good snake that kills the pigmy rattler), some coachwhips (endangered), and a couple of coral snakes we killed. Tons and tons of geckos.
 
Finally, we got our building permit, but got even better news.... Levy County will allow us to be 100% offgrid (100% solar) without hooking into the power company. It's a great day!
I didn't know you had to ask to be offgrid ? Hope they don't harrass me !
 
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I didn't know you had to ask to be offgrid ? Hope they don't harass me !

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Most counties and jurisdictions require you to have power from the power company to get a CO ( certificate of occupancy), so in your case you already have that, but have added solar to your setup much like a generator backup. In my case I will not be required to be hooked into the power company to get a CO and we will run 100% solar from the start.
 
I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Most counties and jurisdictions require you to have power from the power company to get a CO ( certificate of occupancy), so in your case you already have that, but have added solar to your setup much like a generator backup. In my case I will not be required to be hooked into the power company to get a CO and we will run 100% solar from the start.
(y) 👏
 
Why aren't you in 4% T bills ?
Because I think my financial advisor is a pinhead...he’s with a nationwide investment firm that I won’t mention on here. Last time we lost big was in the 2008 crash and we had a private investment advisor who we really liked then he went out of business! We're down around $40k so far, and he will give me the same ole same ole when I call him! That whole industry is basically a racket imo! I've mentioned gold before and financial advisors hate gold! Ha! The best I can do right now is wait things out and pray for some return to sanity in our government. Let's start with "DRILL BABY DRILL"! Let's go Brandon!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Finished installing all the drains yesterday and filled the stack (to give it water pressure for the leak test), and it had a slow leak. I was pissed because I'm meticulous with gluing pipes and fittings. So this morning I went to Ace hardware (no big box stores within an hour) and got a 4 x 2 coupler, glued it on to the stack and applied 60psi water from the well to find the leak. I had hopes that I would have found the leak last night, but with so many air pockets on the stub ups it was impossible because I couldn't hear any air leaking under such low pressure.

After pressurizing the system it blew a 4" test cap off indicating the glue hadn't quite sealed to the stub up. After cutting and replacing the cap (and waiting about 45 minutes for the glue to set properly), I pressurized the 6' stack again (just gravity), and she held, but I was dreading having to dig every fitting to find a potential leak.


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Not 100% on this but I don't like that blue glue, the fast set stuff. I think it's aimed at irrigation downside of the valve. If there's a minor leak in that app....no biggy. Never had leaks until I used that stuff.
 
Not 100% on this but I don't like that blue glue, the fast set stuff. I think it's aimed at irrigation downside of the valve. If there's a minor leak in that app....no biggy. Never had leaks until I used that stuff.

The blue glue you're referring to is called "Rain r Shine" here, but it has primer and glue all in one and I've had better luck with it as of recently. I'd been using the traditional primer then glue, but as of recently, and I'm not sure how anyone else glues fittings and pipe, but after using the primer on both the fitting and then the pipe, then gluing the fitting and pipe, the pipe and fitting push themselves apart. In the past I never had the problem, so I'm not sure if the chemical makeup of the pipe or glue changed.

What I did notice on the cap that blew off was only part of the PVC had been fused by the glue and the rest was unchanged (clean like the glue never softened the PVC). Not sure if the PVC cap was impervious to this specific glue, but I found it very odd. After gluing the second cap on and waiting 45 minutes (the old primer glue setup I waited no more than 5 minutes to put it under pressure), the new glue held. I have noticed it takes longer to set especially if it's wet or damp with the Rain r Shine stuff.
 
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