New Tractor Shed

[awemawson]

So kicking my heels not being able to effectively shift this stuff about I got to cogitating - certainly enough to repair what we've mucked up making the tractor shed, but everywhere else is a bit thin and really needs a top dressing. So, while there actually IS a source of this stuff I went ahead and ordered another wagon full - after all it's ONLY £360 a load 

There should be quite a bit left over but it's useful stuff to have to hand. The price has sky rocketed recently as there is a firm taking it straight from the scalping machine at the roadside, and heating and re-tarring it for direct laying as 'black top', and it's rare now to find any not already under contract to them.

So now I have two darn great piles of the stuff to play with 

[jb3cx]

Wow Andrew that's expensive down your way http://madmodder.net/Smileys/default/confused0068.gif.about 4 months ago I was levelling a farm yard ,a bit like yours,we got 10 x 20 ton loads in at £80 a load ,mind you they only had to travel 1/2 a mile .and this was on a Sunday .i also think the place where they were delivering to was closed over the weekend,so I think we were doing them a favour as well ,nice job on the new "tractor shed "
Wonder how long it will be before machines start to make there way in .
Regards
Peter

[awemawson]

Behave Peter . . . . . it's a Tractor Shed !

It's £160 per 20 ton load 'off the road' round here IF you can get it, but Conways have most of it stitched up.

Previously I've had the 'fines' ie what they brush up when finished, for free when they did the A21 outside with lorries coming in at 2 and 3 in the morning, But this stuff is coming from miles away !

[awemawson]

Well I'm pleased to say that today Darren started spreading the hugely expensive road planings - quite a task even with his 6 ton digger. A general spreading around, a bit of levelling up of existing hollows, and quite a bit of weeding. Also an 8 mm 'road plate' (for crossing trenches with plant) had to be moved - this has been propped up against the loading dock for ten years !

[awemawson]

Meanwhile I'd been offered ten tons of crushed concrete FOC. It'd be rude to refuse 

By the end of play Daren had shifted the two huge piles and got most of the main farm yard suitably levelled and covered so he decided to start vibro rolling it in and spread the rest down the track past the pigs to the field tomorrow. The plan is to use the crushed concrete to surface an area set aside (and slightly raised) on the field that is used to park various vehicles.

Darren allegedly will return tomorrow afternoon to finish off the road planings

[tom osselton]

This has been a heck of a undertaking well done!
Is the dog looking for where he buried his bone?

[awemawson]

Thanks Tom, yes the end of this project is now in sight, but actually it cannot be fully finished until spring next year, as the earth build up round the back of the tractor shed is too wet at the moment to be given its final shape. Anyway it's bound to settle somewhat, there's eight foot of build up in places.,

Max (the dog) always shows a keen interest in what's going on 

[mattinker]

Looking forward to seeing all this in December. I've enjoyed following along, it's going to be strange when you've finished and there are no more "new tractor shed" posts!

 

Cheers, Matthew

[hermetic]

Looks really smart Andrew, and much better than paddling through the mud!
Phil.

[awemawson]

Thanks folks 

Well despite promises, no Darren today - apparently an urgent tractor repair got in the way  Assurances that he'll be here tomorrow having popped into Hastings to pick up a wacker to do the edges where the roller cannot reach.

Only downside is I'm away all day on a pig inspection into deepest Kent that is going to involve a pub lunch with a couple of pretty girls - it's a hard life but someone has to do it 

[jb3cx]

Andrew,your man Darren has made a cracking job of grading them planings.especially with that type of machine ,you'd have thought it was don with a blawnox,in the 80s I used to have a small planthire company .i had 3 international 125 drotts and 3 b100 and a couple of old jcb mk 3 .when I was forming up and taking the final grade ,I always had a long railway sleeper which was wider than the bucket .grab it with the 4 in 1 clam ,that made life so much easier.and left a perfect finish just like Darren s

Regards Peter

[awemawson]

Yes he's pretty good isn't he - and just gets on with it ! He's done loads of work for me over the past ten years and I have full confidence in him.

No doubt I'll have apoplexy and groan when I get his bill 

[Pete W.]

Hi there, Andrew,

I'd just like to record that I've very much enjoyed following along with this project (as with all your projects!).        

Are we now going to have to endure a Mawson famine while you catch up with the farm work and then prepare for and run the scraping class?         

Do you know what happened to your CNC lathe?  What is the buyer doing with it? 

[wgw]

Many years ago I was paid to take several loads of road scrapings ! Saved them many miles of driving. Very useful stuff. I am trying to find small amount of similar for road repairs here and it is not easy. I have been told that it can no longer be used for farm roads, pollution products ?

[awemawson]

There are limits on the volume used rather than an outright ban, and the limit is pretty high.

Yesterday Darren was back and made good progress - the main 'inner yard' is now finished bar a couple of low spots that need raising. The track past the pigs needs a bit of fettling, as does the hard standing outside my 40 foot containers. Then behind the containers is a little yard used to park construction plant by a local builder, and that is going to be scraped off and compacted with the  crushed concrete that we have left. It already is well hard cored, but when it was laid the vibro roller wasn't here so this is an opportunity to do it properly.

He may be back this afternoon but is suffering water supply issues on his farm.

[awemawson]

I've been away for a few days, and in my absence Darren has finished off the whole yard, the track down to the field, the bit in front of the containers, and the plant storage yard / area behind the containers - he's done a cracking job 

No pictures - it's dark 

He's also removed all his plant (and I suspect a bit of it was responsible for wiping out one of my security cameras - cast mounting bracket sheared off  ) - something else to fix !

So now I'll just have to twiddle my thumbs until the spring for the earth build up behind the Tractor Shed to dry off and settle, so that it's final level and shape can be established before seeding and fencing.

[russ57]

wiping out one of my security cameras - cast mounting bracket sheared off  ) - something else to fix !

Reprieve... I sense another project coming on... Was starting to suffer awemawson withdrawal...



-russ

[awemawson]

The weather is improving and things are drying out, which means I could attempt to shift the stock pile of topsoil from the field to round the back of the Tractor Shed. It was still a bit gloopy, but will dry out far faster now it is piled in 14 pyramids round the shed rather than one massive pile in the field. An estimated 28 tons - probably need a bit more by the time that is spread about.

Went pretty well until I reversed the digger into a Willow Tree and flattened it  In all fairness it was on it's last legs anyway after a friends cattle had taken a liking to it back end of last year.

We are holding an 'Open Tea' on Sunday in support of the local Hospice (St Michael's) and we are a bit short of outside seating - now a recent visit to the tip liberated a pair of cast iron Bench Ends, just short of the slats - I was sure that I had a big oak beam I could slice up but it must have been used on other projects, so before I started moving earth I sliced up some scaffold planks and gave them a coat of varnish - not as good as oak but they'll last a couple of years or so.

[Pete.]

Aww Andrew you should have told me you were looking for some decent hardwood, I just skipped some huge mahogany window frames this week.

[awemawson]

Hardwood in almost any form is always very welcome Pete 

[awemawson]

There is a bend in the banking behind the shed that not only makes fencing a pain but also makes it a bit narrow at the 'entrance' end to the patch behind the shed. As the bank hasn't been progressively formed and compressed here, to build it up I need some form of retainer. I have four whacking great timber electricity poles that were replaced last year, and the idea is to roll them down against the trees at the bank edge one by one, filing in and compacting earth behind them.

They've been stored in the main field for a while and needed moving before the extra earth comes in or they won't be accessible. So a fill in job today was to move them. Now the JCB803 is happy to lift them trapping them between the dozer blade and the land rake - but these poles are 35 foot long and have to go through a 12 foot gate, so couldn't just drive them through !

The operation consisted of picking them up with the dozer blade one by one, and dropping them on blocks pointing at the gate, then with a choker strop pulling them in reverse up behind the shed. Great fun, one 90 degree turn half way, round a container then up the bank and stack them without ripping the siding off the shed. Got there in the end in time for a late lunch !

. . .now I can order the earth !

[awemawson]

So Bank Holiday Monday - blazing hot, and I'm felling five trees that interfere with the new fencing round the chicken run as they are tilting alarmingly - once the fence is there they cannot be felled - so  Bank Holiday Monday - blazing hot, and I'm felling five trees that interfere with the new fencing round the chicken run !

Now May Bank Holiday is the 1000 motorbike run from London to Hastings - there are always MANY more than 1000 and they all pass our gate, so it was a great surprise, and pleasure, to see Gary White the 8 wheeler tipper / loader owner haul into the yard braving the traffic with a magnificent 20 ton load of top soil. He had already brought in three loads of subsoil yesterday and suggested he would put this lot behind the subsoil as he knew it would be used last.


Classic case of helping someone (me) and suffering. His 8 wheeler got stuck - badly stuck  We tried everything - towing with the dumper truck, pulling with my 3 ton digger,, using his loading grab to unbalance the lorry from side to side to try and get scaffold boards under his wheels. No go, he was stuck and stuck he remained 

So he called a friend with a JCB Fast Trac massive tractor, and while said friend finished ploughing a field I poured coffee down Gary's throat. OK coffee finished still no Fast Trac, and the traffic queue into Hastings 6 miles away has reached our gate.

Nothing for it but to continue felling trees - poor chap got press ganged into helping 

Just got the last tree on the ground with all personnel still alive (surprisingly!) when massive tractor blasts it's way through the queuing cars at the gate and we have some confidence we can get poor old Gary back on the way home.

A big strop, some nice big diesel motor throaty roars, and with almost no apparent effort the wheels that were 9" into the field and skidding are now actually turning and going forward   

Please can I have a JCB Fast Trac for Christmas ?

[russ57]

I'm sure you could find one that needs the special awemawson touch... And if you happened to document the progress that would just be Christmas for everyone else...

Russ

[awemawson]

I was leveling a spot to put the repaired chicken shed using the JCB when I got a call from Gary offering what he reckoned was a 20 ton load of very good top soil. - it would seem rude to refuse 

Along he came within 15 minutes and sure enough a fantastic quality load that had been someones front lawn that they ripped out to make a parking place - their loss my gain !

Bless him he offered to put it round the back of the sub soil despite  getting stuck last time - but I couldn't risk a repeat performance of what happened on bank holiday Monday !

So dumped it at the front and I set too shifting it up behind the tractor shed

Hugo insisted on helping 

[Pete.]

I think Hugo has a nose for this kind of thing...