Ok – New Plugin Lets See How This Goes
If this thing is working right this should be all the photos from the month of August
Aug 222011
The initial grading is completed at the Wagner house… As it sits right now there will be a 6ft retaining wall 18ft off the back of the covered patio. However, we are going to grade a little more and reduce the retaining wall to a knee wall. Everything else about the site looks great. The decision to be made, is do we grade down a little more and push the house about 5ft forward losing all our trees and having to move about 150 tandums of dirt. Our set the house as graded with a knee wall in the back.. I am attaching a coupe of videos to review.
Taken closer to the left hand property line.
Taken from the driveway side
Mar 012011
We ll folks I think a new speed record has been set by the City of Asheville in fixing their boondoggle up on Town Mountain Rd. It is amazing to me that the City could on one hand tell developers that it takes months and sometimes longer to get plans reviewed and a response crafted. But, create a situation where they need something done and it turns over night. I am happy for the homeowner who got what they needed out of the City, but I find it interesting the contrast between when a citizen / john q public needs something from the city and when the city needs something.
New Water Line Installed Down Driveway
So the new line was finally installed down the driveway which removed the little jut out that the line was making towards the home. The final outcome had the City of Asheville providing the majority of the cash to engineer, grade for and install the new pressurized water main. In exchange the owners granted an easement to the City for the maintenance and repair of the new water line.
Waterline Awaiting Connection
Hopefully everyone in the area of Town Mountain got this notice:
Town Mountain Road in Asheville to temporarily lose water March 3
ASHEVILLE — The City of Asheville sent out this news release.
Water service will be interrupted in the following areas from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. March 3 due to contractor tie-in:
Town Mountain Road from Crestwood Road to College Street including all intersecting roads in this area, Woodcrest Road, Covewood Road including all intersecting roads in this area, Vance Gap Road, Windswept Drive including all intersecting roads in this area, Delano Road, Patton Mountain Road and surrounding areas (North District).
Surrounding areas may experience no water to low pressure during these interruptions. When the work is completed, customers may experience discolored water or air in the lines and are advised to wait until the water is clear before using it.
Properties in the affected areas are receiving a notification by telephone via the city’s automated “Code Red” system. Citizens may register unlisted phone numbers, cell phone numbers, toll free numbers, or business numbers online at www.ashevillenc.gov by clicking on the “Code Red” public notification system.
For more information about scheduled water interruptions, call 259-5975 Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Will update everyone later…
Feb 182011
Well I knew this one was going to get interesting…. You remember me posting this one:
So, one of the main supply lines for Town Mountain in Asheville travels directly in front of this home. Not unusual to have a water line on private property… We all knew it was there, because we had the utility locators come out. When you have been in the home construction and repair business long enough though you find out a couple of things. One of those things is that the utility locators are not that accurate and they tell you as much by stating that the lines will be within so many inches either side of the line they painted. In this instance the water line was on the side of the line closer to the house. In fact it was so much closer that the water line comes within 4 feet of the foundation of the house….. OOOPPPS…..
So, first off the City of Asheville says the homeowner is in trouble because the home was built within the easement of the water line and they are going to have to pay for all costs associated with relocating the water line. Not a cheap thought when you consider the expense related to engineering, grading, materials and the labor involved in relocating an 8″ pressurized water main. Well two problems with that: one, it turns out the City has no easement or ROW (right of way) for their water line across the subject property. WHoops…. Oh ya and the City inspected and signed off on every aspect of the home when it was being built in 1995. Whoops again…. So, we are all waiting for the official word from the City of Asheville Water Department, but I have a feeling they are going to take a softer response in order to product their water line and gain an easement…. What do you think?
In the mean time the grading contractor has begun replacing the backfill of the residence in order to prevent any damage while the powers that be figure this one out.
And one more….
Feb 092011
The excavation on the foundation has begun…
However, if you look closely on the cut about 1/3 of the way down is a 8″ water main. This line had been located previously by using the utility locate service, but we were not expecting the fill to continue as far back as it has… so, finding the pipe creates some issues…
More to follow….
Feb 022011
Everything has been torn down and digging should start tomorrow.
Feb 022011
The walkway has been removed and digging should begin soon at this home in Asheville.
Jan 312011
Here is a picture of the boys tearing down the portico in Asheville before they start digging out the front of the house.
Most contractors who focus on new residential construction do not pay enough attention to the backfill material they use and how it is compacted. Well I’m here to tell you that when working with clay based soils here in the Asheville area, IT IS! Here is a picture or two from a job I am currently helping with.
As you can see in the pictures above the front of this house has settled several inches over 16 years. Upon further examination by a geotechnical engineer, it was determined that the fill material used was ok, clean fill dirt, but it was not properly compacted in 1 foot lifts. This allowed the dirt to consolidate and settle which caused the larger problem, NEGATIVE DRAINAGE AND DAMAGE TO THE GUTTER LINES!!! This allowed for the fill dirt to be saturated down to the footers placing a large hydraulic pressure on the foundation walls. Thankfully these walls were solid pour steel reinforced concrete walls.
The cost to repair this area, not including the portico, over $20,000. The grading contractor is going to have remove all the saturated backfill and replace with washed 3/4″ stone, replace all gutter drain lines with hard pvc and then repave. Of all the codes that the City of Asheville and Buncombe County have put in place when it comes to new home construction, they still do not check for adequate compaction ratings on backfill.
Oh and at the same property…. Here is what happens when you do not properly install and control storm water drainage on your site.
Cost to repair, almost $4000. Note to self, make sure I pay attention to properly backfilling structures. Especially when I will be placing hard surface or structures on top of said fill.
Brian
This came up in conversation recently with one of our perspective clients and I thought I would recap here.
When looking at building a custom home in Western North Carolina there is a very good chance that the lot you decide to build on will not be serviced by a public utilities and you will be forced to use on-site septic system and well water. Some people view this a very positive situation because you are not at the mercy of the public utility for pricing and continuity of service. Not mention, in my opinion anyways, the water that comes from our well is ten times better than that from the Asheville water system.
So, the question that came up was when should you get the permits to construct your well and septic system? The answer is before you buy the lot. In most counties as part of their application process you can do what would be considered a site evaluation as opposed to the authorization to construct. The site evaluation would tell you whether or not the site would be suitable for on-site waste management and differs from the authorization to construct in two principal ways. First off it is cheaper, Secondly, it does not design the system that needs to be installed, but would at least give you some peace of mind moving forward that you had suitable soils on the lot to handle waste management concerns. There is no process for determining available of well water, except to drill. Though you need not be worried. In the years that Blue Ridge Homes has been digging wells we have yet to drill a dry hole. I know as you get closer to the ridge lines you are going to have to go a lot further to hit water, but for the most part well water has not been an issue in Buncombe or Madison County. Now I have seen well contingencies becoming used more and more in the Offer to Purchase and Contract on lots, but you should discuss this with your real estate agent.
So, the next important question was, Why do we have to know this before the bid for the home construction is completed? If you are entering into a cost plus agreement with your builder, they will not insist on this, because at the end of the day you are the one who will be footing the bill for everything. However, you as the home owner and us as your general contractor need to set budgets and know moving forward what the costs should be. As a custom home builder issuing a fixed cost contract, we will not finalize a price until we know because it effects several large cost items:
- The cost of your site preparation and driveway installation could vary depending on the placement of your primary and repair drainage fields. The placement of your well will also have an effect on pricing.
- The type of system to be installed and the number and the length of the drainage lines will have an impact on pricing too.
- As for well installation – all builders will build in a price, but this will be an allowance, because while we might know locally what the average depth of wells has been, we do not know for certain and the cost for every vertical foot is approx. $12.
So, have your lot looked at before you buy! If this is not possible you will at least have to do it before you build.
Couple of Samples of Applications: