Bye bye big city!

[Supercharged111]

Have you considered a gas can and a match for those weeds?

 

[86LK]

Have you considered a gas can and a match for those weeds?

 

[Ugly1]

The road right-of-way is 60' wide. The paving section will be 30' wide centered within it. There is a 20' wide utility easement on each side of the right-of-way which has also been cleared so it's 100 feet from treeline to treeline. Can you tell I'm a Surveyor?

The speed limit will be 30 mph. The bridge over the creek will be the only way in and out of our section.

We plan to only clear enough substantial trees to make room for the house, the shop, the driveway and a backyard living area. My sister-in-law wants a pool. A winding driveway and lots of screening foliage for privacy is in the plan. The small trees, probably smaller than 4" will probably be removed in the underbrushing operation. Right now it's fully wooded and pretty thick in there.

How bad does the area flood? You far enough away or have enough elevation to not have that a major problem?

 

[Ugly1]

Good luck. Sounds like fun.

Only two things...and this could be good advice or BS advice, time will tell...
1)
KUDZU.....be prepared for a long fight. Sh*t grows in FEET PER DAY! Unless you got stray cows running around, the sh*t is hard to get rid of. You can, and will, get rid of it, if you keep at it, but don't let up. When we built our house in a similar start on our land- it was wooded and full of underbrush and KUDZU!! Lots of it. About 2 acres + of it. It took about 2 years of staying on it to get it in check finally.

2)
SHOP SIZE: If your HOA allows it, see if you can go 60 x 40 on the shop. I've got a 40 x 40 and I thought that should do it. It probably will, but like all plans, go a smidge bigger. You'll be glad you did. I know I wish I did.

Can you or is it worth the idea of digging down to add “storage “? Up in New England barns turned garages is common. But I lived in Florida for a while and that was forget it.

 

[Ugly1]

Not a botanist or a high zoot weed whacker but just cutting it off at the ground level does not mean it is dead. That stuff is kind of like a lilac tree or a maple. You can cut it down but unless you tear out the roots from the ground and destroy them, it will return and grow again. My neighbor had a dude come and cut down her lilac tree and he swore it would never rise again. Doom on him, it did exactly what he said was impossible and grew back, twice. Still there, still growing. Point here is that being a weed, Kudzu has developed a keen sense of self preservation and will take a lot of effort to eradicate.


Nick

See if they are affected by any root rot stuff you can use on trees. Not sure what the plant is but fun doesn’t sound like part of it!

 

[Ugly1]

Congratulations on the property! Sounds like you have a definite plan of action. You could try making the garage so you could add to it with support beams built in the wall for easy reconfiguration.
Maybe add in a small bachelor pad / office for quite nights. Or just a “man cave “ thing if they call them that now.

 

[Supercharged111]

View attachment 200053

That timing is uncanny, but I'm with Riley on this one.

 

[ck80]

That timing is uncanny, but I'm with Riley on this one.

That just means you and 86LK don't know anything about burning yards 😆

The trick is you use something that doesn't readily become an aerosol leading to a firebomb..

For THICK rootball/stump you use a higher viscosity like a bit of motor oil. Preferably used so it's free, and, sparingly cause it stinks and makes smoke.

Then, for the rest of the area you use tiki torch citronella bought the previous year closeout dirt cheap in the late fall. Pour out watering can. This is relatively smokeless in comparison, but, provides extended burn without creating the plume of explosive vapors.

It's a gentle lighting process with gradual paced spreading, nothing that'll burn your eye brows off even if you looked like him:

 

[86LK]

See if they are affected by any root rot stuff you can use on trees. Not sure what the plant is but fun doesn’t sound like part of it!

kudzu is a vine that grows EVERYWHERE. and like most aggressively growing plants of that type, it was brought from Asia

this is what it does

 

[86LK]

Can you or is it worth the idea of digging down to add “storage “? Up in New England barns turned garages is common. But I lived in Florida for a while and that was forget it.

depends on the local soil. he's north of Houston so probably has more bayou soil, whereas I'm in an area that has a lot of rock underneath only a couple feet down. if I had to guess, all the builders have bought into the myth that it's too expensive to dig a basement and tell you it can't be done. and yet on some steep hillsides, especially those that have scenic views or on waterfront, I do see them dig into the sides of the hill for at least the slab walls.
personally, unless the potential of flooding made it problematic, I would put a basement in just for the house cooling factor alone. and if you are in a tornado zone, put a safe room in too