The Earth is Moving!

The snow is finally gone and work has begun on the driveway!  The picture below was taken yesterday by our excavator (opposite angle from earlier pics showing the view). One of the downsides of living three hours away from the construction site (and weather being the main determining factor of the start date) is that Tracey and I were not able to be there for an official groundbreaking.  Guess we'll just have to Photoshop something later.

When the final rough-in of the driveway is complete, a couple of layers of crushed stone (gravel) will be added and impacted into place with a "vibratory roll" -- a gravel roller that vibrates.  You can actually see the Roller waiting in the wings in this picture; it's the furthest right piece of equipment next to the Spruce trees.  Also, a culvert pipe was installed to allow drainage along the road as there is a ditch between the road and the property.  The stones surrounding the pipe is a nice touch by the excavator.

Generally speaking, for driveways with a slope, gravel works better than asphalt in high snow areas like Upstate New York as they provide better traction in snow and ice.  And hey, it's also cheaper.  It's also our only option.  That's because our property is within 200 feet of a stream and because our property is within the New York City Watershed, we would not be allowed to have an asphalt driveway for water run-off issues.

I'll address the NYC Watershed issues in further detail when we get to the septic system installation, but briefly: NYC's drinking water is piped in from huge reservoirs in Upstate new York.  The region where those reservoirs are located is referred to as, the New York City Watershed. In order to preserve the purity and cleanliness of those reservoirs, stricter guidelines are in place, such as the one I just mentioned about the driveway, than in areas outside of the Watershed.  I think that's a good thing.  As a resident of NYC, I want clean drinking water.

Well, I think that's it for now.  Thanks for taking the time to read this!  When the driveway is complete, work will begin on the foundation.  Whoa!