Plans are to start building a shop in a week or two.

Last week, it was beautiful fall weather. Clear blue skies, temps in the 40s and low 50s. Perfect weather for building and digging.

And then...this. This is where it's going.



Sheesh. This is going to be a mess.

Digging in Montana in November hmmmm...

What is the frost depth up there? I imaging it could be 36-48"
Are the concrete plants still running up there? Or are you doing some sort of post and beam construction?

I just heard on the radio yesterday but not sure where I think Wyoming and another state got hit with 36" I wish you luck with you construction.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
Digging in Montana in November hmmmm...

What is the frost depth up there? I imaging it could be 36-48"
Are the concrete plants still running up there? Or are you doing some sort of post and beam construction?

Generally it's 36", around here I've heard 32". Talking with the plumber though, since I have to run water from the house, across the existing driveway, they'll dig down to 6'. Seems a bit much to me, but what do I know?

Concrete is the other question. Builders say they may or may not wait until spring to pour the pad. This will be a pole barn type and the pad will go in after the structure is up. They say that if the ground is not frozen, which it won't be, they'll probably still pour. I'm hoping that that is the case. I'll be happy just to have it up before real winter shows up, but having the floor in would be a bonus.

I'm not trying to get on your case. Heck, I wouldn't be able to do what you're planning to do in the best of weather.

But isn't this just piss poor planning on your part? It's not like you expect bright sunny days this time of the year, right? I'm asking because I'm genuinely curious.

My curiosity is because your situation reminded me of sitting in meetings with the VP and his area heads in looking at the results. The question would be: why are the actuals so far from what was forecasted? The answers would be "Oh, it's the August vacation month in Europe so sales was down." or "It's Carnival in Rio and no one bought." or "It's Chinese New Year and China shuts down for 2 weeks."

And the VP would follow up with, "And this was a surprise to you? Doesn't this happen every year about the same time? So why didn't you account for it in planning your forecast?" It took some repeating but people eventually learned.

Hence my curiousity with your situation. Was there a sweet spot in the timing that you were aiming for and the randomness of how soon it gets cold threw you off?

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
But isn't this just piss poor planning on your part?

Yes and no.

I finally decided to do this this year back around the end of July. Made the call to the builders to get everything lined up, expecting them to get it done fairly soon, and they told me that it wouldn't be until around now that they could do it.

Yeah, I could put it off until the spring, but I'm tired scraping my windshield, so it's on. Don't want to go through another winter without it.

Fall weather here is hit or miss to be honest. We're kind of in a banana belt so don't usually get what others nearby get. I took a chance...and lost.

Go the full 60 inches. I did it in KY for my water lines when they froze and broke one year. They had been a local code, 30 inches. Didn't cost but an extra 200 bucks to ditch witch to that depth.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
Go the full 60 inches. ...

^^^This

When building a fence in Iowa, I heard the frost line was 42" to 48", maybe a bit more. Water lines are a lot more expensive to repair.

I'm on the BOD for the local, small community water company (300+ homes). We put all of our water lines in at 6 feet.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
But isn't this just piss poor planning on your part?

Yes and no.

I know how that goes. I'm in a similar situation, though not nearly of the magnitude you are.

I've gutted a poorly-done basement room and am remodelling it entirely. I've got a Bagster down at the end of the driveway I'd dearly like to be out of there before the snow flies. Otherwise: Clearing the driveway will be that much more hassle, as will getting in and out.

Should have been much further along, by now, but... things happened.

Should have started the project earlier *shrug*.

Waiting on weather to accomplish anything in Montana is like having 5 wives. All are preggo and due 12 wks apart. You do it when you can get to it. Build the barn and if frost prevents a concrete pour, hell, wait a week, it'll warm up....or not Spring is right around the corner