 This is the house before I started. There is a hill rising from the smaller building side that rises 60 feet. I want to put a 36' x 50' attached garage onto the house so a lot of dirt and tile work will need to be done so there are no water issues.
|  The front of the house. To the right on both floors used to have an open porch at one time. It was closed in at sometimes with some pretty shoddy work. Wind blows through the gaps and looses heat like crazy. That and the window layout looks bad to me. Want to change the steps and lawn as well for easier mowing. Going to take out the fence.
|  Lots of changes getting ready to happen.
|  4 buildings to take down first. The closest one here is the original smoke house where they smoked the meat for preservation. It will be taken apart and reassembled for our cabin. It was very nicely built with mortise and tenon. The other 3 buildings were chicken houses. Here you can see the rise and how much dirt will have to be moved.
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 First up was tree and fence removal.
|  Once I get the buildings and trees done I'm planning on renting a dozer to speed the process up.
|  The garage will be the total width of the house. Where the lower window is here, will be where the walk in door will go. The upper window will be shortened and the roofline will go through the lower half of it.
|  Tearing the buildings down by pulling every nail out so I can reuse any good lumber. Steel was taken for scrap and scraps of wood were burned.
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 I work a full time job with lots of overtime so I'd work about 5 hrs every morning before work. People thought I was kidding when I said I went into work to rest! I wasn't.
|  Piece by piece I was getting there.
|  2 of the 4 buildings are now out of the way.
|  Next 2 buildings are next. The closest one was ordered out of a Sears catalog. Not too much good in it anymore as you can see.
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 The backhoe was going to get a lot of use on this project.
|  Another view shows the grade I'm dealing with. Surface water off the hill will need tile to get it away.
|  I started digging to get an idea on how much it would be. About 5 ft so far. I'd dig to loosen up, then use the front bucket to haul into piles. I had scraped the topsoil off and put it in separate piles. This is all subsoil.
|  The hill has sheet limestone under it and wanted to know whether I'd hit a solid shelf as that would mean more problems. I remember this time as Mom came down and told me the twin towers had been hit, 9-11.
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 Started the tear down of the next 2 buildings.
|  I was moving dirt and burning too so I could keep an eye on things.
|  Weather was pretty good for me. I'd work dirt when it was fit and do the buildings when it was too wet. Had to make the most of my time and work with conditions.
|  Buildings coming down. All the concrete foundations and floors were busted up and hauled over to another farm for creek bank stabilization. The Wagon pictured here was built by my Great Grandfather. Grandma made me promise not to tear it apart and I will keep my word to my Mom's dismay. She want's it gone. We called it the Gypsy wagon as kids.
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 Getting close and you can see all the dirt piles of different grades. Keeping the topsoil for final grading but will have all kinds of subsoil to get rid of.
|  Want to get as much as I can with the backhoe dug to close grade before getting the dozer. Planning on renting it for a week and I know the time will fly when I get it. I'll take the week off work so I can maximize the time. Note the water spigot.
|  Still have lots more digging to go.
|  I rented a D4 Cat. I have to push all the topsoil off the outer yard as I'm planning on pushing a lot of subsoil out there. Probably raise the grade up to 5 ft on a 1/2 acre yard. Yeah, lots of pushing.
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 Barely visible to the right you can see the topsoil pile. It's about 10 ft high. Started pushing subsoil out. Never ran a Dozer before but took about 15 minutes to get the hang of it. 6 way blades rule and they make it so easy to do.
|  Dad came down to help. He would run the box grader and backhoe, moving dirt piles and smoothing while I dug and pushed. Kept an eye on the garage floor grade and you can see the holder laying over in the center. Didn't want to over dig the depth so no stabilization issues on the underneath side of the floor.
|  basically made a trench and kept pushing in that lane, maximizing each trip. You gotta do what you gotta do. Good view of some of the piles.
|  Inch by inch it's getting there. This dozer made me have no tolerance for someone not grading something out smoothly. There is no excuse as it is just so easy to do with a 6 way.
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 Dad kept moving bucket load out to spread at the same time. I was able to get the depth needed and just started to hit the sheet, solid limestone so I avoided a major stumbling block.
|  Grading out the subsoil and getting close to being ready to put the topsoil back in place.
|  Gives you an idea of the grade raise. Hate to think how many yards were moved.
|  A little more back dragging and box grader work and will start the topsoil.
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 Digging into the side of the pile and pushing the length, spreading a layer as you go. Nice and easy. The inner yard will now be the same level as the outer. Was a pretty big difference but now there will be none.
|  Just like spreading icing on a cake!
|  |  Quite a big change.
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 floor grade is done and some piles to move but real happy with what we were able to get done. I'm keeping subsoil base here till the floor is poured and til work is done. I'll spread all that topsoil with the backhoe and smooth with it and box grader after it all settles in.
|  Had the county come out and put a tile in along the road. There was a corner post in there path and I told them they would have problems. Guy told me they got a hoe that can handle it. I laughed and said wait till you dig it out. I've dug these posts so I knew what was underground.
|  That's a 5' x 6' ball of concrete and rock PLUS the post which was 20" around, 5 ft tall. They couldn't lift it and rolled it onto their trailer. He told me I was right. ;)
|  Rain came and shut me down. Had 37 hrs on the allowable 40 so I was out of time till it would dry out enough. Happy with what I got though.
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