Driveways and electric power questions

Started by sherab, April 13, 2007, 10:36:57 AM

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sherab

Hey folks,
I started cutting out the trees to make room for my driveway. I am guessing that I am going to need a minimum of 15 feet wide to accommodate the road fabric I'm going to need to put down as well as running my buried power line later.

I live in central NY and here we have a ton of shale under the soil, not that far down either (think a few inches). The result has been that pulling up stumps isn't that tough because the roots don't go down  that far. I'd like to take the easy way out. Is it best to get myself a Bobcat or a backhoe at this point to pull out the stumps? (I reckon that's an either/or question for anyone who's more knowledgable about heavy machinery)

I have a 10 acre lot thats got 400ft of road frontage and extends back 1084.00 ft. I'd like to build about 400 feet back from the road disturbing the woods as little as possible. The idea is to cut out an area about 200 ft in diameter and build the small builder's cottage there for starters.

The other issue is power. Looks like the power company here is going to give me 100 free feet but I am wondering if anyone has knowledge regardlng the limit of  how far I can run the low voltage from the meter to the house.

Julian


builderboy

I'm no electrician, but the farther you run the power the bigger (more expensive) the cable you need. And as an electrician friend pointed out, the power loss is your cost from the meter to the house but he said he wouldn't worry about the 80 ft I'm looking at.


glenn kangiser

Usually the meter is mounted on the house and they will credit the 100 feet to the long piece of cable.  The last pole could be set in a ways the go underground form there.

Regarding stumps, the backhoe will do the most good with the rough ones, and leave at least 3 feet of stump for leverage and you may be able to push them over with the bucket rather than digging.

Making a curved or crooked driveway makes a lot more privacy and makes it look like a lot farther into the house than it is.  Much more satisfying to me.  People can't see straight from the road to the house that way.  You can avoid some of the nice trees that way too
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

JRR

Be sure to ask your electricity utility company this question.  Sometimes "direct burial cable" is preferred over conduit and cable.  Has to do with soil type and radiation of waste heat.  They will specify depth, cable size, etc to suit your service demand and service distance.

Be sure to ask if their recommendation will cover for any later demand increase that you may plan.

John_M

Our property in the Southern Tier of WNY has about 400 feet of frontage as well.  The power company put the pole up 100 feet into our property and then we ran underground cable the rest of the way.  Unfortunately, I am unsure of the type of cable run.  We had to run it through plastic tubing laid on top of some sand 3 feet below the surface.  

So...you can run it underground that distance, just not sure what type of wire you would need!
...life is short...enjoy the ride!!


skiwest

A bobcat can do stumps but it will depend on a couple of things :

how big is you bobcat
how big are the stumps
what type of trees
how long have they been dead


I was told needed back hoe but my skid steer worked out fine
my answers
skid steer ( a Gehl)  has a capacityof 3600lbs rated, a mid range bobcat a S175 has 1750 lb capacity
my stumps where 8 to 12 "
mostly lodgepole pine  with pretty sandy soil
all trees were dead for two years

they came out pretty easy,  if you cout them high you get more leverage and using your skid steer as a ram will pop them out.  

A hoe on a bobcat also works pretty well if you have to dig around to break the roots.