Acreage set up questions

[josey]

Well, we are getting closer (hopefully) to our acreage.

Going to talk to the bank this week!

I was wondering if anybody could give me an idea in what order we should tackle things.

I think we need to do the following:

buy land (need a realtor, a lawyer, ...?)
soil testing for septic tank
inspection for manufactured home

septic tank install
gas
power
driveway
foundation (screw piling)

order house

...

Can anybody with experience run me through what they did/how they did it?

Thanks!

[Skybuster]

What's the water situation?

[densa44]

First make sure that the land HAS power, a well, (or better yet piped water) nat gas, and road access.

Check with the county for the rules on permits, what do you need and how much.

Is there a suitable road approach?

High ground.

Have a look at the land in the spring, if you can't the county may have Ariel photos from the days before subdivision.

Has there been a survey? Get a look at it.

How long a driveway do you have to build?

Can you set the house up to block the NW wind?

I just went through this, still doing some of it, so PM if you need help.

The house is the least of your worries, get the right piece of land!

[josey]

Originally Posted by Skybuster

What's the water situation?

Well is on site. Though that reminds me... Can we pipe it to a different spot (not far)? Or are we asking for trouble?

[josey]

Originally Posted by densa44

First make sure that the land HAS power, a well, (or better yet piped water) nat gas, and road access.

Check with the county for the rules on permits, what do you need and how much.

Is there a suitable road approach?

High ground.

Have a look at the land in the spring, if you can't the county may have Ariel photos from the days before subdivision.

Has there been a survey? Get a look at it.

How long a driveway do you have to build?

Can you set the house up to block the NW wind?

I just went through this, still doing some of it, so PM if you need help.

The house is the least of your worries, get the right piece of land!

Land has power and gas to property border. Well on site. Road is there, it's a lot between other acreages (older, more farm-ish than new subdivision).

Checked with the county regarding building permit. They say there is no problem.

The approach might be too narrow for moving on a manufactured home. So we might need to widen it. Not sure how to find out how much that will cost.

Survey? The land is fairly flat (for our area). What else would I need to look at?

We are planing on setting up a 20 x 76 with one short end to the north / north-west. Later we plan on a garage blocking the wind from the NW with garage doors to south.

[pikeslayer22]

As long as you have some level land i would not worry about the driveway not being wide enough...when they moved ours in they came across the field with the house

[heybert]

Garage door to the south means shovelling snow before you can get your car out. I should know, that's what I deal with every time it snows. Goes around and over the building and dumps right in front of the garage door.

[josey]

Originally Posted by pikeslayer22

As long as you have some level land i would not worry about the driveway not being wide enough...when they moved ours in they came across the field with the house

There is a ditch from the road to the property. I don't think they can drive through that one.

[wildwoods]

The right piece of land is key. Google earth really helps. It's steered us clear of two bad pieces that was buried under two feet of snow. Pm sent

[josey]

Originally Posted by heybert

Garage door to the south means shovelling snow before you can get your car out. I should know, that's what I deal with every time it snows. Goes around and over the building and dumps right in front of the garage door.

Ok, I am listening. Which side then?

[josey]

Originally Posted by wildwoods

The right piece of land is key. Google earth really helps. It's steered us clear of two bad pieces that was buried under two feet of snow. Pm sent

Well, right now it's all buried under two feet of snow. What do I need to look for? We drove by a few times and it doesn't look like it drifts badly there. We don't live far from that lot and we know the conditions of the area.
Not sure what else to look for...

[rhuntley12]

Have the water tested

[norwestalta]

How many acres are you buying? If you've got enough room I would think about a sewer lagoon. Ours is about 30 years old with no problems.
Your water can be run anywhere but I wouldn't run it where you are going to drive on it. Make sure you've got a well insulated well house as well.(kinda tongue twister).
I've got a 20x76 also. I'm quite happy with it. I would not by the vinyl skirting that they'll try to sell you. If you want pm me and I'll put you see in touch with my cousin who has some insulated panels that are the cats azz.
When you.build the pad for your mobile make it elevate about a 1 foot or more and go well past the building footprint.
Like I said pm me and I'll let you know the things I did right and what I didn't.

[pikeslayer22]

Originally Posted by josey

There is a ditch from the road to the property. I don't think they can drive through that one.

Then just have the county at their cost widen your entrance to your driveway and you should be good

[stokcondave]

We had an acreage NW of Airdrie as well. Our house was east to west with the garage facing east. Our house was about the only thing that blocked the wind so the snow drifts would be about 6' on the north side and about 4' on the south side the east and west would be minimal. Don't put any buildings on the north side of your drive way(shelters, etc.). One year the drift ended up being eight feet deep on our driveway because of our horse shelter, which was a good 50 yards in the field. Never under estimate the wind in this country.

[josey]

Originally Posted by rhuntley12

Have the water tested

gpm? Or quality? How do I get this done?

Originally Posted by pikeslayer22

Then just have the county at their cost widen your entrance to your driveway and you should be good

They do that for us? I didn't realize that!

Originally Posted by stokcondave

We had an acreage NW of Airdrie as well. Our house was east to west with the garage facing east. Our house was about the only thing that blocked the wind so the snow drifts would be about 6' on the north side and about 4' on the south side the east and west would be minimal. Don't put any buildings on the north side of your drive way(shelters, etc.). One year the drift ended up being eight feet deep on our driveway because of our horse shelter, which was a good 50 yards in the field. Never under estimate the wind in this country.

Did you have a manufactured home? I was thinking the long side with windows to the north wouldn't be a good idea...
We have a garage now facing north and if you even get the doors open the garage is full of snow.

[wildwoods]

Originally Posted by josey

Well, right now it's all buried under two feet of snow. What do I need to look for? We drove by a few times and it doesn't look like it drifts badly there. We don't live far from that lot and we know the conditions of the area.
Not sure what else to look for...

Sorry for the confusion. If you know how the land drains that's perfect. Look on google earth as most of the photos I've seen are snow free and show standing water. Also look for willow trees as they are a great indication of standing water. As far as water goes I myself am a bigger fan of a cistern than well water. Well water is ok but I find it pretty volatile and can stain/ ruin plumbing fixtures, not taste well, and possibly a little more maintenance. We have the privilege of both on the property we just bought. Well water for the gardening and cistern for the house. We really like it this way. But if I had the choice of only one I'd lean towards cistern.

[densa44]

This is easy, there are companies in Alberta that do this. Be prepared that there may be high mineral and or fluorine amounts in the water that make it "not fit for humans", not a big deal, my wf wouldn't drink it anyway, you can "shock" the well now and then with a gal of Javex and it should handle the iron and most of the calcium carbonate. Just buy your water at co-op.

The drive way, to get in with the house you will need to make it wider, don't drive through the ditch, your house could end up in 2 pieces, if there is a ready supply of clay (the banks of a dugout) you can maybe get a neighbour to move it into the ditch for the movers. Depending on the county you may have to remove it afterward.

You can pipe from your well as far as you want. 8 feet deep trench, and where it comes up to the house, just bend the pipe up, no connections, and run the pipe through a 4" pipe about 8' long (in case you ever have to pour hot water down there). Buy a recommended heat tape and put it on the feed line, it will come up through the floor of the house. Plug it in and plug hole in the floor with steel wool.

As far as the snow is concerned, take lots of pictures and figure out where you need to put snow fence next year, you can get it at UFA or Peavey Mart.

Welcome to the good life!

[forgesmith]

Plan on a nice although big garden tractor that has a bucket and blade for the snow, and grass and maybe rotortilling you might like to do.
I have a 760 Case backhoe and it is all I can do to keep the snow away this year. Big problem is the road maintainer is filing in the drive entrance with 8 inches of bladed snow and its hard packed. The 4x4 can get through but little cars or suv's forget it.
Check on the county reg's for sure where you are buying. I lived for years on a farm in Rockyview and they are terrible to get things done with. I am in Red Deer county now and not so bad. Red Deer county allows pump out tanks for sewer too. Not all county's do.
Lots to think and do when it comes to acreage owning, but the benefits are great. Like the deer on the lawn and birds everywhere. Owls in the tall pines year round and Eagles here too. Maybe don't get too close to Caroline, there are a lot of so called Red Necks out that way, might be related to my first ex's and you don't want that.
Just 2 cents worth.

[Dewey Cox]

Put a basement under that house.

[stokcondave]

Did you have a manufactured home? I was thinking the long side with windows to the north wouldn't be a good idea...
We have a garage now facing north and if you even get the doors open the garage is full of snow.[/QUOTE]

No we had a stick built house. Another thing you have to consider is the sun. If you have a north-south house, either in the morning or afternoon it gets screaming hot in the summer, on the side with the most windows. East-west homes don't as much because the sun is directly overhead in the summer. You don't want that hot sun in the summer making it uncomfortable. In the winter when the sun is more to the south it helps heat your house if its facing east-west. That's just what we found.

As far as water goes, if there is already a well then it is what it is. The county of rockeyview(I'm assuming that's where it is) will test your water once every two years for free(at least they did). Call them, its better to have an independent water sample if you decide to buy a purification system. We didn't buy anything, we used the water for everything accept drinking straight. We even made juice with it.

It is very, very important. I can't say this enough, if you buy a tractor make sure its a John Deere. your neighbors will laugh at you if you don't.

[josey]

First of all, thanks guys! I appreciate all the help!

Originally Posted by densa44

This is easy, there are companies in Alberta that do this. Be prepared that there may be high mineral and or fluorine amounts in the water that make it "not fit for humans", not a big deal, my wf wouldn't drink it anyway, you can "shock" the well now and then with a gal of Javex and it should handle the iron and most of the calcium carbonate. Just buy your water at co-op.

You can pipe from your well as far as you want. 8 feet deep trench, and where it comes up to the house, just bend the pipe up, no connections, and run the pipe through a 4" pipe about 8' long (in case you ever have to pour hot water down there). Buy a recommended heat tape and put it on the feed line, it will come up through the floor of the house. Plug it in and plug hole in the floor with steel wool.

As far as the snow is concerned, take lots of pictures and figure out where you need to put snow fence next year, you can get it at UFA or Peavey Mart.

Welcome to the good life!

We live on a farm right now and have well water. We use it for everything but straight drinking. We get the big bottles because of the taste. Though I would like to have a water softener to protect plumping and for easier cleaning.
Is there anything I should concerned about? I mean regarding water quality? Contamination?

Any idea how much "moving water" will cost us? I mean trenching, piping, heat tape etc?

Originally Posted by forgesmith

Plan on a nice although big garden tractor that has a bucket and blade for the snow, and grass and maybe rotortilling you might like to do.
I have a 760 Case backhoe and it is all I can do to keep the snow away this year. Big problem is the road maintainer is filing in the drive entrance with 8 inches of bladed snow and its hard packed. The 4x4 can get through but little cars or suv's forget it.
Check on the county reg's for sure where you are buying. I lived for years on a farm in Rockyview and they are terrible to get things done with. I am in Red Deer county now and not so bad. Red Deer county allows pump out tanks for sewer too. Not all county's do.
Lots to think and do when it comes to acreage owning, but the benefits are great. Like the deer on the lawn and birds everywhere. Owls in the tall pines year round and Eagles here too. Maybe don't get too close to Caroline, there are a lot of so called Red Necks out that way, might be related to my first ex's and you don't want that.
Just 2 cents worth.

We are living in RVC and our grader/plow guy is great! We also can pump out septic tanks.
Living on this farm I think prepared us generally for acreage living. I don't feel like a newbie after years out here. Can't even imaging living in the city again. Not a huge fan of the wildlife in the backyard though. We have deer eating the garden, owls and foxes stalking the cat, moose eating every single Saskatoon berry ... But that's nature I guess :-)

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

Put a basement under that house.

Give me a good reason! We decided against it because
1) expensive storage (30k to put it in, 30-70k to finish) vs garage
2) I have many acres I can use why go underground?
3) lots of ground water, everybody here is running sump pumps 24/7 in spring
4) even new basements might flood, colleague in YYC has cracks, failing retaining wall
5) huge garage is a more multi use storage than a basement
6) basements are creepy!

Originally Posted by stokcondave

Another thing you have to consider is the sun. If you have a north-south house, either in the morning or afternoon it gets screaming hot in the summer, on the side with the most windows. East-west homes don't as much because the sun is directly overhead in the summer. You don't want that hot sun in the summer making it uncomfortable. In the winter when the sun is more to the south it helps heat your house if its facing east-west. That's just what we found.

We thought about this. That's why we came up with south/north for the short side with no windows. East side has more windows than west because of heat in summer: master bedroom, dining room, den, living room, 2nd bath room all for sunrise and driveway/road view. In our house right now the east side is way cooler than the west side. We have a living room with two picture windows, one east, one west. Not a good idea. Cold in winter, hot in summer.

West side: master bath, kitchen, 2nd & 3rd bedroom.

Originally Posted by stokcondave

As far as water goes, if there is already a well then it is what it is. The county of rockeyview(I'm assuming that's where it is) will test your water once every two years for free(at least they did). Call them, its better to have an independent water sample if you decide to buy a purification system. We didn't buy anything, we used the water for everything accept drinking straight. We even made juice with it.

It is very, very important. I can't say this enough, if you buy a tractor make sure its a John Deere. your neighbors will laugh at you if you don't.

I will check with the RVC. A water test would be great. I looked up the lot on the Water Well Information Database and saw it's 15 gpm. But nothing on quality.

We are looking into a smaller tractor but JD might be too pricey. I don't really care what the neighbours say as long as it works (Maybe I can paint it green?).

[Austin]

Be sure to budget for the mowing equipment and snow removal equipment

[Badgerbadger]

Originally Posted by josey

Well is on site. Though that reminds me... Can we pipe it to a different spot (not far)? Or are we asking for trouble?

How deep is it? What is its flow rate? What is the water quality?

If it's a shallow well, you may have flow rate and quality problems, depending on time of year and water table.

There was this saying a prof had, when I took civil engineering: "Don't build on a floodplain". So, make sure you're not on anything that ever was a swamp/creek/riverbed/pond, because eventually it will be that again.

[stokcondave]

Be careful on the pump out for septic. You might be able to for a farm but not on an acreage. We had an acreage east of Calgary in RVC and before we could take ownership we had to convert from pump out to a field.

As far as the tractor goes, I'm crushed(I bought a Massy for the same reason). If you have a farm then you know machinery. Zero turn lawn tractor are the best if you have A big lawn. We'll worth their money.

[brownbomber]

Originally Posted by pikeslayer22

As long as you have some level land i would not worry about the driveway not being wide enough...when they moved ours in they came across the field with the house

The fit down my driveway was so tight I was walking ahead cutting down trees and uprooting posts as needed lol

[4thredneck]

When it's -40 and your lying on your back under your house thawing a water line or a sewer pipe you will wish you had a basement. I would take a basement over a garage any day of the week.

[Dewey Cox]

Originally Posted by 4thredneck

When it's -40 and your lying on your back under your house thawing a water line or a sewer pipe you will wish you had a basement. I would take a basement over a garage any day of the week.

This. And for resale value. But mostly, for what he said. Even if you don't finish it put it in. As an investment.

[josey]

Originally Posted by 4thredneck

When it's -40 and your lying on your back under your house thawing a water line or a sewer pipe you will wish you had a basement. I would take a basement over a garage any day of the week.

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

This. And for resale value. But mostly, for what he said. Even if you don't finish it put it in. As an investment.

Hm, I was told with heat tape and insulation on the skirting it won't freeze.

A basement here can be still a major headache. We have been looking for a couple of years and went and looked a lots of acreages for sale. Have not seen one place without water marks on wall in the basement. There is one place we almost bought, the people who bought it run a huge pipe out into the yard with water gushing out in spring. Btw, we didn't buy because of the basement.

Resell value fine but we plan on staying there for decades. I am banking on the land to gain the value not the home necessarily. Everybody keeps telling me anyways that manufactured homes depreciate.

[Dewey Cox]

A manufactured home on piles depreciates. Put a basement under it, and suddenly no one cares that its a manufactured home.
That's my opinion, but I prefer basements.
Also, Its easier to keep mice out of.