Brian,

Some questions that come to my mind after looking at the diagram. You may already have answers to these, or they may not be "important" or useful to you... Thought I would share in case they at minimum provoke some of your own additional thoughts.

What's the driving reason to put the barn "in the trees"? Is there a possibility to move it in such a way that you could have, at least, a covered walkway between the house and the barn (if desired)?

With regard to the winding driveway - keep in mind that it's a double-edged sword. While no one can look down the drive to see what you're doing, emergency personnel can also not see down the same driveway to locate possible crimes or a fire. Additionally, it also means that you have no visibility of the street until you're almost at the end of your driveway. Have you considered using hedges, trees, etc to "hide the majority of the house" while actually still allowing a majority view of the road from house / house from the road?

What sort of grade does the site have? Is it mostly level? If so, keeping the drive clear of snow and such shouldn't be much of an issue. If it's sloped, however, you'll have to negotiate the turns AND the grade.

Sorry, but I have to work that weekend. So, I won't be able to help.

 

I just replied on WA, but I'll add the same input here:

I like the layout, can you see the house from the road? I really like the seclusion when you wrap around a drive and pop out at the house. If you can now, let that new growth continue to build up. I understand the safety of it, but I'd MUCH rather pay for ADT or something similar...

As far as the circle drive, they have their ups and downs. For pulling your trailer (18' IIRC) will be tough to just pull straight up and back up, but it is manageable. Be sure to make it wide too, people driving cars have a hard enough time staying off the grass around them, let alone pulling a trailer. As far as functionality, there are better options, but I think the circle looks by far the best. If it were me, I'd have a big flag pole in the center of it.

Oh, and if there's anyway that the house could be in the woods vs field, just a prettier site IMO. Otherwise it's just more landscaping. I've been going more natural lately doing less mowing and letting the forest retake itself. Out of the 25 acres I have at my cabin, between the new land and the old, I only mow maybe 1/3 acre. Just enough space to enjoy it, but not so much that it's more work than its worth.

 

The way I interpreted what Brian wrote, you wouldn't be able to see the house from the road / road from the house. I agree with you about having that feeling of seclusion from "prying eyes" and even being sort of "out of sight, out of mind" from passersby in general. I should have mentioned that with my posts above.

You bring up an excellent point about dragging a trailer through. The way that Brian has the curves, I think he would be ok with most trailers. The curve radii are large which will make for some gentle curves. The driveway width might be at issue. With max trailer width at 102" (8'6") means that there's only a little under 3' of clearance on each side of the trailer. I use a decent chunk of my full-width road when navigating the sharper curves with my 18' trailer connected (over 21' total length on top of 20' length of truck). Not the whole width of the road, mind you, but enough that I would be concerned about only 3' of clearance on either side. I could do out all of the math to figure it all out, but it would sure be a whole lot quicker to drag the trailer out to a large, empty parking lot with some cones and such to set up a test and see what "feels" comfortable.

Of course, backing in or out would be about out of the question... Better make sure there's plenty of room to turn around near the house!

 

Wow your CAD program has very realistic hand type drawing.

I like it.

 

I am going to complete the driveway up the the circle over the next 3 weeks. The circle and the drive to the barn, plus even the barn placement are all up in the air.

Can you see the home from the road. At this point, yes as the trees are only 15 feet tall.

We will have video going and ADT, plus a driveway alarm just for fun.

 

Just throwing out more thoughts...

Does any heavy equipment need to be brought in to dig a cellar hole? Remove trees? Dig a septic system? etc... If so, how much damage will that do to a driveway? Don't those usually get installed last because of damage that can be done during construction? What about just grading it and leaving it at that until construction is done? Or, even grading then laying down the base material maybe... I would expect that the finish coating would be best done once you have everything complete, including and water lines, sewer lines, underground utilities, electrical service for the powered gate and coach lights at the end of the drive, etc.

Plus, what happens if you "land" in a place other than where it ultimately needs to be if you change location for the house (maybe there's a ginormous boulder where you want the house and would have to move 100' in one direction as a result)?

 

I am only stripping the topsoil, putting in sand to grade, and spreading larger chunk crushed concrete. That will suffice through construction, then I will sput more large crushed concrete, fine crushed concrete, then the stone for the top.

Without this road, large trucks would be stuck in the mud if it rained.

 

One feature I added to my barn was a door wide / high enough on both ends to pull straight through if need be. I'd recommend that to anyone building a new barn. Then that calls for some type of stable road bed / ground around the perimeter of the barn to support your tractor, truck or trailer.

I like the layout as planned and the suggestions made so far. Good luck.

 

That's a great idea, especially if you can accommodate two vehicle, trailer, and cargo all the way through (not sure if that's what you did).

 

I have road in laid out back to the circle. This leaves me options. Excavator to be here as soon as he can.

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Things are moving forward. Sand is half down and there is a lot left to grade. But its coming along.

 

View attachment 11606

Obviously you're using a ringer to do all the "heavy" work. :good2:

 

We have the sand down and covered it with large crushed concrete for the construction phase. Moved a ton of dirt and leveled out the road. I also have the barn pad stripped and we are bringing in sand so it can sit for the winter and settle out really well.

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Looking good Brian!