What did you do to or on your Kubota today?

[NCL4701]

How do you anchor the ties into the soil so they don't roll inward?

Dry concrete about 4” thick under the bottom run. Drive 1/2” rebar (4 per timber) through the timber and 24” into the red clay below. Doesn’t take much moisture for the dry concrete mix to turn into concrete. Each successive layer is pinned with 1/2” rebar.

That’s the way it was built 35 years ago and quite similar to this larger wall at the adjacent house we rebuilt 3 years ago. The bigger one is high enough it’s lag bolted to ground anchors in three places. The wall we did today isn’t high enough to need anchors.

 

[NCL4701]

Soil exposed directy to bricks down in Texas is an instant invite to wood destroying insects into the house. No termite issues in NC?

We do treat for termites and they are present here but brick, CMU, poured concrete… nothing unusual about masonry of various types in direct contact with soil in our area.

 

[fried1765]

This was a short retaining wall at my father’s old house where my son and his fiancé live. It’s about 35 years old, constructed of used railroad ties, and getting pretty punky so it was time to remove and replace. Grapple made disassembly and removal easy. View attachment 110644
First one we removed had a yellow jacket nest in it. Part of the nest that was in the rotted out hollow of the timber was quite visible while it was elevated in the grapple. View attachment 110645
After the initial battle with the tiny hellions was over, we had the field workers continuing to look for the nest throughout the day. Apparently some of the nest extended past the wall into the dirt behind as they dug out the hole in the dirt bank and continued business as usual. A second battle with the survivors appears to have concluded the war. If not, we shall continue until victory is ours! View attachment 110646
Had a pile of punky old Timbers to dump in the random log hole. View attachment 110647
Son was helping. He helped quite a lot. I’ll have to admit it was really nice to have a reasonably fit adult man to share the physical requirements of the job. Of course we had the L for most of the heavy lifting. View attachment 110648 View attachment 110649 A little backfill and all done. View attachment 110650
Did this little one on the other side of the house today as well. View attachment 110651

Having the proper tools, simply makes most every job a pleasurable one!

 

[ken erickson]

This was a short retaining wall at my father’s old house where my son and his fiancé live. It’s about 35 years old, constructed of used railroad ties, and getting pretty punky so it was time to remove and replace. Grapple made disassembly and removal easy. View attachment 110644
First one we removed had a yellow jacket nest in it. Part of the nest that was in the rotted out hollow of the timber was quite visible while it was elevated in the grapple. View attachment 110645
After the initial battle with the tiny hellions was over, we had the field workers continuing to look for the nest throughout the day. Apparently some of the nest extended past the wall into the dirt behind as they dug out the hole in the dirt bank and continued business as usual. A second battle with the survivors appears to have concluded the war. If not, we shall continue until victory is ours! View attachment 110646
Had a pile of punky old Timbers to dump in the random log hole. View attachment 110647
Son was helping. He helped quite a lot. I’ll have to admit it was really nice to have a reasonably fit adult man to share the physical requirements of the job. Of course we had the L for most of the heavy lifting. View attachment 110648 View attachment 110649 A little backfill and all done. View attachment 110650
Did this little one on the other side of the house today as well. View attachment 110651

Where you aware of the yellow jacket nest before starting the demolition?
Hope no one was stung, they can be dangerous when swarming or if a person is allergic to their venom. It has been a bad year for yellow jackets here at my house and I have a few ground nests at my land that I give a wide berth to.

 

[fried1765]

Where you aware of the yellow jacket nest before starting the demolition?
Hope no one was stung, they can be dangerous when swarming or if a person is allergic to their venom. It has been a bad year for yellow jackets here at my house and I have a few ground nests at my land that I give a wide berth to.

They just LOVE diesel fuel,.......especially if you then light it ( with a long torch stick ).

 

[ken erickson]

They just LOVE diesel fuel,.......especially if you then light it ( with a long torch stick ).

I had a particulary tough nest at one of the corners of my house, along the bottom siding. They found a way up and in between the siding and the interior wall. I finally had to build a "platform" , at night, that I then used one of the dusts that contain Permethrin. They would land on that platform that had the dust, then drag it up and into the nest. Took a couple of days but did the job.

 

[2drx4]

Where you aware of the yellow jacket nest before starting the demolition?
Hope no one was stung, they can be dangerous when swarming or if a person is allergic to their venom. It has been a bad year for yellow jackets here at my house and I have a few ground nests at my land that I give a wide berth to.

This, they're something to be careful with,

I had a nest grow up under my equipment trailer this year. Went to attach it to the truck so I could take it to buy my tractor and got attacked. I used to be allergic but it's not a huge issue anymore, but I'm always scared I will have a reaction like I used to because there isn't really rhyme or reason to why you stop being allergic and when it may be a problem again.

I did the manly thing and ran away screaming while wildly flailing my arms. Got 'em with the brake cleaner once it got dark out. No remorse with those bastids.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Dry concrete about 4” thick under the bottom run. Drive 1/2” rebar (4 per timber) through the timber and 24” into the red clay below. Doesn’t take much moisture for the dry concrete mix to turn into concrete. Each successive layer is pinned with 1/2” rebar.

That’s the way it was built 35 years ago and quite similar to this larger wall at the adjacent house we rebuilt 3 years ago. The bigger one is high enough it’s lag bolted to ground anchors in three places. The wall we did today isn’t high enough to need anchors. View attachment 110658

How'd you drive rebat through a tie?

 

[SAR Tracker]

How'd you drive rebat through a tie?

pre-drill

 

[ctfjr]

I usually let the yellow jackets alone but last week they attacked one of my dogs. The truce is over.
First I tried just putting an inverted glass bowl over the hole in the ground. Too easy for them to burrow under the edge. So on to plan B.

1/2 container of household ammonia and no more bees.

 

[fried1765]

This, they're something to be careful with,

I had a nest grow up under my equipment trailer this year. Went to attach it to the truck so I could take it to buy my tractor and got attacked. I used to be allergic but it's not a huge issue anymore, but I'm always scared I will have a reaction like I used to because there isn't really rhyme or reason to why you stop being allergic and when it may be a problem again.

I did the manly thing and ran away screaming while wildly flailing my arms. Got 'em with the brake cleaner once it got dark out. No remorse with those bastids.

Yeah.....they love brake cleaner too!

 

[NCL4701]

Where you aware of the yellow jacket nest before starting the demolition?
Hope no one was stung, they can be dangerous when swarming or if a person is allergic to their venom. It has been a bad year for yellow jackets here at my house and I have a few ground nests at my land that I give a wide berth to.

Thankfully we were unscathed. As we were about done getting everything together to start, I was staring at the wall, running through the job in my mind while my son had gone back to the common shop to get something or other we forgot to pick up. I noticed a few yellow jackets hanging around that one spot and was hoping it wasn’t a nest. Kicked the wall pretty hard right where they were to find out. They started boiling out so we were able to back off, let them calm down, and we fired the first salvo with wasp spray, which put them on the mat for a bit. I grappled the timber off that ripped into their nest as my son fired off the second offensive with more wasp spray. Took a little planning but thankfully we weren’t surprised or stung. The rest of them, they minded their business and we minded ours as we walled in the remains of their nest.

Hopefully the colony is done. Son will keep an eye on it to make sure. Can’t leave a colony that close to a house. If you don’t know they’re there they can mess you up for sure (BTDT).

 

[JimDeL]

Thankfully we were unscathed. As we were about done getting everything together to start, I was staring at the wall, running through the job in my mind while my son had gone back to the common shop to get something or other we forgot to pick up. I noticed a few yellow jackets hanging around that one spot and was hoping it wasn’t a nest. Kicked the wall pretty hard right where they were to find out. They started boiling out so we were able to back off, let them calm down, and we fired the first salvo with wasp spray, which put them on the mat for a bit. I grappled the timber off that ripped into their nest as my son fired off the second offensive with more wasp spray. Took a little planning but thankfully we weren’t surprised or stung. The rest of them, they minded their business and we minded ours as we walled in the remains of their nest.

Hopefully the colony is done. Son will keep an eye on it to make sure. Can’t leave a colony that close to a house. If you don’t know they’re there they can mess you up for sure (BTDT).

Local Professional bee exterminators are using 5% Sevin dust to eliminate yellowjackets. Takes about two days to kill the whole hive.

 

[The Evil Twin]

How'd you drive rebat through a tie?

Auger bit. Used this to bore holes in pine logs when building a backstop. I pinned them together with rebar.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Grabbed old dead stuff with the grapple for a wee bonfire this evening. Too dry to go big. For reference, the top log is about 11‐12" in diameter. I'll be up for a little while tonight.

 

[MOOTS]

Lit mine off too.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Lit mine off too.
View attachment 110702
View attachment 110703

Looks like y'all have a bit more moisture there. The dirt around my pit is like flour.

 

[MOOTS]

Looks like y'all have a bit more moisture there. The dirt around my pit is like flour.

This area stays sorta wet. Road rainwater is directed this way… another project I need to tackle. Also this pile has been here about a year, so everything in the bottom was wet. And I may or may not have a few dirty stumps mixed in!

 

[MOOTS]

Looks like y'all have a bit more moisture there. The dirt around my pit is like flour.

The LX is sitting where the pile is. And I just looked and found this pic of when I started clearing everything.

You can just make out the same tree as in this picture. Wish I could say I did it all, but I had a buddy come in with a skid steer and forestry head.

 

[The Evil Twin]

The LX is sitting where the pile is. And I just looked and found this pic of when I started clearing everything.
View attachment 110705
View attachment 110706 View attachment 110707
You can just make out the same tree as in this picture. Wish I could say I did it all, but I had a buddy come in with a skid steer and forestry head.

Help on not, that is fantastic!