Driveway Work Completed

August 2017

As I touched on in the last post, the driveway entrance needed to be re-shaped and graded according to county regulations, as well as a culvert added to divert water run-off down the mountain.

JD and I took on the task of adding a culvert back in 2014.  We bought the biggest culvert that the local hardware supply carried and spent an entire day taking our frustrations out on the granite rock using a pick axe.  We dug down as far as we could, put that baby in, and made a beautiful rock entryway for the water to enter and exit our shiny new culvert.  Look at the wonderful job we did:

And then this happened the winter after we installed it.  Let's shed a tear together.

That would be the handiwork of a snowplow hitting the culvert and sliding it down several feet.  There's a reason why they want the culverts marked with reflectors and why the culvert should be placed properly.  County was liable since it wasn't put in to their standards.  JD & I did our best but we just didn't have the equipment needed to do it right.  So this culvert was removed, which created quite a hill to get onto the driveway off the dirt road, particularly with more run-off erosion.  It was a bit of a 4x4 adventure entering the driveway - I really wish I had a before picture as it was crazy.

So after chasing, calling, emailing, and borderline harassing at least 5 excavation companies, we finally got 3 bids to do the work.  I'm really happy with the company we chose - licensed by the county, answered their phone on the first call, showed up on time for bid, quick & detailed estimate, could start work quickly and were super friendly and tolerant of my thousand questions - huge thank you to Sayler & Sons Excavating.

And here's their beautiful work.  We now have a level entryway off the road topped with fresh gravel.  They took all that dirt and basically widened the narrowest part of the driveway, about a parking spot size, which is where I slid off the driveway in a winter snow (ask me about that over a beer sometime).  We are now legal and accessible by car (no more 4x4 required!), ambulance, or fire truck.

BIG toys for the big boys!  More effective than a pick axe.

It's level!  And now marked with reflectors.

another viewpoint

Driveway widened from the electric pole to the small clump of trees on the right