Finally!

Congratulations on your new getaway. Agree with your reasoning by the way. We recently purchased an acre on the Manitoulin with a good well, hydro and year round road. The 88 year old one room schoolhouse needs some work but the essentials were in place (once we built an outhouse and solar shower). Can I suggest one of those coffee pot type stove top espresso makers? If you're getting up really early to fish, the extra caffeine buzz really comes in handy.

Are you celebrating with a little something in a green-labeled bottle tonight, Sublime? Congrats again - you deserve it!

JPB
I actually made it there in less than two hours leaving my place on a friday afternoon, but due to the Dan Ryan I'll be takin 294 from work on any trips in the near future. Oh and the label on the bottle will be blue tonight.

TaiChi
I was thinking about one of the stovetop espresso makers until I can get the one I really want. The last time I was there I used my camping espresso maker (I am not joking) but it is a bit of a pain to clean up.

Congrats Sublime!

Thanks littlek, the first thing I am bringing there is going to be my keg fridge. Its probably a good thing that the neighbors are not very close.

<grin>

Oh boy! Our very own Woodstock, coming up. Hope you can coax Elvis out of hiding to be there.

I think I saw Elvis roaming around by the river then again it may have been the brown acid.

In case you run out...

I'm very happy for you, Sublime.

I bought a wee book on septic tanks, as a semi-joke, and ran across it yesterday as I was going through boxes of books. I'll see if I can find it later.

I've done scads of deck details but not in the last couple of years, details are still packed, and I'm rather far away. Last wood we used was sustainably farmed ipe (short for Tabebuia impetiginosa I think) - it's hauled up here from Brazil. Extremely dense wood, spans much more distance than most deck woods. Not cheap though, and tricky in the nailing.

Clearly what you want is something simple and sturdy - well, that's what I'd want. There's a lot of books out there on deck building at local home depot type places. Be nice if there was a real lumberyard near you, as the old fashioned lumberyards often have (or had) people working there who know what's what. I'm a fan of Simpson strong-tie connectors myself, and there are relatively new/good systems for nailing from underneath, which keeps screw or nail holes from being a source of water through the wood, looks good too.

Look at your well. Did you have your water tested ? do that first of anything. Then, look and see whether theres any settlement around the well. Fill those in with a plug of sand and concrete (dry) Then after a few days build a frame out of 1x6" boards, Make a square about 1ft and dig that into the ground surrounding the well this is a frame into which you will pour a concrete mix (wet) Slope the concrete plug away from the well casing so that the well casing is in the center of a slight rise in concrete. This will let the well casing area shed water. Most people dont do this, they think that the casing is seal enough. The place where mostr surface pollution gets into a well (besides contamination at the aquifer) is through casing leakage from the surface. Id especially reccomend this cause the land looks like it slopes gently to the stream. If it ever floods that high, youll thank me, for you will probably have the only decent water in the woods. You can run a pipe chase through the concrete for the wires or use a pitless adapter so they can be kept underground.


SEPTIC TANK-Pump it out once every two years if you use the place heavily in the summer. See that you dont have
wet spots on your frassy areas where the tile field is. If its not too bad you can have pipes relaid because theyve probably just settled and all the water runs there .
Other than that, make a pirogue or a Jersey sneak boat and go giigin fer frawgs. Thems good eatin. I like smallmouth fishing cause they are fesity little bastards . Wallys are kinda slow but good for crispy fish in sesame and hoisin sauce.

Paint yer beer fridge maroon and make some decals on your printer that say in large letters
DANGER BIOMEDICAL WASTES.

Good, detailed advice from farmerman, sublime. I am sure you noticed the severe thunderstorms last night and this morning. Was your new property in Michigan affected?

Congratulations, sublime!

At this rate, by the time you get to be my age you'll be a full-fledged real estate tycoon!

Found the septic tank book -
Septic Tank Practices by Peter Warshall

looks really useful...

Osso
Thanks, I have been checking out the simpson type connecters at Home Depot and they seem to be the simplest thing to use. I am probably going to use pressure treated wood for the framing and composite material for the decking. It seems a lot easier to maintain. I will take a look at the septic link later.

Farmerman
I am a bit out of my element with this stuff so I really appreciate the advice, I will definitely take a look at the well. The suggestions seem like good preventive maintenance and would be easy enough to do while we are building the deck. I have not had the water tested, is something I should have a pro come out and do or is there a kit where I can do it myself? What should I be testing for? I spent the weekend there last year and we all drank the water and it seemed fine.

As for the fishing, my friend is going to leave his canoe there and we are going to cut and winch out some of the trees that have fallen over the river to open it up a bit so we can go down a bit farther.

JW
I don't think that the storm would have affected the property but I foolishly listened to the weather yesterday and didn't put the top on my Jeep. I woke up to about three inches of rain inside my Jeep, not a good start to the day.

Eva
Thanks, not sure I can manage to do that in five years but I am going to try.

Re: water testing. You might want to check with your township or county health department to see if they'll test for free. In Ontario our local district health unit provides the bottles (specific bottles 'cause there's powder of some sort inside them) and detailed instructions on how to take the sample and what to do if the test shows a coliform count or (God forbid) E.coli. We've found them really helpful.

congrats sublime, we're practically neighbours now, okay, i live about 45 minutes from detroit, and in canada, and you now own property clear on the other side of the state, but apart from that.........

Thanks Tai, next time I am out there I will look into that. I am also going to ask my friend if it has been done recently. The place was on the market for a while and it may have been done through the realtor. How often do you have your water checked?

I promise to play my music loud.

Thanks djjd, anytime you want to stop over just let me know.

Apparently the trick is to use the well regularly. When we bought our place no one had been near it in a couple of years and the realtor's water tests showed low coliform levels. We bought anyway. Bleached the well in the spring and have had 3 good tests (all about a month apart) since. We've been told that 3 clear tests and you're good to go. Of course they're still assuming the well's being used regularly so....when we go up to the island again in September we'll probably test again since it won't have been used for at least six weeks. Even at the highest coliform levels (11 ppm) we were told (quietly. not officially) that if we had been drinking it all along it probably wouldn't be a problem although they like the levels to be 4ppm or less, preferably nil. E.coli is a whole other story, of course.