The Brushpile

This morning we took cuttings from various bushes and trees on The Brushpile, and all too soon Wayne and Scotty had to depart. Our connection was instant and time was too short! I can never thank Wayne enough for his help and am thankful for his friendship.
 
Got everything accomplished with one exception - meant to cut that old five gallon bucket with my power saw but forgot. Ha Ha

Thanks for showing me the Brushpile - reading about it was fun and motivated me to attempt things on my place back when I got started. Actually seeing the Brushpile was a great education. Brad has so much knowledge and experience.

If you close your eyes on the Brushpile and had to guess what a tree was (actually I had my eyes open & was guessing too) the best guess is a pine tree followed by a chestnut or a pear. Lumenite makes a huge difference in tree survival under drought conditions.

The decisions about which tree gets saved and which trees get culled are what will be happening on the Brushpile land now. If I visit again, I will leave the skil saw home and bring the chain saw.

Thanks for having me and feeding me so well. ;) Elkie and Rowdy are too great tracking dogs. Rowdy and Scotty sure had a great time playing together in your new exercise pen - both being 4 months old and energetic was something to see.

I will post more on Friday. Thanks

Wayne
 
Sure will be great to see the first time a liter of pups are in the new kennel. Brad takes great care of his dogs.

Lak - we did work as much as possible in a short period of time. Crazy weather for late February and trees budding out. It is unbelievable to see the 1,000s of trees and shrubs Brad has planted on the Brushpile.

I have a great friend who is having her retirement party Friday at 1 PM in Clarksville, TN and that got me out of Fair Grove, MO before the real work starts. Yep - sure was nice to beat the concrete truck out of town.

Wayne
 
Sure will be great to see the first time a liter of pups are in the new kennel. Brad takes great care of his dogs.

Lak - we did work as much as possible in a short period of time. Crazy weather for late February and trees budding out. It is unbelievable to see the 1,000s of trees and shrubs Brad has planted on the Brushpile.

I have a great friend who is having her retirement party Friday at 1 PM in Clarksville, TN and that got me out of Fair Grove, MO before the real work starts. Yep - sure was nice to beat the concrete truck out of town.

Wayne
The concrete truck was going to charge $700 for less than 2 yards, so the real work will be mixing and pouring by the bag! Wayne, come back. LOL
 
Got everything accomplished with one exception - meant to cut that old five gallon bucket with my power saw but forgot. Ha Ha

Thanks for showing me the Brushpile - reading about it was fun and motivated me to attempt things on my place back when I got started. Actually seeing the Brushpile was a great education. Brad has so much knowledge and experience.

If you close your eyes on the Brushpile and had to guess what a tree was (actually I had my eyes open & was guessing too) the best guess is a pine tree followed by a chestnut or a pear. Lumenite makes a huge difference in tree survival under drought conditions.

The decisions about which tree gets saved and which trees get culled are what will be happening on the Brushpile land now. If I visit again, I will leave the skil saw home and bring the chain saw.

Thanks for having me and feeding me so well. ;) Elkie and Rowdy are too great tracking dogs. Rowdy and Scotty sure had a great time playing together in your new exercise pen - both being 4 months old and energetic was something to see.

I will post more on Friday. Thanks

Wayne
We enjoyed having you, and thanks again for all the help and building that nice dog box. Many litters will be raised in that box, because it's so well constructed.

Pines and cedar hide deer. I will take your advice of the food plot!
 
You can think about quik crete (ready mix in a bag). You would have to have a mixer which some rental place would have that service available. It would be about 75 to 78 bags of 80 IBs.

If it was a smaller size pour you could mix it in a wheel barrow. It would be an all day job. It would be about half that $700 offer from the concrete company. Ask someone that does concrete work about square stepping stones put in with cement / mortar. Ask them if it could be sealed properly to avoid the concern for the dog's health and welfare.

Just thinking about how to solve the problem.

Go to be someone on this forum that has some work experience to share.

Wayne
 
AnotherDog

For a dog kennel run, could a person pour it at 3 inches deep?

If a person is using quik crete ready mix in a bag, how much gravel could I use to stretch the concrete? These dogs will only weight 30 to 35 pounds.

Thanks
 
AnotherDog

For a dog kennel run, could a person pour it at 3 inches deep?

If a person is using quik crete ready mix in a bag, how much gravel could I use to stretch the concrete? These dogs will only weight 30 to 35 pounds.

Thanks
I will pour about 2 inches on top of the old cement up near the shed and taper to four inches at the end of the run. How to do it is still being considered. Remember that my new hunting property has a cement mixer, if it works.
 
Got everything accomplished with one exception - meant to cut that old five gallon bucket with my power saw but forgot. Ha Ha

Thanks for showing me the Brushpile - reading about it was fun and motivated me to attempt things on my place back when I got started. Actually seeing the Brushpile was a great education. Brad has so much knowledge and experience.

If you close your eyes on the Brushpile and had to guess what a tree was (actually I had my eyes open & was guessing too) the best guess is a pine tree followed by a chestnut or a pear. Lumenite makes a huge difference in tree survival under drought conditions.

The decisions about which tree gets saved and which trees get culled are what will be happening on the Brushpile land now. If I visit again, I will leave the skil saw home and bring the chain saw.

Thanks for having me and feeding me so well. ;) Elkie and Rowdy are too great tracking dogs. Rowdy and Scotty sure had a great time playing together in your new exercise pen - both being 4 months old and energetic was something to see.

I will post more on Friday. Thanks

Wayne
The Brushpile has had 6.5 years of drought. What you see is what grows in a drought. Okie also plants pines, which grow well in this area.
 
AnotherDog

For a dog kennel run, could a person pour it at 3 inches deep?

If a person is using quik crete ready mix in a bag, how much gravel could I use to stretch the concrete? These dogs will only weight 30 to 35 pounds.

Thanks

Three inches deep is more than adequate with modern high strength Concrete.
I don't work at the concrete plant so I can't tell you of the top of my head how much gravel is used in the Sand and Gravel mixes we commonly use. I can check some data sheets when I get back to the office on Monday and give you a better idea. However, even with this, I will not be able to tell you how much gravel you can add to "stretch" your quickcrete. You'll have to read the bag and see how much is already in there and you can do the math to see how much gravel you can add, if any, to match what I find out Monday. In my professional opinion I wouldn't recommend adding any as it could potentially hurt the longevity of your finished product. Any company such as quickcrete will have done their research to figure out what ratio of cement (the binder) to aggregate (the "filler") the can get away with to still provide a quality mix. Typically, unless the concrete plant is in a location with no aggregate and they have to have it hauled in, the cement is going to be the most expense part of your mix. For this reason, quickcrete will already be trying to minimize the cement they use to cut costs.
 
Three inches deep is more than adequate with modern high strength Concrete.
I don't work at the concrete plant so I can't tell you of the top of my head how much gravel is used in the Sand and Gravel mixes we commonly use. I can check some data sheets when I get back to the office on Monday and give you a better idea. However, even with this, I will not be able to tell you how much gravel you can add to "stretch" your quickcrete. You'll have to read the bag and see how much is already in there and you can do the math to see how much gravel you can add, if any, to match what I find out Monday. In my professional opinion I wouldn't recommend adding any as it could potentially hurt the longevity of your finished product. Any company such as quickcrete will have done their research to figure out what ratio of cement (the binder) to aggregate (the "filler") the can get away with to still provide a quality mix. Typically, unless the concrete plant is in a location with no aggregate and they have to have it hauled in, the cement is going to be the most expense part of your mix. For this reason, quickcrete will already be trying to minimize the cement they use to cut costs.
Thanks for the info. I would prefer to buy something that just requires water, but since I'm mixing about two bags at a time I don't want it to set too fast. Thanks for your help!
 
I will pour about 2 inches on top of the old cement up near the shed and taper to four inches at the end of the run. How to do it is still being considered. Remember that my new hunting property has a cement mixer, if it works.
If you are going to be pouring on top of existing Concrete you need to make sure you get good adhesion between the new and old. You can buy products at your local hardware store that you apply to the top of the old concrete before pouring the new that are effective at doing this. Make sure the old concrete is clean before applying this.
I have some concern about only pouring two inches thick near the shed. Being so thin it could crack. In the winter, water will fill this crack and freeze and as you know, when water freezes it expands. This expansion will push laterally on the concrete and could cause it to shear from the old concrete you poured on. You would be amazed at how much force a little freezing water can exert. Even the best adhesive won't be able to withstand that. Once the new is no longer adhered to the old it will start flaking off.

Sorry for the long-winded responses.
 
Thanks for the info. I would prefer to buy something that just requires water, but since I'm mixing about two bags at a time I don't want it to set too fast. Thanks for your help!
I have some recommendations on how to avoid issues with "cold joints"(when you pour fresh concrete against concrete that has already started to set). It will be more labor intensive though. Let me know if you'd like to discuss it as it's something that would be best conveyed over the phone.
 
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