Nova bonsai garden
- Thread starter markyscott
- Start date
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
First water well going in!
Out curiosity how deep do you need to go for water?
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
namnhi
Masterpiece
Scott, that is not even on barrel per minute. Bad well... let's plug and abandon it. That should remind you of your profession before 100% focus on bonsai.This well ended up being 400’ deep. There were two water zones encountered- one at 90’ and one at 230’. It flowed at 15 gpm. Good well!
BrianBay9
Masterpiece
Pardon my ignorance. Why does one drill a will twice as deep as the water table? To get the flow rate you need? To guard against drop in the water table?
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Two reasons - the main one is that you pay a flat fee for a certain depth and then a per foot fee after that. We paid for a 400’ well, so might as well drill it - you never know if you will hit another fracture just above TD. The second, and less important, reason is that you add storage. 1.5 gallon per foot of well. So this well is doubles as a ~500 gallon cistern.
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
I guessed it would be more than my 12 m deep well water at 9 prob 6 atm (flat country Netherlands), but that is pretty deep in comparison.This well ended up being 400’ deep. There were two water zones encountered- one at 90’ and one at 230’. It flowed at 15 gpm. Good well!
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Sassafras and Eastern Redbud in bloom!
bonsaiwood
Mame
Just out of curiosity, what will the water treatment setup for the house be? i.e. Reverse osmosis system?
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
We haven’t had the water tested yet, but higher iron levels usually involve a chlorine injection system. If it’s lower I think you can use a water softener.
S
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
We are putting in another barn - it is close to where we will eventually build our house. Right now the bonsai studio is our only building on the property, so it’s been doubling as a machine shed, storage, and shop. It will be nice to move all of that to elsewhere so I can finish the interior of the studio.
The new barn is pretty old. It was build in the early 1800’s and originally standing on a farm in Gloversville NY. It was in a state of partial collapse and ready to be pushed over, but the timbers and rafters were still in good shape. The barn was saved and restored by our builder and we bought the frame to erect on its new home in Virginia. Here are some exterior pictures of the barn in Gloversville, before it was taken down and the timbers restored.
The new barn is pretty old. It was build in the early 1800’s and originally standing on a farm in Gloversville NY. It was in a state of partial collapse and ready to be pushed over, but the timbers and rafters were still in good shape. The barn was saved and restored by our builder and we bought the frame to erect on its new home in Virginia. Here are some exterior pictures of the barn in Gloversville, before it was taken down and the timbers restored.
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Here are some interior shots.
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Here are some pictures taken as the barn was being disassembled.
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
The timbers are hand hewn from native softwoods - I’m guessing they are probably Eastern White Pine and Eastern Hemlock. It is 30’x48’ with 14’ eaves. It was constructed with 5 bents (the working spaces between the posts) and it has a swing beam. The swing beam was an early 1800’s innovation in barn design - the removed the center posts on one of the bents and replaced them with a huge beam that supported the roof. When I say huge, I mean it was a single hand hewn beam about 30”x30”. It was usually thicker in the center than on the ends. It was supported only at the ends by the vertical exterior posts. This gave the farmers a huge working space on the ground floor - enough to turn a horse-drawn wagon inside the barn (hence the name “swing beam”. Here is the frame being restored and some shots of our swing beam.
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
The barn is on its way to Virginia - we expect it to arrive with a crew any day. Next week is foundation week and the following week we’ll have a barn raising! Should be fun!
Scott
Scott
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Oh - one more fun thing. My brother-in-law is a builder in Knoxville TN. A number of years ago he purchased an old school there that he turned into condos. The school was once used as a movie set for a film called “October Sky”. I remember walking through the old school with him and seeing pieces of the set all over. Fast forward to earlier this year - my wife and I were walking through his warehouse and found a stack of windows from the old school. They ended up on my trailer and are being restored - I think the old barn will be a very appropriate new life for the old school windows.
PerryB
Shohin
My first project working as a wanna-be carpenter after architecture school was dis-assembling an old (1780s) chestnut mortise and tenoned post and beam framed house in central Virginia, and reframing it on a new foundation 15 miles away. I've since then designed a few post and beam houses and used some of the beauty of exposed structure in my work.
I've also been involved inone of those old school-to- luxury condo conversions (in DC). Those big windows should work well!
I've also been involved inone of those old school-to- luxury condo conversions (in DC). Those big windows should work well!
