When I was looking to buy my first house in 2010, one of the places, the back yard was at most 30 feet in depth, followed by a semi-steep hill down into a ravine...and the trees on the slop were vertical in the way they had grown from root to crown...but they were distinctly leaning in relation to the pull of gravity. I vetoed that one immediately. It was near Oso, WA...with its tragically lethal landslide in 2014.
Thanks for this priceless information that can possibly save a homesteader their entire home. So many don’t know what to look for or what to lookout for when searching for a property. Great service you just provided. Kudos to you.
Troy I use to work in the Entertainment industry in California. What I find most intriguing about your videos is not so much of what you do but rather how its presented. I was trying to pin it down to maybe your content, presentation, camera angles etc. Well something funny showed up one day after observation and it wasn't because your family turned an abandoned acreage to a functioning homestead. It is the Tone of your voice & its natural oscillations that attracts your audience, why I say that is because one morning I walked away while Red Tool house was on my computer. Then I said, " Wow, people can just listen to this guys documentary all hours of the day".... You may consider documentaries or something Like a hosts on a Build Show or some sort. Great work sir
Impressive that you recognized the slips for what they were! Your comments are spot on. I worked some 50 years as a geologist inspecting proerties for landslides, or slips, as you call them. I can tell you that very few peole can recognise them and they can wreak havic if you build on, above, or below them. You are giving good advice. I've seen peole lose their homes to slides.
4:30 that's what I was thinking. Liquefaction is another risk of heavy clay slopes. Sandy slopes have "creep" where the slope never stops moving. No foundations or fences will last long.
Those are good ideas. Still not sure about the stability of the land at this point. As I open my lower road back up, I will be able to assess things better.
Great advise. Visually Surveying the land this time of year also reveals the hidden problems you are pointing out, much more then during a lush growing season. Thanks for your time.
I'm thinking it was putting the "road" in in the first place that caused, or atleast largely contributed to the slip. I don't think another road is a good idea, if you can do without.
My house sits on top of something like this☹ Bought it 14 years ago and pray everytime we have torrential rains. Which we have a lot of here in N. Georgia.
Lots of farmers have developed property with water issues, as you point out - look for the issues. The decision to buy the property or not is more about the time and money to solve the issue vs the price of the property.
If you have a known spring way up on a slope, why not put in a plastic drain pipe so that the spring flow doesn't keep saturating the soil in the slope below the spring? You could route the flow to an extra dry location, create a little fake waterfall into the creek, or just run the flow into the creek.
I wouldn't blame the land. I'd look more at the road builder as being responsable for that slipage. Of course the road was good enouth for their needs. If you were building, you would choose a flatter area and dig or pin footings to bedrock. Here our soils are inches not many feet and often with burried erratics. Some areas locally blasting is required to have a full basement. My preference would be a terminal moraine (gravel/soil bed formed under glacier), a drumlin (glacial mound of rock) or esker (a loose rock based river under a glacier). Eskers make excellent roads example Boars Back Esker Route 9 Maine. Personally I would not get too worried about slippage or slumping soils, unless it was occuring without human involvement. I will look for it to atempt to run down the valuation of the land. Also there would need to be a location stabile enough to build on. I would be more concerned about having waterways that are exposed to eroding sandstone especially near coasts. Some of our coastal areas are erroding fast like Redhead Saint John, NB, or at Lubec, ME where they are losing 5 to 10 yards every year so I would not put anything within 200 to 300 feet of a cliff if even that close.
Beware of land containing any area your state has defined as a wetland. I'm stuck in limbo waiting to see if I can put a driveway through hydric soil so I can build on some land I bought last year and shouldn't have.
Try putting down a thick bed of woodchips as a 'pathway/drive'. They should pack down as a 'spongy' natural laneway and support vehicle movement. Look at "back to eden" video (Paul G) use to support traffic on his property in Washington state.
The ground is heavy clay, unfortunately, so I'm not sure that would last long. Further, it has to stand up to heavy equipment delivering the house materials and septic and so forth. Pretty sure I'm stuck waiting on a thumbs up or down on gravel or aggregate.
First the wood chips as suggested, then marsh mats (look it up) on top. They are temporary if needed, and are used by military for heavy transport over soggy areas.
It was a nice hunting, 4wheeling, hang out for the weekend place. Not a good place to turn into a homestead. Sold it in 2012 and bought a 25 acre abandon farm in VA. Hope to move there full time soon.
If you were able to get some top siol,how much good would it do to put some dirt on it and plant some kind of grass? Or would you need something that loves moisture?
What are the best conditions for someone trying to build a house into a hillside or Mountainside this video is about the conditions I should avoid so what should I look for what are good condition for wanting to build into a hillside or Mountainside
You can have core samples done to be certain. Also, look for a history of slippage in that area. The entire mountainside on this particular mountain shows a history of movement.
The biggest reason I left the USA was because you rent your property in the USA. Taxes. I own my property out right............... No taxes. No Crime. No permits or fees or inspections. Simply freer. Jim
A water bar is a ditch or swale cut on contour to slow water down or divert it. In logging operations in the mountains, they are required to cut water bars in the roads that travel up and down the mountain side to keep them from washing out
Check out this guy who built a house at the base of the mountain and is clearing the hill of the wood in your view do you think he is putting his family in danger as he talks about a spring being up the hill? Not my business but I was thinking about what your talking about! ruclips.net/video/QEDtJmnc-zo/видео.html In later episodes he does erect the house. My thoughts is be sleeping and have a slide during a wet season and it would take the house right out I notice the soil is very black. Scary
His slope doesn't appear to be as steep, but There is always a chance for movement. Looks like his soil is better quality. If it was heavy clay like ours then I would be more concerned. I am no means a geologist but I would want to keep an eye on it.
When I was looking to buy my first house in 2010, one of the places, the back yard was at most 30 feet in depth, followed by a semi-steep hill down into a ravine...and the trees on the slop were vertical in the way they had grown from root to crown...but they were distinctly leaning in relation to the pull of gravity. I vetoed that one immediately. It was near Oso, WA...with its tragically lethal landslide in 2014.
Thanks for this priceless information that can possibly save a homesteader their entire home. So many don’t know what to look for or what to lookout for when searching for a property. Great service you just provided. Kudos to you.
Troy I use to work in the Entertainment industry in California. What I find most intriguing about your videos is not so much of what you do but rather how its presented. I was trying to pin it down to maybe your content, presentation, camera angles etc. Well something funny showed up one day after observation and it wasn't because your family turned an abandoned acreage to a functioning homestead. It is the Tone of your voice & its natural oscillations that attracts your audience, why I say that is because one morning I walked away while Red Tool house was on my computer. Then I said, " Wow, people can just listen to this guys documentary all hours of the day".... You may consider documentaries or something Like a hosts on a Build Show or some sort. Great work sir
Having a plan to buy a small piece of land for my home. It seems to be a long journey , but your posting is helpful..
Impressive that you recognized the slips for what they were! Your comments are spot on. I worked some 50 years as a geologist inspecting proerties for landslides, or slips, as you call them. I can tell you that very few peole can recognise them and they can wreak havic if you build on, above, or below them. You are giving good advice. I've seen peole lose their homes to slides.
Is it the hill that has to release the water/pressure?
4:30 that's what I was thinking. Liquefaction is another risk of heavy clay slopes.
Sandy slopes have "creep" where the slope never stops moving. No foundations or fences will last long.
Plant gardens and fruit trees to take advantage of now open skies. Use downed trees for hugleculture mounds.
Those are good ideas. Still not sure about the stability of the land at this point. As I open my lower road back up, I will be able to assess things better.
Great advise. Visually Surveying the land this time of year also reveals the hidden problems you are pointing out, much more then during a lush growing season. Thanks for your time.
Spoken like a TRUE Homesteader! Thanks for the handy info
That slope is still moving. I noticed four of the saplings with a curve at the base. That is a sign of soil creep.
Yes, I would agree with that. I think all of these WV hills are moving to some degree.
this is the first time ive ever heard of slipping... not a common thing here in AZ. Thanks for the info!
Elderberries love water and great harvest fir food juice and medicinal.
Being a fella hillbilly from WV this is great information and a subject not often talked about.
WV land is always moving!
@@RedToolHouse especially where i live because there is a major fault line runs through my area.
Always interesting. That's dreaming for me though. I'm on 1/2 acre + the 1/2 acre next door. That's where the turkeys are gonna go.😊
I'm thinking it was putting the "road" in in the first place that caused, or atleast largely contributed to the slip. I don't think another road is a good idea, if you can do without.
Yes, we are not going to attempt a new cut. The land above the road shows sign of slippage in the past.
If that spring flows good, tap and direct it and you will have a perfect condition for a hydroelectric generator system.
Thank you so very much. I am just starting out myself.
Thank you, want land so badly and we are older so it is hard saving because we don't want to go into debt.
I can respect that totally.
Excellent advice. I never would have thought of that.
My house sits on top of something like this☹ Bought it 14 years ago and pray everytime we have torrential rains. Which we have a lot of here in N. Georgia.
It is is my understanding that if you can keep water running off of it (good ditches) and not have standing water up slope, it will help stabilize it.
Lots of farmers have developed property with water issues, as you point out - look for the issues. The decision to buy the property or not is more about the time and money to solve the issue vs the price of the property.
Well said. Most issues can be resolved with time and money. That is part of the property assessment, I guess.
If you have a known spring way up on a slope, why not put in a plastic drain pipe so that the spring flow doesn't keep saturating the soil in the slope below the spring? You could route the flow to an extra dry location, create a little fake waterfall into the creek, or just run the flow into the creek.
Tap.onto spring and divert it a different way with stones an concrete,!
Solid advice. Thanks for sharing.
Something to think about.
Very interesting discussion.
Wish I would have seen this before we bought our land in PA it's just like that looking for different now.
Is it moving close to where you want to build?
Yes 20 feet now from where we wanted it other side of property is wet lands so guess we may build by the main road now unless we find new property
That is a drag. Without core sampling and engineering study, I wouldn't build near the slip. Hope it works out for you.
I wouldn't blame the land. I'd look more at the road builder as being responsable for that slipage. Of course the road was good enouth for their needs.
If you were building, you would choose a flatter area and dig or pin footings to bedrock. Here our soils are inches not many feet and often with burried erratics. Some areas locally blasting is required to have a full basement. My preference would be a terminal moraine (gravel/soil bed formed under glacier), a drumlin (glacial mound of rock) or esker (a loose rock based river under a glacier). Eskers make excellent roads example Boars Back Esker Route 9 Maine.
Personally I would not get too worried about slippage or slumping soils, unless it was occuring without human involvement. I will look for it to atempt to run down the valuation of the land. Also there would need to be a location stabile enough to build on. I would be more concerned about having waterways that are exposed to eroding sandstone especially near coasts. Some of our coastal areas are erroding fast like Redhead Saint John, NB, or at Lubec, ME where they are losing 5 to 10 yards every year so I would not put anything within 200 to 300 feet of a cliff if even that close.
Beware of land containing any area your state has defined as a wetland. I'm stuck in limbo waiting to see if I can put a driveway through hydric soil so I can build on some land I bought last year and shouldn't have.
leoncaruthers ouch. That can be a big issue. Those items are tougher to see as they sometimes don’t appear during a title search.
Try putting down a thick bed of woodchips as a 'pathway/drive'. They should pack down as a 'spongy' natural laneway and support vehicle movement. Look at "back to eden" video (Paul G) use to support traffic on his property in Washington state.
The ground is heavy clay, unfortunately, so I'm not sure that would last long. Further, it has to stand up to heavy equipment delivering the house materials and septic and so forth. Pretty sure I'm stuck waiting on a thumbs up or down on gravel or aggregate.
First the wood chips as suggested, then marsh mats (look it up) on top. They are temporary if needed, and are used by military for heavy transport over soggy areas.
"Gangster lean" :)
Got to keep it real here on the homestead...
@@RedToolHouse Word
Good info. I once owned 38 acres in WV and there was slippage on my mountain. Also just found your channel and subbed.
Thanks for watching. Where was your land in WV?
Spencer.
Cool. I know that area well. I grew up on the other side of Ambler Ridge.
It was a nice hunting, 4wheeling, hang out for the weekend place. Not a good place to turn into a homestead. Sold it in 2012 and bought a 25 acre abandon farm in VA. Hope to move there full time soon.
thank you for sharing.....
I’m just starting out too. I am a new sub. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Thanks for watching
Thanks I needed to hear that
Well you sure slipped that video in on us. :-)
Cliffside Acres I hope this becomes a “break away” video...
If you were able to get some top siol,how much good would it do to put some dirt on it and plant some kind of grass? Or would you need something that loves moisture?
What are the best conditions for someone trying to build a house into a hillside or Mountainside this video is about the conditions I should avoid so what should I look for what are good condition for wanting to build into a hillside or Mountainside
You can have core samples done to be certain. Also, look for a history of slippage in that area. The entire mountainside on this particular mountain shows a history of movement.
Just curious, could you develop a spring to remove some of that water and get some use of it?
Yes, there are many springs all over the property. This one has a good output but is very far from our active homesteading endeavors.
Ken Lee , what about planting something that has deep roots to hold it all together? Just a thought
Good video
The biggest reason I left the USA was because you rent your property in the USA. Taxes.
I own my property out right............... No taxes. No Crime. No permits or fees or inspections. Simply freer. Jim
ChileExpatFamily - what country did you move to?
ChileExpat-Family--Touche!
Micah Watson--ChileExpatFamily moved to Chile... Check out their channel.
Micah Watson oh I don’t know maybe Chile 🇨🇱
Dan Davis yes Chile 🇨🇱. Jim
BWAHAHAHAHA. You know anything about the history of extreme violence in Chile "genius" ?
Bad gangster lean! LOLOL
A water bar? I’ve never heard of a water bar before
A water bar is a ditch or swale cut on contour to slow water down or divert it. In logging operations in the mountains, they are required to cut water bars in the roads that travel up and down the mountain side to keep them from washing out
100 acres...
Never heard of a tree having a bad gangster lean
gangster lean too funny; sound advice; thank you
Check out this guy who built a house at the base of the mountain and is clearing the hill of the wood in your view do you think he is putting his family in danger as he talks about a spring being up the hill? Not my business but I was thinking about what your talking about! ruclips.net/video/QEDtJmnc-zo/видео.html In later episodes he does erect the house. My thoughts is be sleeping and have a slide during a wet season and it would take the house right out I notice the soil is very black. Scary
His slope doesn't appear to be as steep, but There is always a chance for movement. Looks like his soil is better quality. If it was heavy clay like ours then I would be more concerned. I am no means a geologist but I would want to keep an eye on it.
I clicked the video to see if you knew what "your slip is showing" means in urban parlance, then you used "gangsta lean"...
We are still hip round here...
damn I bet that's some good ginseng growing land, though
you should sell it and move you talking to your self my caused you mentel issues good luck wish you well
With all due respect, your into is too long. Great channel!
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what is the point of these people uploading these videos? honestly
To help out others with similar interests.