Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Human habitat; dreaming out loud

I was just reviving an old fav' thread that Ewest started, FALL COLORS, when I caught myself daydreamin' thru the pics. I stumbled upon a couple sets of pics that surely belong within this thread collection.
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Heronblu (PB pondmeister extraordinaire Lou) posted these pics of his unbelieveably lovely home and pond (err, lake).

Lou was in the midst of the heart-wrenching process of selling his Garden of Eden to move on to the next phase of his life. He reminisces:
Lou adds:
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We miss you, Lou. Check in, would ya?

Hey there everyone. JHAP, Eddie, Brettski and everyone else. I am sorry that I was not around to participate in the most recent 'cement board' discussions here. I enrolled in college to get a Master of Science degree and have been swamped. Couple that with digging a VERY unsuccussful test hole where we wanted to put a pond and viola!, you have a guy with a busted dream of having a cool pond who finds himself spending less time on his favorite PondBoss forum. I try to check in but there are many threads to keep up with. I keep waiting to see the pics of water going out Brettski's spillway pipe, though. Perhaps with this most recent rain?

Anyhow, Eddie, your gazebo looks too cool! I love it! The question is, though, how did you get your lovely wife to smile as she was PAINTING? The last time my wife smiled when we were painting (sort of) was when we were sealing our driveway. We were using this extra large pan and it was full. A huge branch (I am not making this up) breaks off of a tree and falls. It just misses both of us, but hits the edge of the pan. It catapoulted the ENTIRE contents at me. I literally had driveway sealer running down my arse crack. Well, she was smiling then.

I digress. Sorry. Your gazebo looks GREAT. We too learned to paint with the grain. We sprayed ours, and it looks very bad to spray against the grain. No way to fix it either. We have actually found a couple of areas where the finish has worn off. I am going to touch it up this Spring and see how it lasts. If I were to do it again, I think I would go with the factory finish to be honest, that way there is a bit of a guarantee. Those things are often pro-rated anyway, though. At this point the jury is still out.

Miss you guys. If anyone wants to donate clay, I will trade sandy loam and tons of sandstone boulders in return...

Hey Victor, thanks for checking it. Your driveway sealer story was classic.

The only clay that I have is some Play-Doh that I'm not currently using but I better hang on to it. You never know when you might need a Play-Doh fix.

Hey guys,

I already posted a little tidbit on this project in the "Marine biologist..." thread. And Brettski suggested I post more here for you human habitat nutz.

Well, the "little" structure is on a new, 1 acre excavated fish pond in northeastern North Carolina (i.e., flatland). The lighthouse is a 1/2 scale replica of the Roanoke River lighthouse located (historically) off Black Walnut point in Albemarle Sound. Now the replica is located off "pond" point. Features include a real light house tower to climb in, a draw bridge to keep out the creeps and critters, and a bay to park your paddleboat underneath. It was my folks idea to build the house, and they hang out there alot. My contribution was setting up the pond ecosystem.

It's been exciting to see an this one-time "air castle" come to fruition. Hope yall enjoy the pics.

View from dad's plane.


Lighthouse view (incomplete)


Another lighthouse view (incomplete)


Light house complete


Dad's contraption to raise the drawbridge... or is that a troll

...extraordinary, awesome, way cool, (man, there's a wholebuncha adjectives for this one).
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MORE PICS AND CONSTRUCTIONS DETAILS!
(inside pics, too)

Very cool! Would really like to hear more about this project if you have the time Mesocosm.

You can't just leave it at that!!! I gotta see some pics of the drawbridge in action. Up, down, how it works. Deatails and lots of pics.

Thanks,
Eddie

Hey Victor,

Good hearing from you. Congrats on your future education!!!

Thanks for the update on your siding. I'm keeping an eye on mine, but don't expect anything to happen for a few years. It's what and when that I'm the most curious about. If I get five years out of it, then I'm doing better then real wood!!

Eddie

Unfortunately, I don't have any more drawbridge pictures with me. But I'll be sure to take some when I go home again. Either that or get some from the folks. They practically live out there.

Now I could tell you basically how it works. First off, there's a garage door opener mounted under the house that raises and lowers the bridge. So an elaborate system of pulleys was necessary to achieve the leverage. And the springs are there to assist with the initial upward motion. But the contraption only raises the bridge to a 45 degree angle. So it's mainly there to keep critters (i.e., ants, mice, racoons, bears) off and not mischevious people.

Cheers,
SC

Thanks, Eddie. I appreciate something that you said at the end of your post and it helps to put things in perspective for me. If I get five years out of it I am still ahead of where I would be with wood because I should not have any material degradation. The flying squirrels and woodpeckers have been unsuccessful in digging through the material. That was not the case with the wood siding. Thanks again.

More pics for your viewing enjoyment

Lighthouse drawbridge raised.


View from the porch/fishing pier


Looking up into lighthouse tower


Looking out through raised front panel (screened)


Another from inside house

JUST AWESOME!!!!

Nothing better then a project that somebody spent allot of time working out every little detail. It's just too cool!!!!!

Thanks for the additional pictures, it's even better then I'd hoped for.

Eddie

Beautiful houses you guys and great thread! :-)

My wife and I are planning to build a new house very soon. I bought Better Homes Home Designer Suite today. It looks like it can do a lot; but it could sure use some improvement too. At this point, I'm pretty frustrated and not sure I want to spend the time to learn it well enough to get full benefit of it. It'd be nice if you could tell it room sizes and then type of room and what specific appliances and it would let you cycle through different popular layouts and then suggest arrangements. For example, tell room dimensions label as kitchen and it pops up a check list of popular kitchen appliances,and options, you check the ones you want included, and it suggests arrangements which you can change. Same thing with bathroom. Also, you can specify if you want house to be ADA compliant and it ensures correct distances. You build a rectangle, label it as a garage, and it asks how many vehicles and suggests sizing and etc. (which you can adjust) and plugs images of your vehicles in it so you can see how much room is left along with doors in the logical places and etc.. Been messing with it a couple hours. Probably need to take a shower and go to bed. May be ahead to use an architect...

Anyone have experience with ICF construction?

Actually, going through the training video this morning, it is a LOT easier and nicer than I thought. I should have done that to start with...

Meso - That is truly a work of art. Well done!

Just wanted to post an update that Chief Architect (Better Homes and Garden software) treated me very well on an upgrade to V8 and the software is very good once you spend some time learning to use it.

Here is my latest project coming to life. I like it when a plan comes together. I posted the plans for this last year. It's now almost dried in. Thought you guys might enjoy this one. I designed this for some relatives for their river ranch property. It is sitting on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River in Stephens county Tx. This is were the big buck eats in their front yard regularly. It's a nature perserve now.

Rockytopper - Looks like the project is turning out really nice. The covered porch with the lodge style entry works really well with this one. The dormers add a lot of character too.

Well, ol' Rocky-T never fails to deliver. Whoa! V nice!
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When you say that you design a house, how much of the entire plan do you produce? I mean, I've seen your plan views and some basic interior divisions, but do you actually produce the architectural blue-lines that detail all the mechanicals and construction details? Do you have the engineering credentials and the stamp that so many states want to see?
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I think your work is very well done.

"credentials"
I'm no architect but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Yeah and he can really do a number on Mexican food.

Cool lighthouse.. Have an update on a much smaller pavillion project with some pictures. The wood for the project came from tha pond site. It's post oak(white oak)& is very heavy, even after it drys.



The concrete slab was textured & stained to give it a "rock like" appearance



Had some 3/8" plate bent to use as brackets for the corners, rafters, & posts




Decked the roof with 1" oak planks, then used stick n peal underlayment, and finished with Mueller standing seam roof




Did the construction ourselves with the help of neighbors & family. It was fun.. Still have some lighting to do after electricity is brought in.

What did you use to rough cut the trees into lumber? I am about to clear 2 acres of post oaks, pecans, and walnut. I hate to burn it.

Very nice & solid structure. Are you doing any kind of fire pit?

It is, indeed, one stout structure...and built like a pro, just like david u's entire pond project.
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Thanks for bringin' us this feature, d-u.