The log siding we have is pine... If we had to do it over...we'd go all stone/man-made with very little log siding/logs. We've built this place and move in 2006. I've stained/sealed the west/south side of the house five times... Okieland sun is brutal on logs. Don't get me wrong... Love the logs.. Just too much maintenance. As for the stone work, all of this stone/rock came from when we dug the pond. So it was a no brainer to use the rock for the landscaping. This is our retirement home...so we are building the dream my Mom and Dad had...
As for the pond work... We did all the work ourselves. We had a natural ravine with about 25 acres of watershed... Last year when we built the dam, we only had about 12-18" of freeboard above the spillway. We didn't use a overflow tube.
This last May we got 2.5" of rain in 15 minutes..it topped the spillway and dam blowing out the middle portion. Lessons learned.. We now have 4' of freeboard and spillway has three times the area now... We handled a 6" overnight rain followed by more than 10" over the next week... No issues. The 6" rain put about 8' off water into the pond.... Our spillway has three times the area now..
BTW, thanks for stopping by and yup, I'm a rookie fly fisherman and that was a blast!!!
