Site Preparation to Build a Home
1. – Site Preparation. – Consists of clearing away the trees from your building site, doing whatever rough grading that is necessary, and staking the house location in preparation for installation of the footings and foundation.
Before you begin, go over again the things that will affect or be affected by the placement of your lot:
- Setbacks and Easements
- Topography (slopes)
- Views
- Driveway
- The Sun’s Exposure
- Trees you want to keep
- Well and Septic Tank Location
- Your Relationship to other houses in the area/neighborhood
- Distances you’ll have to run utility lines to hook up with municipal services.
2. – Rough Staking The Home. – Here is where to start laying out the home. The reasons for doing this are twofold: economics and esthetics. It costs money (usually hourly) to clear the construction site. Also, you probably don’t want to remove any more trees than necessary. Knowing where the home will be built will allow you to save the trees that don’t really need to come down.
If there if to be any grading or excavation at the actual building site before the footings are dug, you may want to get the house rough-staked to determine its approximate location. This will help in determining which trees are to be removed. Note that if you discover that your home site is going to require the removal of one or more trees that you really want to keep, you can make modifications to the home’s location at this time. Just be sure to check the new location against setbacks and easements and the required distance to your septic tank drain field. Also be sure to advise your building department and get their OK before going forth with your new location.
3. – Clearing . – This involves the removal of trees, roots, and other vegetation from the building sit. One decision that you will have to make is what to do with the debris. You may have to have it hauled away – the most expensive alternative.
4. – Excavation. – If your home will have a basement, it’ll need to be dug excavated. Again, the potential problem of excess dirt must be addressed. Perhaps you have areas on your property that can be “filled.” Plan ahead so that you are not faced with expensive hauling charges to get rid of it.
Source: home-building
