Our landscaping
expert had convinced us to contour the top of the house his way,
letting the dirt settle a bit before tackling putting the insulating
umbrella on it. We knew we had a steep contour to deal with – 6 –
12 as in a 6 inches rise for 12 inches horizontal run of the roof.
And at the top, it is rounded over to meet the other side. Danny had
sloped it so that it was not as steep, so he could climb it in his
track-laying skidsteer. Unfortunately, he died. Bill had been
thinking how was he going to change the contour of our roof so that
we could put the insulating umbrella on it and cover it back up with
dirt and sod or seed. We did not want the excessive amount of dirt
on the hillside, possibly being too much for our retaining walls. We
needed to take away about 2 feet on the sides, putting some of that
on the top. He calculated renting an excavator with a long arm to be
uneconomical.
One day, Bill saw a
one-horse scoop in someone’s front yard used as yard-decor. He had
used one as a boy helping his father. Bill has a way with the
English language. He approached the owners and talked them into
selling it to him, and he brought it home and repaired it.
Bill
talked his wife into being the horse, and he would handle the scoop.
Actually, being the horse meant driving a skidsteer which was
connected by cable to the one-horse scoop via a pulley system. We
worked at this for no more than an hour a day as lifting the handles
of the very heavily-laden scoop (Bill’s job) was a weight-lifting
feat. He was able to relax his muscles by raking out what he had
moved that day. And Bill was somewhat happy to get some rain days
for resting.
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| The first layer of plastic |
Keith joined us, and tried his hand at being the horse, and at being the weight-lifter. Both were difficult jobs. When the skidsteer had a mechanical problem, we switched to the tractor. Wife found the tractor easier as the velocity was set and the steering was less sensitive. She only had to get in the correct gear – forward or reverse, and keep an eye on the weight-lifter and his load. Then Keith and Bill were the weight-lifters.
We actually only tackled about 28 feet of the length of the house. This was the section over the bedrooms, leaving about 36 feet for later. Finally, the surface was shaped and ready for the umbrella. Meanwhile, we met Ernesto. He and his son helped us to place the umbrella on that half of the house- all in one LONG day. Then on subsequent days, Bill, Keith and wife worked on covering it up with dirt using the one-horse scoop, rakes and shovels.
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| Ernesto and son helping layout the insulation |
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| The second layer of plastic |
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| Adding dirt on top of the umbrella |
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| View from the West, scooping dirt where it is needed |
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| "Scooping" topsoil up to the top |
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| Straw bales form the boundary of the insulating umbrella |
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| Straw blanket on top with rye seed |
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| GRASS! |
Once it was covered with the straw blanket, we planted rye grass seed and tall fescue, along with some strategically placed sod, to hold the dirt until the rest of the umbrella was completed.
