When we bought the property at the end of July, we knew that we had a lot of work to do. We also knew that we were NOT equipped to spend a winter up here quite yet. The tiny house is very well insulated and, while we try to avoid winter weather, we have seen temperatures drop to single digits and been perfectly comfortable. We have seen snow flurries a few times but have never experienced significant snowfall during our time on the road. Being from Ohio, we are used to getting a few good snowfalls a year with anywhere from 3-8 inches of snow. The average yearly snowfall in Mancelona, Michigan is around 130 inches and that is NOT something we were excited about.
This property is what is called “raw land”. There are no structures on the property and no existing utilities. We were very fortunate to find a piece of property with water and electric run along the road (and a paved road at that!) so we will be able to hook up to city water and electric with relative ease. We did have the option of hooking up to city water or drilling a well. Due to some areas of pollution in the area and the overall cost/convenience factors, we decided to go with city water. There are no existing gas or sewer services in our area. This means that we will need to put in a septic tank and use bottled gas.
Our first step was to have a city official come out and check our soil to tell us what kind of septic system we need to install. We were told that we needed a 1000 gallon septic tank with two 50ft leach fields. The next step was to start clearing trees. Our property has very dense tree cover so it was quite the chore to clear enough space for all of this but John worked hard at it over several days and we eventually cleared the area. One neighbor took some of the pine trees that we cut down for her goats so that helped tremendously. We also discovered that the city has an area where residents can dump trees, lawn cuttings and other similar items so we took several trailer loads over there as well.
Once we had the land cleared, it was time to start digging. John took a week off of work and rented an excavator to put in the trenches for the leach fields and the hole for the tank. The man that delivered the septic tank was really friendly and helped us get it into place and level.
We also got gravel delivered for the leach fields and I enjoyed digging through the rock piles while John worked on other projects. I found SO MANY Petoskey Stones (fossilized coral commonly found in this part of Michigan) and other cool rocks that I can’t wait to polish!
We also had to do some work in the culvert so we could put in a driveway. The property was originally surrounded by a ditch. We installed a drainage pipe and filled in a section that we can now drive over!
Next, we had the water company come out and put in the box to hook us up to the water lines running down our street. From there, we hired another company to come out and run the water lines from the hookup to where the water meter will eventually be in John’s workshop. Because winters in Northern Michigan can be severe, water lines have to be buried 6 feet underground. We really wanted to keep a line of trees between the clearing and the road and digging the trenches for the water lines would have meant taking down a large number of trees . This company came out and used a machine to drill into the ground to a depth of 6 ft UNDERNEATH the existing trees. We were able to put the lines right where we wanted them without the effort of cutting down trees and digging a giant trench. We also installed an air line to blow out the water line in the winters when we will be gone from the property which should help prevent freezing. The workmen filled the giant hole left by the city and even smoothed out some areas that we had messed up digging- aside from there not being grass, you can’t even tell any work was done!
We also started clearing areas for two RV spots- one for our tiny house and one for friends or family that want to visit and have their own camper or RV.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to start construction on the workshop or put in electric just yet. We will be leaving Michigan on October 5th and will return in May to continue work. We need to build the shop for the water meter to go in and we still need to get electric run. We also hit a small snag with the septic tank (we misinterpreted the requirements for the permit) so we will have a little bit of work to do once we return in the spring but it is ALMOST completely done. After the septic is finalized and approved, we can put in the RV hookups and finish the parking spots and we will be ready to move the tiny house over there. From there, we can finish the shop and work on putting in a storage shed for the items that we have packed away. We still have a long way to go but we have come so far. I cannot believe the progress that we have made in just two short months!
UPDATE: Just before I logged on to post this entry we got the word -OUR SEPTIC HAS BEEN APPROVED! We just need to cover the trenches this evening before we head out of town tomorrow! Whoo-hoo!
