Without seeing your property, and reading what you've run into so far, I'd be inclined to Glypho everything, bush hog it, till it, and start over

 

Without seeing your property, and reading what you've run into so far, I'd be inclined to Glypho everything, bush hog it, till it, and start over

I have glyphoed around the house. Brush hog is a problem because of what was left around the house that we could not see. There were cars buried in the black berries and fences and troughs. I hit a t post with my brush mower already. Did not go well

 

It sounds like something to see. Old cars just left for the foliage to consume.

The problem is after you get the big stuff out (cars), for years your always going to finding bits of old metal, plastic and glass. Id clean it and then put down a layer of new soil. Geez maybe a metal detector pass to dig out shallow bumpers or other medium sized parts and avoid localized hot spots.

I really look forward to seeing some pics

 

Pics or it never happened.

 

You're already on the right track trying to devise a plan and seeking help to do so. The suggestions above, including the photo requests sound like reasonable ideas. I know that when I have a project/situation that I see to be a bit overwhelming, I try to compartmentalize the issues and goals, and then try to resolve it in stages. This way, the enormity of the project/situation is not weighing on me so much. You also need to define you expectations. Are they just removing the junk and making a reasonable yard/lawn, or are you looking to plant an elaborate landscape with finely manicured lawn. You need to set reasonable goals and timelines for your expectations. That being said, I have a few suggestions:

1. Plan short, medium, and long term goals. I'm sure that you want it to be resolved ASAP, which means different things to everyone. To some, it literally means tomorrow. To others, it may mean a growing season or two. You need to determine what your timeline is, before you proceed. Then you can determine how long you want your short, medium and long term goals to be. Obviously, cost/budget is a major factor, so I'm mentioning it here.

2. Once you figure out #1, we can help get you where you need/want to be in a reasonable time period.

3. Since you mention the yard is a big mess, it probably couldn't get too much worse during the construction. However, I would suggest planning so you don't make things look worse in the interim, in case you get held up on the next step. What comes to mind is the large debris in the brush. If it's going to take awhile to remove the car parts and dish, don't cut away all the brush, so it's visible and even more of an eyesore from the house. If it's so badly buried that you need to cut it out, to get it out of there, try working from the rear, and remove the metal in stages. If the metal is too large for you to handle, consider renting or buying a plasma cutter (and generator, if necessary). Just make sure you have a hose, fire extinguisher, etc. ready.

4. Depending on your budget, consider renting a skid steer, if you want to accomplish things quickly. You may be able to knock out a lot of work quickly. Especially, if you get more than one attachment delivered with it. If this is an option, we can guide you on which attachments to rent. If you are on a shoestring budget, chipping away using smaller rental equipment may be the way to go. Running a rolling magnet in conjunction with a rototiller may be something to consider, once you get all of the big metal pieces out of there. It will help, but you will always have debris surfacing, unless you cut out the soil and replace. It seems to always work its way to the surface. Unfortunately, I know this first hand from my own backyard. I just tolerant it and pick up the glass and other debris as it surfaces.

5. Write everything down on paper to help brainstorm and break things into categories during the planning stage, and as idea comes up along the way. You can jot notes or ideas quickly, and always type it up later, if you are records obsessed. I found it helpful to put pencil to paper for projects like building my deck. Also, track progress with photos.

6. Speaking of photo. May we have some, please?

I hope this helps.

 

Sorry guys. Meant to get pics up earlier. Threw out my back for the first time in my life so I didn't make it outside for the last couple days. Here she is in all her glory. We affectionately call it "rat palace"

 

Sorry guys. Meant to get pics up earlier. Threw out my back for the first time in my life so I didn't make it outside for the last couple days. Here she is in all her glory. We affectionately call it "rat palace"

 

Sorry guys. Meant to get pics up earlier. Threw out my back for the first time in my life so I didn't make it outside for the last couple days. Here she is in all her glory. We affectionately call it "rat palace"

You got this bud. I bought a 1923 home on an acre that had been neglected by its previous elderly owners. It was not a rough as that back yard, but it just takes time and effort. My lot has come a long way in 2 years. Just keep making progress and some day it will be grand.

 

Ive cleaned up a few sites like this, nothing a excavator, trash bins and maybe a trailer for scrap hauling cant fix...

 

Ive cleaned up a few sites like this, nothing a excavator, trash bins and maybe a trailer for scrap hauling cant fix...

I agree with this. Bring in the skid steer and go to town.

 

This makes me feel so much better about the mess than I received with my "new" house. Thanks for that. It all puts it in perspective. I'm on year two of a multi-phase landscape. The only difference is I can't do it myself so at this point, I'm about 30k in. My issue was trees. The previous owner was apparently trying to fit a forest on a half-acre. Trees are not cheap to take down when you are paying someone. Good luck with your car hunt!

 

I would invite American Pickers over and let them go through it first.

 

looks like you have a tractor with a front end loader in the back? if so you could get most of it cleaned up with a few $150 dumpsters and a backblade.

 

looks like you have a tractor with a front end loader in the back? if so you could get most of it cleaned up with a few $150 dumpsters and a backblade.

I have taken out 4 40 yard dumpsters already. Broke the tractor twice. It's just a small kubota with a back blade on it. Fun to drive through the blackberries. That's how we "found" the cars

 

This makes me feel so much better about the mess than I received with my "new" house. Thanks for that. It all puts it in perspective. I'm on year two of a multi-phase landscape. The only difference is I can't do it myself so at this point, I'm about 30k in. My issue was trees. The previous owner was apparently trying to fit a forest on a half-acre. Trees are not cheap to take down when you are paying someone. Good luck with your car hunt!

I feel your pain. We had 16 trees dropped already. 6 were so close to the house they had rubbed most of the shingles off the roof. The previous owner was a master gardener so she had some cool plants. She just let them go once she got sick.

 

Update- We just got our siding and deck bid back which came in cheaper than we had originally thought. So that will make the "house" completely remodeled. And we will hopefully have enough left over for a few weeks of excavator rental. 😀

 

Update- We just got our siding and deck bid back which came in cheaper than we had originally thought. So that will make the "house" completely remodeled. And we will hopefully have enough left over for a few weeks of excavator rental. 😀

Awesome to hear, Keep us updated!

 

@Deke Think of the before and after pics!

 

I imagine your neighbors are going to be very happy to see this cleaned up.

 

I imagine your neighbors are going to be very happy to see this cleaned up.

The neighbors are all retired people. So they are over here all the time. The lady we bought the house from got very sick the last couple of years and her husband got put in assisted living. They are all very excited to have a young family in the area, but sad that the old owner passed. They have all been very helpful so far. While we were remodeling the house I was out back burning a pile of brush and had one of them walking around in the house for over an hour looking at it before I realized someone was there. We had exposed wiring, holes in the subfloor, windows out, and Sheetrock half hanging on. Not to mention the hundreds if not thousands of nails on the floors and in the 2x4 framing. And she was doing all of this with her walker. I couldn't even be mad

 

You're already on the right track trying to devise a plan and seeking help to do so. The suggestions above, including the photo requests sound like reasonable ideas. I know that when I have a project/situation that I see to be a bit overwhelming, I try to compartmentalize the issues and goals, and then try to resolve it in stages. This way, the enormity of the project/situation is not weighing on me so much. You also need to define you expectations. Are they just removing the junk and making a reasonable yard/lawn, or are you looking to plant an elaborate landscape with finely manicured lawn. You need to set reasonable goals and timelines for your expectations. That being said, I have a few suggestions:

1. Plan short, medium, and long term goals. I'm sure that you want it to be resolved ASAP, which means different things to everyone. To some, it literally means tomorrow. To others, it may mean a growing season or two. You need to determine what your timeline is, before you proceed. Then you can determine how long you want your short, medium and long term goals to be. Obviously, cost/budget is a major factor, so I'm mentioning it here.

2. Once you figure out #1, we can help get you where you need/want to be in a reasonable time period.

3. Since you mention the yard is a big mess, it probably couldn't get too much worse during the construction. However, I would suggest planning so you don't make things look worse in the interim, in case you get held up on the next step. What comes to mind is the large debris in the brush. If it's going to take awhile to remove the car parts and dish, don't cut away all the brush, so it's visible and even more of an eyesore from the house. If it's so badly buried that you need to cut it out, to get it out of there, try working from the rear, and remove the metal in stages. If the metal is too large for you to handle, consider renting or buying a plasma cutter (and generator, if necessary). Just make sure you have a hose, fire extinguisher, etc. ready.

4. Depending on your budget, consider renting a skid steer, if you want to accomplish things quickly. You may be able to knock out a lot of work quickly. Especially, if you get more than one attachment delivered with it. If this is an option, we can guide you on which attachments to rent. If you are on a shoestring budget, chipping away using smaller rental equipment may be the way to go. Running a rolling magnet in conjunction with a rototiller may be something to consider, once you get all of the big metal pieces out of there. It will help, but you will always have debris surfacing, unless you cut out the soil and replace. It seems to always work its way to the surface. Unfortunately, I know this first hand from my own backyard. I just tolerant it and pick up the glass and other debris as it surfaces.

5. Write everything down on paper to help brainstorm and break things into categories during the planning stage, and as idea comes up along the way. You can jot notes or ideas quickly, and always type it up later, if you are records obsessed. I found it helpful to put pencil to paper for projects like building my deck. Also, track progress with photos.

6. Speaking of photo. May we have some, please?

I hope this helps.

Chris. I am going to try to go through this number by number.

1. My short term goal is to get the house done, which thankfully is coming to an end soon. Mid March to be exact. Medium range goal is to have the a "yard" that goes from the pond in the front, to the farm road in the back. Which would put me at about 2 acres minus the house foot print. Not the perfect yard and not a mono. Just good enough that my kids and dogs can go hang out In the yard this summer. Long term is to clear a few dozen more trees and clear up my pond in the front turn it into a swimming pond with grass and rock landscape to the edges. Cedar type hedges around the full property edge. Maybe a area in the back with clover or some other forage crop for the deer. Short term goal would be ASAP. Medium is this time next year. Long term is 2-5 years out. Budget is flexible / tight. If that makes sense. I just dumped 150 into remodeling the house which just about wiped out my budget. Anything I can hold off on will get held off on, but I got the money if it is necessary.

2. Should of read farther ahead haha. Getting close on 1. And I got that pinned.

3. It is not that individual pieces are to big. It's how much is everywhere. We found two of the cars after a few beers when we decided to drive a tractor through the middle of the berries. T posts are another huge issue. The tractor will bend them down, but if you have the mower attached you will kill the blade. We have pulled a pile of 250ish t posts so far and we keep finding them, and those don't include the fences. I may have found someone to come grab the cars. One had a sought after and valuable motor and I made a deal with the guy who wants it; take them all or no motor.

4. A skid steer is a good idea, but I don't think it is what this property needs. Excavator or a cat are needed before the small stuff could get knocked out with a skid steer. We are looking at a two week rental of an excavator before we do our decks and siding. Mostly to pull tree stumps and clear the area around the house Which would put me close to my medium goal. Next couple of years we are looking at hiring a family friend that owns a cat to come "level" most of the property. That would fall into the long term goals though. As far as attachments for tractors I have a pretty good selection, but the debris really limits my choices. I don't really want to run a brush mower over a t post or a wad of barbwire. Besides that we have back blades, Harley rake, landscape rake, box blades. Even can get a post driver from a buddy for the fence.

5. This is the best advice I have ever gotten, and I do this already. Every job I do I bring a 6 foot white board and put it somewhere in the house. Split it in thirds and put down day week and end "goals" for the project. Right now my boards are tied up into the house but soon will roll over to the yard.

6. Done. Just missed your post. And thank you for the detailed response.

 

If you have access to a dozer which is what I assume cat refers to I would spend some time or have a buddy etc. Start making piles. I would separate into burn and garbage piles amd put them in a safe accessible area. Use the tractor amd some beer or cheap labor. Then doze the whole thing off the hidden posts etc is no match for the machine. A weekend with am excavator will do stumps then finish rough grade amd use the harley rake to prep it all amd seed it

 

What is the yellow car in the background of the first pic. It kind of looks like an E21 (BMW). If so, I know people in that area that will gladly extract it for you.

 

What is the yellow car in the background of the first pic. It kind of looks like an E21 (BMW). If so, I know people in that area that will gladly extract it for you.

It is a 69 Monte Carlo actually. Problem is none of the cars have titles. And none of them are worth any real money

 

It is a 69 Monte Carlo actually. Problem is none of the cars have titles. And none of them are worth any real money

Gotcha - tough to tell at that distance. Best of luck with your renovation. I'm looking forward to seeing updates as you go along.