Bridge Rebuilding

Magicman · July 13, 2014, 04:42:30 PM

Recent rains completely undermined our main creek crossing bridge, so it was work time.

First we salvaged as much as we could from the old bridge. Some of the stringers, boards, and nails would be reused to reinforce the smaller bridge, which would now become our only crossing to reach the back side of the Tree Farm.

The new/additional stringers were pulled across before the boards were removed. This bridge only had 3 stringers

And then the work began resetting the stringers.

Nailing um down. The bridge is now a couple of feet wider so we alternated the shorter deck boards.

The bridge now has 7 stringers and is 2' wider. The Chief Overseer is making Her final inspection.

I have access to a White Oak tree that will be removed soon, so I will have some longer deck boards. ;D

Andy White · July 13, 2014, 04:51:15 PM

Lynn,
That is a fine job on the bridge for sure! Your crew looks like they have done that before. Is that the first bridge by the old Red Oak?
Looks like Pat approves of the project. Wish I was there to help. Andy

Gadrock · July 13, 2014, 06:19:18 PM

And it is nothing like waiting untill it gets warm to do a project like this. Weather forecasts for the last few days has been mid 90's...plus humudity

david G

carry on

drobertson · July 13, 2014, 06:55:45 PM

Looks like a heck of a day of it! Kinda handy having a mill isn't it!

21incher · July 13, 2014, 07:08:09 PM

Nice looking bridge. Could double as a raft if the water gets to high.

Magicman · July 13, 2014, 07:32:03 PM

No Andy, this is the big bridge in the "Straw Field" where we got your Walnut tree.

The limbs from your Walnut tree are under the grass in the background where this guy showed up. This was one of two that we killed yesterday. We saw a couple of more that did not offer to "help" us. :-\ I do not like Cottonmouths.

I have an idea

that we will wait until cooler weather before we get you another tree.

SwampDonkey · July 13, 2014, 07:36:50 PM

The crew made short work of the job. Looks like one made short work of the snake to. ;D

drobertson · July 13, 2014, 08:04:32 PM

That there is a bonafide fatty, it looks like you handled it the proper way!

sandhills · July 15, 2014, 12:28:01 PM

I like the way you folks work, just get it done

Mooseherder · July 15, 2014, 06:17:52 PM

The Grandkids will remember that day of Bridge building forever. It's all about the Journey.

ozarkgem · July 16, 2014, 05:45:00 AM

How do you keep the stringers from rotting in the ground? The snake looks like it went through a wood chipper.

aigheadish · March 23, 2021, 02:41:56 PM

@Magicman I pretty well understand that you are much more knowledgeable than me in the world of wood so I have some questions regarding this lovely bridge (and I'm sorry to hear of your washout!).

Regarding your stringers (the bottom logs going across the gap, correct?); are they just logs you had around or anything special? If just logs you had around do you have a good way to determine if they'll hold weight and support the bridge? Do you drive equipment over the bridge?

I have a 2 acre field on the back side of my property that I like to take my backhoe to occasionally, that has to cross a creek to get to. In the spring the creek can be a couple feet deep but I've dug it out such that it's only a few feet across. Currently, I have three 12"-16" culvert pipes buried under a mound of dirt, rocks, hardened bags of concrete, and bricks.

That works pretty well until we get a lot of rain (which will likely be worse this year, as a 30 acre field was clear-cut across the street and all the water runs off into this creek).

I'd like to build something similar to what you've got but I'd like to do it as close to for free as possible, and hope to make it high enough that a lot of water can run under the bridge rather than through and over. Oh, and it needs to be able to withstand about 7-8 tons worth of backhoe.

Magicman · March 23, 2021, 03:40:25 PM

They were utility poles that had been removed for various reasons and were still in new condition. On this particular bridge we were adding additional stringers to increase the load bearing strength.

Here is the topic when we built the other bridge: LINK

And since they are continually needed repair it got some redecking here:LINK

And the third bridge gets some reworking here: LINK

The three bridges are a constant struggle to maintain because of our loose soil and the amount of rainfall/runoff that we get.

aigheadish · March 24, 2021, 06:32:45 AM

Thanks for the reply, I'll check out your other links!

Sedgehammer · March 24, 2021, 09:03:58 AM

I think you did this infrastructure repair waaaaaayyyyy to early. There's suppose to be 'free' money for such projects soon enough it sounds like....... you coulda got a few million maybe...... ;D

sawguy21 · March 24, 2021, 12:20:36 PM

@aigheadish I think you are going to need something a little more substantial than that pole bridge. Maybe square timbers set on rock filled cribs to spread the load and reduce the risk of erosion. The cribs could be made of treated poles. Having the hoe turn turtle in the creek would really ruin your day!

aigheadish · March 24, 2021, 02:26:33 PM

Thanks @sawguy21 I think I'm in pretty hardy agreement. It's yet another project I'm trying to do for as close to free as possible, but your plan sounds decent and kind of what it is now other than the rocks and heavy junk aren't confined together. What I should really commit to is spending a few hundred bucks on better/bigger culvert pipe and a rebuild of the junk that is currently on top. Then I think I could widen it enough to really have it stand up to the water we get.