When looking for a new home, it can be difficult to find one that suits your needs and wants perfectly. For some people, getting the ideal house can only be achieved by building their own. It’s expensive and time-consuming but the best way to get exactly what you want.
Before building a home, you need to purchase a piece of land to put it on. Nature doesn’t have house construction in mind when it grows trees and other plants. Your lot must be cleared, leveled, and prepared before you can put in your foundation and start building.
There are proper procedures for executing this major task. It needs to be done safely and there are steps to be followed.
Safety First
Safety is essential as there are many things that could go wrong, causing injury or damage to utility lines or nearby structures. Your best bet is to hire professionals, such as searching for land clearing in Berryville. If you have access to the necessary equipment and want to do the job yourself, take precautions.
- Water – Before even purchasing a lot for construction, check to see if it has a natural catch basin or underground water. If it does, the land is not suitable for clearing and construction so make sure before you buy.
- Buried utilities – Electric, telephone, gas, and sewer lines are often buried underground and can travel for some distance. Hitting and damaging one of these lines with equipment or by removing a tree can be disastrous and even fatal. Have the land surveyed and check with local utility companies to determine the location of underground lines before you start to dig.
- HazMat – Unfortunately, industrial or household wastes are sometimes buried in vacant lots. These can be hazardous materials and over time, they become pushed down deeper. Make sure there is nothing like that underground on your lot. Rupturing a hazmat container can be deadly.
- Nearby structures – If your lot is in a neighborhood near houses or other buildings, be cautious when taking down trees. If one falls in the wrong direction, it could land on an adjacent structure and cause damage.
Before beginning to clear a lot, have it surveyed and know exactly what you may encounter and where it is.
Use Protective Gear
Every person working on clearing the land is vulnerable to flying wood chips, dirt, and rocks, as well as damage to hearing from excess noise. Personal protective gear should be worn by everyone working in the area, regardless of what they are doing.
Steel-toed boots that have a solid, slip-resistant tread and are cutproof are the only footwear that is safe. Hard hats and goggles should be worn at all times as branches and debris can easily cause injury to unprotected heads or eyes.
Chainsaws and earth-moving equipment make a lot of noise. Spending a long day around that kind of racket can do permanent damage to your hearing. Make sure everyone is wearing earmuffs or plugs that block out the sound.
Gloves are also needed to protect the hands from the rough surfaces of trees and rocks. When using a chainsaw, puncture-proof gloves are highly recommended as is a faceshield. Chainsaws throw wood chips around indiscriminately. Left unprotected, your face or eyes could suffer a severe injury.
Building your own house from scratch is a massive undertaking but an exciting one. You can custom design to the exact specifications that will make it your perfect home. Before you build, you need a plot of land and that land must be cleared. Have it surveyed before buying and use proper safety gear and procedures during the process. Better still, hire professionals.
