It's official! We bought property in Wyoming! (Wheatland, Hanna: modular homes, buy) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

Earniefan · 10-14-2007, 07:50 PM

Tyster - I'd like to give you a word of advice, as someone who has built and lived on property outside of Cheyenne. The level of wind in the area can turn 3 inches of snow into a 10 foot drift when blown around the hills and such. Pay attention to this fact when you decide where to put your house and how to position your driveway, you'll thank yourself in the spring. It's also not a bad idea to have a tractor with a plow to ensure you can always get out were there an emergency. Keep the wind in mind when you decide which direction you want your front door on also, it makes a big difference. Best Wishes!

SFG57 · 10-15-2007, 01:57 AM

Tyster,
Congrats on your purchase! My wife and I bought 40 acres a few years ago near Burns. I wish I could have talked her into buying the other 40 acres joining our property when it was available- it's sold now

We plan on moving in Aug 08, our home will still be under construction then, but we can't wait to move out of the growing- already over populated suburbs of Pittsburgh.
I too was looking to be close to the VA hosp. 1- I'm a VET- retired and 2- I currently work at the VA in Pittsburgh and trying to transfer to the VA in Cheyenne- hope the timing of our move works out with a job opportunity at the VA.
Maybe I'll run into you and your wife in the community or at the VA hosp.

Tyster · 10-15-2007, 12:08 PM

Erniefan... Thx for the advice! We've been thinking about that a lot and the first thing we'll do is plant trees to cut that wind. The front of the house will face south. The garage will block the wind coming in from the west. And a proper tractor with a snow plow and a few other attachments is already on the shopping list.

SFG57... I hope we run into each other! It will be some time before we build (at least several years) but its a small world! God Bless and we hope to see you!

ElkHunter · 10-15-2007, 12:30 PM

Thats why God created a fireplace. Put a couple logs on and snuggle up with somebody special. Cold, only outside.

jdavid93225 · 10-15-2007, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgussler

Thats why God created a fireplace. Put a couple logs on and snuggle up with somebody special. Cold, only outside.

That's also a benefit to being retired. You don't have to get up and go into town unless you want to, except for the occasional doctor's appointment, etc.

I'm not yet retired, and probably won't be for another fifteen years or so, but in that time, hopefully I'll have my retirement home built and payed for, or at least be pretty close to that goal. Yes, it will have a fireplace. I also plan to plant some additional trees on my property to provide shelter from the elements, particularly the wind. I have a lot of things I hope to do on my property between now and then, but I also have plenty of time to get them done before I get there for good.

Earniefan · 10-19-2007, 10:43 AM

Quote:

The front of the house will face south. The garage will block the wind coming in from the west.

This is what I meant, no one faces their front door to the south unless you don't plan on using it, or your garage. You'll have a snowdrift the size of Texas in front of your front door. The snow likes to collect in nooks and crannies. Also does this with trees, wherever there's a wind block like that the snow bunches up in front of it so you have to watch where you plant your treeline in relation to your driveway. I advise you to talk to some of your neighbors out there before you set your plans. Good luck!

Tyster · 10-19-2007, 11:53 AM

Hi Erniefan,

Thanks much for the advice! We don't really plan on using the front door much but I wasn't aware of the snow drifting on the south side. Good to know! Thanks again!

wyolady · 10-19-2007, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earniefan

This is what I meant, no one faces their front door to the south unless you don't plan on using it, or your garage. You'll have a snowdrift the size of Texas in front of your front door. The snow likes to collect in nooks and crannies. Also does this with trees, wherever there's a wind block like that the snow bunches up in front of it so you have to watch where you plant your treeline in relation to your driveway. I advise you to talk to some of your neighbors out there before you set your plans. Good luck!

Yeah - I'm kinda confused. My front door faces south and never has snowdrifts and if snow does fall there, it melts faster. I've had a north facing front door, and not only did the snow drift there, it NEVER melted. When I lived in Laramie, I built my house so I planned my front door around the wind always blowing from the west.

But I've never heard of avoiding the south side? Does this matter which side of the mountains you live on, like does the wind blow differently on opposite sides of the continental divide? I'm learning tons about geography on these posts (probably stuff I should have learned in school?!?!?!)

ElkHunter · 10-19-2007, 02:54 PM

There are a llot of things effecting blowing snow and where the drifts pile up. For instance, a fence, a row of trees, a hedge, a shed, a garage, your house, everything. But snow will blow until it reaches a place of the least amount of wind. Usually on the far side of one of the above.

Where I live, there's an open field to the North of me. The wind comes from the NorthWest. The North side of my house has vertually no snow piled up. Neither does the West side. I get my biggest drifts on the East and South side.

Mountains or even the terrain can cause your winds to come in from different direction. So can one of these shelter belts. Hence, there's lots of things that effect how it's going to pile up at your house.

Which way does the wind normally come from when it hits your house?

sunsprit · 10-19-2007, 06:32 PM

efan is right about the snowdrifts being a problem ... but it's not correct to assert that every building site in every locale will have the same prevailing wind drift problem.

For us, our Entry Doors (we have two on the same side of the house and no others) face South. If they didn't, we'd never get out of here in the winter except to bail out of the second story windows into the snowdrifts there.

Each house will have it's own unique wind pattern, and it can be affected by very slight alterations to the wind patterns around your house. Simply building a fence, planting trees, parking cars in a different location outside ... many small factors can create or remove a drift. We watched a new neighbor scrape out a new driveway along our North boundary fence ... and the roadway which has been the access to that area of the ranch now has now been rendered unusable in a huge 300' long drift the last two winters. Pi**es me off because that's my fence on my pivot irrigated field and I have to rebuild it now every year due to the weight of the snow tearing it down. The fence had been in that location for over 80 years without that type of problem. Even the row of mailboxes ... long in that location on our road frontage with a turnout for the mail driver ... are now buried each winter in a snowdrift from that driveway. (don't even get me started on this new neighbor ... he came out last winter to unbury the mailbox with his skidsteer and proceeded to regrade my property in his quest to prevent the drift at the mailbox ... didn't ask to come on my place, didn't ask to tear up my property, and after all his site work, didn't address the causation of the drift, which is the airflow down the driveway on his property. He had to scrape out a new driveway to the North from his house to be able to drive in to his house from another county road)

So, before you build on a site ... check out the prevailing wind direction(s) for most of a winter's storms, or seek out local knowledge about this. Watch where the current drifts build up. Even then, you'll only be able to plan your house entry, and it will take a bit of fine tuning with trees, fences, and other objects to affect the airflow and drift buildup for you.