Questions on building in the North East

Hi, I'm from Memphis and want to build a year round Cabin in either VT, NH, or ME.  
It's blown my mind how deep their frost line is! It's also news to me that NH is know as 'the granite state'!!!
So, since this is W AAAA Y different than the south... What about innovations over the years?

1.) Do water lines have to be dug and laid below the frost line?

2.) What about the septic leach field-- is it also 6' under?

3.) Any new ways and materials that will enable me to build this cabin myself in SW VT (Wilmington) with just
light weight rental equipment from home depot?

I'm a 60 year old woman, I can't pick axe my way through rock 6' down!

Thanks!

I don't know the answers to your questions, Cissy, as I live in a very different climate zone. But I did want to wish you all the best with your project! I hope you'll post updates as you build.

Cissy Vaughn wrote:Hi, I'm from Memphis and want to build a year round Cabin in either VT, NH, or ME.  
It's blown my mind how deep their frost line is! It's also news to me that NH is know as 'the granite state'!!!
So, since this is W AAAA Y different than the south... What about innovations over the years?

1.) Do water lines have to be dug and laid below the frost line?

2.) What about the septic leach field-- is it also 6' under?

3.) Any new ways and materials that will enable me to build this cabin myself in SW VT (Wilmington) with just
light weight rental equipment from home depot?

I'm a 60 year old woman, I can't pick axe my way through rock 6' down!

Thanks!

Cissy,
First off way to go!
I can only answer you from equally cold equally deep frosted central Ontario but basically it depends on your municipality and code. If you can dig on your site then yes you try to get water line bellow frost line. If you cannot 2" of foam 1 foot out on each side of the pipe is equivalent to 1ft of frost line depth. If you cant do that you use insulated well pipe line in a big O pipe with a heat line in it. Your septic bed is usually only 2 ft down or so the heat from the decomposing poo keeps the tank liquid. Adding foam above the pipe from the house to the tank is a good idea though. So much more...
keep posting!
David