well i’ve spent 3 days this week scratching at the ground on my current job trying to dig the footings.
the only access is through the garage and we could only get a 3/4 ton digger in. http://www.kubota.com/kx2008features.cfm
the ground is bone dry and a mixture of clay, flint and chalk; good news for the extension not for the digger.
sooooo i finally organised a bigger one for monday.
we’re getting a 1 1/2 ton job and will make it fit throught he double doors.
has anyone got any idea how much easier this bigger digger will make the digging???
its taken 3 days to do 1/4 of the footing
aleks
Edited 8/2/2003 5:32:26 AM ET by kostello
Replies
aleks. Don't know your soil, but around here the clay is easier to dig when wet. Not muck wet, but wet enough the blade cuts into it instead of scraping powder.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Not being familiar with those hoes I won't make a guess. My first Kubota experience was with a grossly underpowered hoe. Looked good but didn't dig. I ended up with a Ford.
I once was hired to dig a 700' utility trench with my small hoe. Ground was very dry and our red clay didn't yield. Homeowner came back after 4 hrs and was complimentary on my progress- 20' of frustrated nibbling. All I wanted was a phone to get somebody else in there. The full-sized hoe dug the whole trench in 5 hrs.
You're going in the right direction, if a little slow to make the change.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
the problem is access.
the site is 50 m2 and the only access is through the garage and the hieght restriction is 6'.
otherwise i'd have got a JCB or something similar in to do it.
at one point i eve thought about doing it by hand. like i used to (about 10 years ago) but then i looked down and saw that my muscles were now doing an amazing impression of a tyre.
once upon a time i would have definately done it by hand!!!! i must have been crazy although i do sometimes long for those days everything was much easier then; just get in hole and dig al day, no client problems etc.....
aleks
Have you looked at getting a "rock breaker". They are an accessory that will mount in place of the bucket.
They are a hydraulic powered jackhammer.
But I have seen them used to breakup hard soils.
Fun projects from the past, we had similar situation once, but point was to avoid ripping up landscaping in the tens of thousands of dollars range. Cheapest, easiest option was to hire a crane to "fly" our hoe into the back yard.
One options to consider is a jackhammer with a soil spade on it the "shave" vertical bisects out of the dirt. Use to hoe to move the dirt that the soil spade knocks loose. Lotsa man-hours though.
You might try a trencher with rock teeth on the chain, then follow up with the hoe. We did this a few times when the ground was to hard or rocky to make digging effective.
It is suprising what you can get done, even with a small walk beside Ditch Witch.
Just my .02 cents
the brand makes a real differance..
Kubota has very low break out numbers, try to get a Takiuchi or John Deere.. they have very good break out numbers and both are zero tailswing models.. (that means they can dig anyplace the tracks can go. Some brands like Bobcat have decent breakout numbers but they have tailswing problems.. that is you need to ensure that they aren't against the building or they have room to swing their tails..
I hired a local guy to dig my retaining walls and in a couple of hours he was able to dig the full length required in heavy clay.. If he could have straddled the trench it would have been 30 minutes, less if he didn't have to be carefull of working in between my apple trees..
well thanks all for the info the bigger machine is coming tomorrow morning and i'll soon know if its going to make any difference.
half the trouble with this job is that the trenches are 3' from the boundary fence and theres not much room to move.
aleks
well the new digger has been much better.
still had to use the 12" bucket to pull the trench as the ground is soo hard!!!!
i've got trenches all over the place.
got a letter from the building inpector saying that i've got to under pin one corner of the original building as its dropped a bit.
i don't know why he couldn't just tell me on his visit that he wanted mew to do that and then send the letter
anyhow got the foundation inspection today and hopefully we'll be laying concrete tomorrow.
aleks
just so you know it all turned out alright in the end.
got the footing poured yesterday and it all went well.(apart from having 2yards left over!!!!! must get better at estimating)
never had a concrete pump before but i'll definatley do it again much easier!!!!!!
aleks