ns_in_tex
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2002
- Messages
- 914
- Location
- East Texas
- Tractor
- Kubota L4610 HSTC, International 2400, Hesston 1280,
Rear Wheel Weights on Kubota L4610HSTC
- Thread starter patrickg
- Start date
Bill, Lest I forget... I was in Pittsburgh a couple times, Carnegie Mellon, Software Engineering Institute. Neat place. I don't like cities much but for an old one, pretty nice.
Thanks so much for expressing a legitimate concern. I could/should have been a bit more clear. The trench is 4 ft wide at the bottom but the part where I am working (about 30 ft in length) is over 8 ft wide at the top. One side is pretty vertical, the other isn't. I can climb out OK. With difficulty I can get a 90 lb jack hammer out. The top soil was removed and the top couple feet are highly compacted fill. The undisturbed soil is dense and stable with much of it being silt stone and hard digging. I spent a few hours drilling holes with a rock drill to weaken it so the trackhoe can remove another 8 inches of material at the bottom. A smaller backhoe couldn't do much with either a 2 ft or 1 ft bucket. The Cat trackhoe with 4 ft bucket did much better.
I will use the rock drill to drill another couple hundred holes 2 ft deep and an inch and a quarter in diameter. Hopefully this will sufficiently weaken this hard section so the track hoe will get it out. Otherwise, more fill and more steps from the back porch to the ground.
Everything takes longer and costs more.
Patrick
Thanks so much for expressing a legitimate concern. I could/should have been a bit more clear. The trench is 4 ft wide at the bottom but the part where I am working (about 30 ft in length) is over 8 ft wide at the top. One side is pretty vertical, the other isn't. I can climb out OK. With difficulty I can get a 90 lb jack hammer out. The top soil was removed and the top couple feet are highly compacted fill. The undisturbed soil is dense and stable with much of it being silt stone and hard digging. I spent a few hours drilling holes with a rock drill to weaken it so the trackhoe can remove another 8 inches of material at the bottom. A smaller backhoe couldn't do much with either a 2 ft or 1 ft bucket. The Cat trackhoe with 4 ft bucket did much better.
I will use the rock drill to drill another couple hundred holes 2 ft deep and an inch and a quarter in diameter. Hopefully this will sufficiently weaken this hard section so the track hoe will get it out. Otherwise, more fill and more steps from the back porch to the ground.
Everything takes longer and costs more.
Patrick
Neal, I have a jib crane with 2 ton electric chain hoist in my original/old shop so I won't have to use a tree... this is after I get my new shop done and have room to use the crane conveniently.
I've had about all the dirt work I would want for a while but more is needed. High side of garage/shop is "cut" into hill side. House pad is leveled with dirt removed from down slope area which was interfering with the pond view. Trench in the shape of an "L" a few feet up slope from basement on two sides (this is the 8+ ft deep trench) is for stoping subterranean water flow down the hill side and redirecting it to two ponds down slope of the site. Of course there is the basement excavation (walkout basement) so there will be an excavated swale starting at 8 ft or so below grade at pad and gradually ending up at current grade before running into a pond. Walkout basement is a couple hundred feet from the pond and the basement slab will end up a few feet above the overflow water level.
Right now the whole site is a hodge podge of dirt piles, trenches, gradings, etc. About the only undisturbed ground for a hundred feet in any direction from the site is a 30 ft diameter circle with a large native pecan tree in it.
And still I have ideas like using the water drained by basement perimeter drain, underslab drain, and the intercepting trench drain to operate a small ornamental water wheel or to supply water for a small series of back yard water features like water falls or...
I don't expect to have much time when the drains aren't producing water. It has been about a month since we had more than a sprinkle and the water is only 5 ft below the surface in sand above shale (shale is 10 ft down) The water soaks into the sandy layers and slowly flows down slope trapped above the shale. This feeds the two ponds down slope of the building site so even during a record drought (3? summers ago) we didn't lose enough depth to stress the fish. Of course, just after a rain event the water level comes closer to the surface. the intercepting trench will also divert water that otherwise would flow through leach field. This should improve leach field performance.
Yes, it is a tangled mess.
Patrick
I've had about all the dirt work I would want for a while but more is needed. High side of garage/shop is "cut" into hill side. House pad is leveled with dirt removed from down slope area which was interfering with the pond view. Trench in the shape of an "L" a few feet up slope from basement on two sides (this is the 8+ ft deep trench) is for stoping subterranean water flow down the hill side and redirecting it to two ponds down slope of the site. Of course there is the basement excavation (walkout basement) so there will be an excavated swale starting at 8 ft or so below grade at pad and gradually ending up at current grade before running into a pond. Walkout basement is a couple hundred feet from the pond and the basement slab will end up a few feet above the overflow water level.
Right now the whole site is a hodge podge of dirt piles, trenches, gradings, etc. About the only undisturbed ground for a hundred feet in any direction from the site is a 30 ft diameter circle with a large native pecan tree in it.
And still I have ideas like using the water drained by basement perimeter drain, underslab drain, and the intercepting trench drain to operate a small ornamental water wheel or to supply water for a small series of back yard water features like water falls or...
I don't expect to have much time when the drains aren't producing water. It has been about a month since we had more than a sprinkle and the water is only 5 ft below the surface in sand above shale (shale is 10 ft down) The water soaks into the sandy layers and slowly flows down slope trapped above the shale. This feeds the two ponds down slope of the building site so even during a record drought (3? summers ago) we didn't lose enough depth to stress the fish. Of course, just after a rain event the water level comes closer to the surface. the intercepting trench will also divert water that otherwise would flow through leach field. This should improve leach field performance.
Yes, it is a tangled mess.
Patrick