BX25 (23/24) For Grading/Trenching Foundation

[savaytse66]

I'm likely going to be purchasing one of these machines soon, and I was wondering how long it would take to dig the foundation for my new garage with the 12" bucket. The trench would be about 2' wide and 3' deep, and overall, I'd have about 110 linear feet. I guess I'd have to grade down within the perimeter of the trench about 24" also. So all in all I'd have to grade 1,000 SF down 24", then trench another 24", give or take. I've heard that the backhoe and FEL can do pretty much anything, just a little slower. I'm wondering if it's worth tackling some of the work myself instead of paying the contractor to do it.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I'm likely going to be purchasing one of these machines soon, and I was wondering how long it would take to dig the foundation for my new garage with the 12" bucket. The trench would be about 2' wide and 3' deep, and overall, I'd have about 110 linear feet. I guess I'd have to grade down within the perimeter of the trench about 24" also. So all in all I'd have to grade 1,000 SF down 24", then trench another 24", give or take. I've heard that the backhoe and FEL can do pretty much anything, just a little slower. I'm wondering if it's worth tackling some of the work myself instead of paying the contractor to do it.

I've never done BH work but I have built my own home. Someone that knows what they are doing can do it alot faster but if time isn't an issue then do it yourself. If your going to buy a tractor anyway then get one sooner than later since you have a need now. The type soil you have is also a major factor in the job and time. I made choices when I cleared my land and built my home. I paid for the bigger excavation jobs and did the other stuff myself and over the years. What's your time worth? A tractor is invaluable during home construction even if you don't do the big jobs yourself, there will be enough "I couldn't have done this without this tractor" jobs to make it worth buying. Also the job stops waiting on someone to come to unload or move stuff. I bought my BX2200 before I was 25% of the way through home construction. My wife and brother helped me build so I was busy doing other jobs so glad to pay someone with a big machine and experience to do the jobs that could do in hours to my days to do them.

 

[art]

What you are digging into would be the largest factor!

The plus would be is for the rest of the grading you also would still have a tractor to do the work.

 

[ejnichol]

3 - 4 hours without roots larger than 3 inch diameter. Larger then who knows. Its slow going till you get the hang of control. Run 3000 rpm.

 

[Botabill]

I'm likely going to be purchasing one of these machines soon, and I was wondering how long it would take to dig the foundation for my new garage with the 12" bucket. The trench would be about 2' wide and 3' deep, and overall, I'd have about 110 linear feet. I guess I'd have to grade down within the perimeter of the trench about 24" also. So all in all I'd have to grade 1,000 SF down 24", then trench another 24", give or take. I've heard that the backhoe and FEL can do pretty much anything, just a little slower. I'm wondering if it's worth tackling some of the work myself instead of paying the contractor to do it.

You're going to have lots of fun doing that. I have a mini excavator with 18 inch bucket and B2620 tractor and I wildly estimate I could do the job in 14 hours. I would charge you $800. Folks with better equipment for that job could do it for less. You will be at it (again guessing) for a minimum of 32 hours. The other problem you may encounter is... where are you taking the dirt you dig out of the hole to? The little FEL bucket on the BX can move it but can't lift it into the back of a dump truck. If you want some fun... you can do it. If you seriously want to get the job done in short economical order... hire bigger equipment to do it.

 

[radioman]

Getting a TLB is a investment and satisifaction of job done yourself, not to save money on one project. After you are done, will you be able to use the BX for other things like mowing, maintaining property, diggin other holes for trees/shrubs etc? If you say yes to most of that, then go ahead and get the BX. To this day, I still kick myself on not owning a BX 10 years ago. All the money I spent on buying used and fixing the lawn tractors I couldve used it for the purchase of BX.

For the size of project you want to do, never having to do BH work before, I'd give you a week. You can certainly do it in a day or weekend, but don't run at 3000 rpms. It makes the BH "finicky" on the BX. Running at 2200 rpms will allow you to learn the controls and learn how the soil affects the bucket for efficent removal and do a straight/clean job. For a novice, it can be intimidation to use controls and just try to go up/down, left/right, curl/uncurl. Over time, when you get used to it, you can combine the movements and move up the RPMS for more power, faster job. Like I said, with lower RPMS, it allows you to understand the power of the curl to scoop instead of trying to power through the pull. Combining the two actions at high RPMS can look messy.

To sum it up- The BX is perfect job for what you need to do, but give yourself leeway in time. Too many factors can affect your timeline, soil conditions/types, rocks, roots, hidden obstacles. But on the other hand it can go smooth and be done in half a day. Good luck.

 

[rlsmith]

When I dug a 18" X 36" trench for a 24 x 56 garage. I was doing it in a mixture of sand and clay. So I would say 4 to 6 hours if new at this. Digging corners will take longer and what I did was form up corners as I went along along with sandy areas and kept pulling dirt away from the edge so it would not cave back in. Dug also a 12" X 36" X 200' straight trench in same ground that only took 3 hours running 3/4 throttle. My friend that hired me was really surprised at how fast and well suited this BX23 was at doing this work. My unit now I believe has over 1200 hours and still loving it.

 

[638]

Why are you grading down 24" ? Grading down 24" and then trenching 24" puts the bottom of your footing 4 ft down. Do you really need to go that deep? How deep is your frost line? Three ft. deep trench is no big deal for a BX23, less than one day. Keep in mind that if you grade down, you will have to grade down at least 3 - 4 ft larger than outside of your footing. You will probably also need someone to grub out the bottom of the trench and guide you to the correct depth with a laser level and rod.

 

[savaytse66]

Why are you grading down 24" ? Grading down 24" and then trenching 24" puts the bottom of your footing 4 ft down. Do you really need to go that deep? How deep is your frost line? Three ft. deep trench is no big deal for a BX23, less than one day. Keep in mind that if you grade down, you will have to grade down at least 3 - 4 ft larger than outside of your footing. You will probably also need someone to grub out the bottom of the trench and guide you to the correct depth with a laser level and rod.

The garage addition is going to be a couple of block courses lower than the existing. So by the time we grade the 16" plus room for stone and concrete, we'll be around 24", give or take for rough grade. Frost line here is either 30 or 36".

 

[638]

I would suggest only removing sod/topsoil and leveling the site. Dig for footer, placing spoils only to the outside. Place rebar, pour footing, and lay block to a height of at least 6 inches over leveled site. If you ever plan to heat this building, install 2 inch blue board on the inside of the foundation. Back fill the inside with crusher run limestone, backfill outside with spoils and cover with topsoil (being careful to fill inside and outside evenly so as to not displace the block wall). When I built my shop/garage I used 3/8 inch rebar spaced on 24 inch centers with a 5 inch thick floor, 6 inches thick at the overhead door. Absolutely no cracks after 3 years. By raising the floor up above grade and sloping the ground away from the building, you will not have a water problem. You should also consider a very slight pitch toward the door. Makes it a lot easier to sweep any drippings out. Oh yes, don稚 forget to place the wall anchors before pouring the floor. You can save a lot of money if you do most of the work yourself. I did all of my 24x42 building except blocks, pouring and finishing the floor, and roofing.