Level trench digging

[EddieWalker]

When I do it, and I'll be doing one in a few months. I check with my laser level about every 20 feet, give or take a few. It's real easy to drift up, or down, when looking at the trench from the height of the seat.

Since you've never run a backhoe before, I'd also suggest leaving the engine idle while operating until you get comfortable with the controls. I've seen people pick it up in a few hours, and for some it takes days.

 

[dummy]

<font color="blue"> for some it takes days </font> Or longer. Oh wait, that was me! But if you stop learning things and trying new stuff, wouldn't your "quality of life" factor degrade quickly?

 

[MadDog]

Amen to that!! Stop learning and you'll probably stop enjoying your life and when THAT happens it's not just "quality of life" that suffers; your health is apt to decline, too.

I first ran an FEL and BH last spring at the age of 64. This summer, I am going to learn to weld. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Unfortunately, my hair is getting thinner anyway. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[RoMo]

Whatever You do, Please do not get in the ditch (Yourself or anyone else} and level, as there are people that die from cave-ins.

 

[Highbeam]

That's a whole different discussion. Depends on the trench. Standard drainfield trenches are not too deep, less than 4 feet which is the cutoff for trench boxes. You need to get in the trench to do the work. I suppose you could dig a huge trench and buy trench boxes if it bothers you.

 

[John_Mc]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The trench does not have to be within 1/4". There is useually 6" to 1 foot of stone in the trench. The pipe sits ontop of the stone,that should be .005 per footor .05 for evey ten feet of perf pipe.)</font>

Are you sure you didn't get an extra "0" in there on those measurements? .005" is about the thickness of a couple of human hairs or a sheet of paper. A grain of sand is bigger than that. .05" is about double the thickness of the wire in a typical paper clip... tough to hold that over 10 feet.

John Mc

 

[HomeBrew2]

I know this is an international site and, even in the US, local ordinances vary but, I thought I'd chime in to relate how real life is here in the foothills of central Kalifoenea. My experience, only dates to '79 and is rural residential specific. For the record, I have read all the theoritical septic design lit. In practice, around these parts, with some of the most restrictive env regs in the country: 1) as another poster pointed out, all leach lines are dug as deep as the contractor's hoe will dig ~ trench side-wall "counts" as leaching surface area 2) All attempts are made to keep the trenches mostly flat/level 3) Nobody lasers or sprirt-levels trench bottoms and no inspector does more than a cursory check regarding levelness 4) Nobody, not even the grungiest of contractors, puts anybody in a trench deeper that waist-deep without a shield ~ THAT worries everybody 6) Nobody pulls a shield for a leach line 7) Under "standard" circumstances, no leaching failures occur under these circumstances. My experiences are however limited to: fully developing 2 properties myself, and those experiences over 2 decades of friends and family in the same area. For reference, around here, the top 2-3 feet is bullet-proof clay, under that is usually decomposed granite.
Cheers!

 

[LBrown59]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( In that case, get it as close as you can with a machine and then get in there with a rake and carpenters level to clean up. I recommend using the native dirt in the trench to fill the low spots so that the absorbtion rate is pretty close to the rest of the trench bottom. Uniform sand is not much different than gravel with a pretty high void ratio.
We are pretty much splitting hairs as I'm sure there have
been many systems installed by eye that function just fine. If the soil is pretty tight like silts or clays then I would be especially careful to get it right. Sand and gravel, well, it's hard to mess it up to the point that your system fails. )</font>
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Uniform sand is not much different than gravel with a pretty high void ratio
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What does VOID RATIO Mean???

 

[Highbeam]

Most all uniform material, uniform in grain size, has a void ratio of about 30%. That means for every 100 cubic feet of material, there is 30 cubic feet of air or water. The void space is what allows your effluent to pass through and soak in. No voids and you have a waterproof material.

Well graded material with a broad mix of big and little stuff will have fewer voids since the small material fills in the spaces between the big stuff pretty well.