I'm building a new house in SW PA. I need to exc. the driveway from the paved street to the garage door. This will go from 8" to aprox. 3.5' deep over a 40'. Any tips on excavation would be appreciated. Transit or laser level and how do I lay it out. I have a b2710 with fel and bh. I'd also like to exc. the basement with the kubota. 45'x27' approx. 3'-4' deep and I'd also like to keep this level, not pool table level but close. Then dig down 36" for the footer. I had the lot drill tested and it has 7-9 feet of fill dirt. I should be removing most of the fill with exc. and the footer. The neighbor had pillings or caisons drilled for his house. I'd like to avoid this, by having a larger foundation or removing the fill with the bh and placing stone in lifts and compacting it. There should be only 2' of fill dirt under the footer after the excavation and could easily remove this w/ bh 7.5' dig depth and repace it with the compacted stone. Any suggestions. I haven't bought, borrowed, or stole the transit yet. any ideas on type? Thanks
excavating a flat area w b2710
- Thread starter Daveiaff
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DAP
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WOW, I think your asking a lot from that 2710 in my opinion. It's a great machine but it will take a lot of time using it as an excavator, assuming you do it safely and not abusing the hoe.
Dozernut
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Look at Buying/Pricing column-looking for a surveyors transit.
billfires
Gold Member
Daveiaff, welcome to TBN. You can definitely do the driveway and trenches and probably the whole foundation if you have enough time. I wonder if the wear on your 2710 would be worth it vs. bringing in a bigger machine for the foundation.
Bill C
Bill C
PaulT
Gold Member
Around here, with our heavy, rocky clay soil, we just dig down to the level of the footers and pour on undisturbed soil. This stuff is so dense and compacted that the foundations rarely, if ever, have any problems. Then gravel backfill is used for the slab area, so that the extra cost/effort of compacting the backfilled soil is avoided. Is your soil that loose (at the footer level) that you have to remove it and get to the bedrock? I suspect your neigbor may have gone the overkill route, but of course I don't know the soil in your neck of the woods.
PaulT
Gold Member
Regarding the 2710 and excavation. Last summer I dug a 12x8x7 deep hole for a fresh water tank. It went pretty fast. We spent about 12 hours of digging with the 6.5 foot hoe, and about 3 hours of digging for the last 6 inches with a pick and shovel. The tractor with the hoe never stopped to move spoils, another tractor moved the dirt piles while the backhoe dug.
If you use a hoe, one thing to keep in mind is how/where to move the spoils. Dumping the dirt at the far end of the hoe's range still puts huge piles in your work area. Eventually, you willl not be able to get to where you need to be to dig. As far as putting it directly into a truck or trailier, once the sides of a trailer or pickup bed were cleared, there wouldn't be much room to dump the dirt. We tried several methods, but the only one that seemed practical to move the dirt fast enough to keep up with the backhoe, was to have a second tractor/FEL working.
Digging at grade, I can't get the depth required for a foundation with my 4672 hoe. The 4690 might work, but I think a better alternative would be a tooth bar on the FEL, and a ramp into the foundation area. The driveway are would be the perfect ramp into the foundation for the house. As you move the last of the foundation dirt, use it to raise the level of the driveway to where you want it.
Since you will need to get the dirt into a FEL at one point anyway, that is why I thought the toothbar/FEL approach would work best. I have never used a toothbar, so I can't tell you how long it would take to move a given volume of dirt that way.
If you use a hoe, one thing to keep in mind is how/where to move the spoils. Dumping the dirt at the far end of the hoe's range still puts huge piles in your work area. Eventually, you willl not be able to get to where you need to be to dig. As far as putting it directly into a truck or trailier, once the sides of a trailer or pickup bed were cleared, there wouldn't be much room to dump the dirt. We tried several methods, but the only one that seemed practical to move the dirt fast enough to keep up with the backhoe, was to have a second tractor/FEL working.
Digging at grade, I can't get the depth required for a foundation with my 4672 hoe. The 4690 might work, but I think a better alternative would be a tooth bar on the FEL, and a ramp into the foundation area. The driveway are would be the perfect ramp into the foundation for the house. As you move the last of the foundation dirt, use it to raise the level of the driveway to where you want it.
Since you will need to get the dirt into a FEL at one point anyway, that is why I thought the toothbar/FEL approach would work best. I have never used a toothbar, so I can't tell you how long it would take to move a given volume of dirt that way.
rocky2
Silver Member
Dave, being in SW PA myself I attempted the same thoughts as you when I built my log home back in the 80's. The only difference was at the time I had a Bobcat skidloader. Making a long story short, and speaking from my own experience if I were doing it today...I'd start out doing what I ended up doing...hogging out the foundation with a JD 555 crawler loader and doing all the slag movement. french drains and the million other projects with the smaller machine. An added benefit is the crawlers tracks can pack your driveway base slag in nice and tight, then you just spread the topcoat limestone or 2b with your tractor. Building the house is enough of a major undertaking, and you'll spend enough of the "till the wee hours" pounding nails and such. Don't try to do it all and burn yourself out too early in the game.
rf33
Gold Member
rf33
Gold Member
And for the foundation might I suggest this...
In all seriousness, I think that you will have plenty of smaller projects to keep you and your tractor busy, but digging things like foundations, clearing and or rough grading for roads, and digging lakes (how many threads have we all seen on this one) are best left up to larger construction equipment. Yes it can be done with a small compact tractor, and it is also possible to drive railroad spikes using a finish hammer, but sometimes there is no substitute for the "Right tool for the job"
In all seriousness, I think that you will have plenty of smaller projects to keep you and your tractor busy, but digging things like foundations, clearing and or rough grading for roads, and digging lakes (how many threads have we all seen on this one) are best left up to larger construction equipment. Yes it can be done with a small compact tractor, and it is also possible to drive railroad spikes using a finish hammer, but sometimes there is no substitute for the "Right tool for the job"
