… though hopefully not in any dramatic way.
The Wandering Monk returns today for a short but unpleasant project — removing the last four inches or so of soil from the 12 x 24 area between the north house wall and the gorgeous retaining wall we built a year ago.
The mega earth-moving was all done last year. It enabled us to build the wall and begin the new drainage system. No longer is water freely running down hills on two sides of the house and pooling underneath.
But the poor old guy with the John Deere didn’t get the last few inches right. Understandable. He really was a poor old guy. He did the job on the cheap to help pay his and his wife’s endless medical bills, and by the end of the year he was (unsurprisingly) dead. (Heaven save us all from having to do such hard labor in the last months of our lives just to keep from going under.)
This year, another hungry guy with earth-moving equipment quoted me a good rate for removing/leveling those last few inches and more. But when the time came, he was nowhere to be found. So it’ll be pick-and-shovel work for the Monk and me (but mostly the Monk).
In a way, this is fine. I was worried about an equipment operator of unknown skill working between the newly restored house and that hard-won block wall and was almost relieved when he flaked out. And four or five inches? That doesn’t sound like much. But it’s nearly all clay. Nasty stuff. The Monk has been talking about clever ways to break it up and haul it out — a kind of makeshift harrow, followed by a makeshift skid to drag the dirt away. I doubt the homemade harrow will work, but the skid (half of the former bedroom wall, which the Monk decided not to cut up yet) … maybe.
Once this is done, we can lay down black plastic, cover it with gravel, and ensure that, on the north side of the house, at least, nothing will ever drain toward the structure again. Final drainage work on the east and west sides will happen next year. But the west side isn’t bad and the east is nowhere as critical a problem as the north.
In any case, it’s going to be hard, sweaty labor. At least it’s a hair cooler today than the 90+ degrees we’ve having. But the sky is red with wildfire smoke and the day feels eerie and ominous.
“…nothing will ever drain toward the structure again.
Famous last words, I fear. My house sits on a significant hill. Nothing likely to flood the yard from the north, east or south. On the uphill west side, grading work was done to tilt the slope of the driveway, but no consideration was given to the fact that more than an acre is uphill from there! Not steep, but when the rain is falling hard the runnoff can easily be seen coming this way. Most of the time it runs down the driveway and off into the drainage ditch beside the road. Occasionally it rains hard enough to flow OVER the driveway and into my basement. I hate when that happens…
So, “nothing ever” may not work out exactly. I’m assuming that sometimes it rains VERY hard there too. 🙂
MamaLiberty — Well, yes, that is possible. I have a seasonal waterfall on the hill near (but not directly behind) my house, and that thing has moved since I’ve lived here. My next door neighbors have had significant chunks of hill come down on them twice. So “never” may indeed be an overstatement.
But the hill directly behind my house is stable (knock wood) and when we built the retaining wall last year we were very careful to put a proper drainage system behind it.
I’ve seen my driveway run like a river occasionally, but that parallels the house. We’re at least doing all we can to keep water from running toward or under the house and I think this spot will be as good as it gets.
Indeed, all we can do is our best. 🙂 Nothing is perfect. I’ve just had a lot of experience with things that seemed as if they’d “never” be a problem… right up to the moment they actually became a problem. 🙂
Wondering if there is enough clearance for water to run under the house now, without doing any real damage. Is there a way for that water to drain quickly out the front? For that 100 year flood, of course.
I’m high enough in the hills that a 100-year flood would have a hard time finding me. The worst water problems here would come from run-off from the hill behind. We’re installing a double layer of drain tile — one behind and at the base of the retaining wall, one right at the foundation of the house. But yes, anything that escaped the drainage system could run under the house and out the south side. There’s even a shallow channel dug under the house to allow water to run through. By the time the final drains and gutters are installed next year, things will be about as good as they can be. Then I just hope the gods don’t decide to get tricksy.
4″ of dirt removed is quite a bit of dirt, about 2-1/2 or 3-0 cubic yards that will equal 5000 or 6000 pounds plus. Here is what I would use if the money is available.
SKID, MT85 Mini Skid Steer
Rental rates:
3 Hour: $150.00
Daily: $200.00
Weekly: $800.00
Comments:
Two track widths are available: 36 inches with narrow tracks or 44 inches with wide tracks.
Bobcat MT85 Specifications
Rated operating capacity: 850 pounds
Power: 25 horsepower
Lift height to hinge pin: 80.9 inches
Operating weight: 3,110 pounds
Auxiliary hydraulic flow: 12 gpm
BUCKET WIDTH 44″
TRACK WIDTH 36″
Add of the above items to my quote request
for a period of 3 hour(s) day(s) week(s)
“…if the money is available.”
You clearly know your stuff. Thank you. Unfortunately, you could have stopped with “if the money is available.”
I’ve made tremendous progress this summer and will make more on fall projects with — oh bless them — MORE than a “little help from my friends.” But no, there is no money to rent expensive equipment. And if there were, it would still make more sense to put that money to something other than expensive equipment.
There is also no equipment rental place anywhere near this berg.
But. We have cut through an earth-moving Gordian knot. After digging about a 2-foot x 24-foot channel down to grade (and a miserable, sticky, clay dig it was) we realized that in some places we’d be removing up to 8 inches of dirt if we continued with our plan. At that point, the Monk sliced the knot: Instead of digging down to grade (and thus uncovering the full bottom course of the retaining wall, which was partly buried when we began) … simply bury the entire bottom course of the wall and thus make “grade” across the area higher than previously planned.
Hard to picture, but it works.
Now it becomes more a matter of grading at the existing level than of removing tons of miserable, wretched clay.
Sounds as if you’ve got it pretty well covered, Claire. As long as that clay won’t wash away, changing the dynamics of the drainage, you will probably be fine.
licomi (above) has it right, and while I recognize the availability of funds is certainly a factor – perhaps the controlling factor – I’d suggest thinking it all the way through for potential options.
Moving 2-4 cubic yards of dirt is real work; figure about 4 1/2 – 5 cubic feet per wheelbarrow load (that’s around 400 lbs), so 6 loads per yard = 12-24 loads. Which has to be loosened then shoveled, transported, dumped, then spread out. Even with machine help to move the bulk of it, there will be more than enough shovel&rake work to be exhausting as you finish the final grading and smoothing.
Rental stuff: Toro makes this thing they call the Dingo; it’s a gasoline-powered walk behind machine that has plethora of attachments available for it, including a small front bucket. It’s not as powerful as a Bobcat (a brand of skid-steer equipment), but it will do in a very few hours what two people with shovels will require at least 2 days to accomplish. Usually, rental places will throw in a trailer to haul it with as part of a 1-day rental.
Try calling some landscaping companies. Often a large landscaper will have a small tractor used for their larger landscaping jobs, and if they’re not busy, the price for a couple hours front loader work with it will be negotiable. If you strike out there, call a couple places that sell skid-steer equipment and ask if they know any of their customers who might be available for 1-2 hours’ work at inexpensive rates. You’ll be at their mercy for when because they’ll show up when they’re driving between larger jobs, but being flexible on time saves money.
I recognize it’s a money issue, but don’t sell your own time short. Last year I had a home landscaping project that required moving 16-18 cubic yards of dirt (with rocks) as the first stage. I found a retired guy who owned a Bobcat and a trailer, and for $250, some coffee and donuts he accomplished in 2 hours what would have taken me at least a week with pick, shovel, rake and wheelbarrow. There was more than enough grunt-level manual labor involved from that point on that I did not miss having to dig and move the dirt required to begin the project.
A Pro Tip: If equipment is brought in, you will have to protect whatever’s buried in that area: septic tank, piping, drainage systems, etc. In my case access to the work area involved driving directly over my septic tank that was only 16 inches below grade, so I protected it with CDX plywood – 6 sheets of 3/4″ overlaid and glued together to form a 8′ X 8′ square 2 1/4″ thick. The Bobcat weighed about 2400 lbs, and each bucket load was about 800-1000 lbs of dirt. The plywood spread the weight out and barely flexed under the load (when the project was completed, the plywood was cut into sections, the “good side” (although, “good” is a relative term after he drove over it for 2 hours) sanded and stained to make patio tables; 3/4″ black steel pipe was used for legs because I found some extra-cheap, and I got a pair of heavy 3’X6′ elliptical tabletops and four 16″ octogon tabletops out of it, plus the pads for the leg bottoms. All of which could have been sold on craigslist had I wanted, to help defray project costs. Always consider options.).
A few shovels-full, here and there every day, can add up to a lot. If you can’t get it done all at once, don’t be afraid to do it the slow way.
My place has top soil on top of clay. That clay was used to make bricks for the stagecoach stop/inn up the street from me that was built back in 1816. I framed in my tomato and garlic garden with 2X12s so I wouldn’t have to dig into the clay. I dug out what was there, down to the clay and filled back in with good gardening top soil and manure. The garlic (German Hard Neck) I grew there had bulbs almost as big as my fist. Tomatoes have been hit or miss, but after a late start (I didn’t plant until 6/3) I’ve gotten several nice tomatoes and they’re Jet Stars which are a good sandwich tomato, especially on BLTs, my favorite! We have a lot of BLTs this time of year when the tomatoes are coming in. I’m also growing Jalapeno peppers and garlic in my other vegetable garden and the garlic came out good there as well, but not as big as those grown in the container garden lined with the 2X12s. After a slow start, the peppers are coming in nicely.