Digging up the garden ready for the sub-base

[darrenh]

Hi all- I need some advice.

I have to dig up a ton of grass and soil (to about 10cm) so I can put down a sub-base before paving.

There is quite a volume so am looking for a easy way to do it.

A mini digger is a bit extreme (and not sure I have a 1m to get it in).

I was thinking of maybe getting one of those rotavators that people use for preparing ground for veg and stuff - hopefully this could loosen the ground up and then its a case of shovellingit into a skip.

Does this sound reasonable? Any ideas?

 

[Thermo]

for that size, wed do it with a shovel. youll be surprised how quickly you can do it. you dont want to rotovate it as you will loosen up all the soil and end up taking more out and putting more sub-base back in.

 

[WabbitPoo]

As the man said, the trick here is to slice the soil with a sharp spade (rather like one would dig peat) and lift it into the barrow as blocks. Any crumbling will require more scooping, bending and effort. Take it steady and you'll do the whole lot pretty easily, especially if u have one loading the barrow and one doing the wheeling - that way one gets a rest while the other works, and vice versa.

 

[noseall]

we (i, me ) try our best to even get a micro in, if not it's a trusty shovel jobbie.

 

[darrenh]

i tried to get a quote for a mini digger and a man for the day but no one wants to come to Hemel!

 

[Thermo]

we (i, me ) try our best to even get a micro in, if not it's a trusty shovel jobbie.

what for one ton! You lazy old bugger!

 

[noseall]

er, no. i guess not for a single tonne.

but, it even pays to hire one even if it is to load stuff into the barrows so that the guys can shift it. quite often if we have a large load of mot to shift i use the digger to load it for the guys.

i'm such a good gaffer.

 

[str]

you'll be surprised by how quick you will move it.

I and 2 mates moved almost 7 tons of grass and soil inside a day, mixture between two shovelling and two barrows.

Ramp upto the skip so that its easy to empty the barrows and as someone said, cut the grass in sods, kept fairly large, that way you will move a lot of soil at the same time

 

[darrenh]

I see the confusion - when i say "a ton of grass and soil" I was writing this as an expression!

Sorry my fault - it is actually probably 7 or 8 ton!

D

 

[noseall]

you can not beat a small skip loading dumper and digger, or better still digg, dump and grab.

we have probably only hand dug 2 footings in the last 20 extensions.

we get the machine back for the soakaway (if it 'aint been dug already), and back again for any landscaping work too.

don't expect any sympathy from a digger though, they don't know the difference betwixt a tree root and a cable!

 

[darrenh]

are the diggers easy to operate?

How much should i be paying for a day (including them dropping and picking up)?

 

[Thermo]

if its that much then we would hire them in as noseall says and a skip loader is a real boon, for getting stuff in and out.

They are fairly easy to use once you get used to them. the smaller they are the more difficult they are as the controls are definetly jerkier and they are a lot less stable. If its a one off i would be inclined to get a digger and driver. Accuracy takes a bit of experiance as does planning where to start and how best to use the machine. its very easy to overdig and wind up spending more on materials, but youll never know till you try!

 

[noseall]

grading ground is the most difficult of digging tasks.

all a digger boom wants to do is dig out in an arc shape. you are trying to drag the grading bucket in a flat plane. you will be constantly adjusting with both controls.

takes a bit of getting used to.