Digging out crawl space - Power tools?

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

-snip-

What? You can't throw 27 gallons of dirt around? I hope you meant 27 quarts- or I'm feeling even whimpier than when I started going for 3 gallons instead of 5. [though I'm carrying mine up a flight of stairs- of course that's 3 gallons in each hand.]

-snip-

Those little machines are handy. I had my brother-in-law's Kubota for a few weeks a couple years ago. Sure speeds up the process.

*Sharp* spade is a good point. I've got a great little short handled landscaping spade that is serrated, even. Though it doesn't help much in my clay. You can peel about 1/4 inch off- but any more and it is spade bit time. [till I get to the wet spots- but that's a whole nother headache.]

Jim

[Pete C.]

The vacuum excavators I noted in my other post would make the process much faster and easier. Just put the suction hose where you want to dig and start jabbing that area with the air lance. After sucking out some

500 gal of dirt, take a break to dump the vacuum container and then go at it again.

[Bill]

For now I am doing some plumbing (moving bathtub and toilet, insulating hot water lines), adding support under a heavy woodstove, and adding a beam and support to fix a sloping floor.

For the future it would be nice to be able to get under there to run wires or whatever.

The vacuum idea sounds great! Even a shop vac with two people working would probably be an easier way to get the dirt out. Also dust is created when disturbing the old top layer of dirt, so the vac could also remove any dust clouds. Thanks for the idea.

[dpb]

...

Find a badger and pen him up down there a while... :)

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[Pete C.]

The rental vacuum excavator units I mentioned are a far cry from a shop vac. The units listed in the United Rentals catalog are all 25HP, are trailer mounted and weigh around 5,000#. The collection vessels are ~500 gal and tilt for dumping the contents. A weekend rental of one of these units and your project will be done.

[Bobk207]

I've done the experiment (only to prove the futility) a reasonably sized shop vac can only do about 1 gpm loose dirt removal. Plus you need time (or a helper) to empty.

You'll need a vacuum excavator which is serious machine.

cheers Bob

[Bobk207]

Ivan-

I remember your post form last year.

How much dirt have you removed and how long as it taken?

I think you estimated about 2 hrs per cubic yard removed.

For my engineering data base... close were our numbers?

cheers Bob

[RicodJour]

But they are becoming more available at rental yards and they certainly have a lot of advantages. Some of the machines have a reverse flow feature where the excavated material can be deposited elsewhere on the site or in a truck/dumpster so the machine can keep going.

R

[Jim Elbrecht]

RicodJour wrote: [vacuum excavators]

-snip-

Got a video of one in action? I've called a couple rental places & haven't found one to look at yet. [near Schenectady, NY]

But this might be the answer to my '10' trencher' question I asked about on a.h.r a couple weeks ago.

I don't need fast- but I need to dig a 10' long horizontal hole about

4-6" in diameter- then 'elongate' the hole vertically down 7-8 feet. The soil is hardpan clay.

Jim

[RicodJour]

Nope, I don't. Try YouTube or one of the manufacturers' sites.

I'm not sure I understand you. You have to dig a small diameter hole that extends 10' horizontally then go down 8' starting at the far end of that hole, or are you saying you have to trench 8' down the whole

10' length? The first one sounds borderline impossible, the second one _might_ be possible with the vacuum excavator if the soil conditions are right, but I think that you'd still end up collapsing the trench as you went due to the vibration. R

[Pete C.]

Probably video around somewhere. In my 2006 copy of the United Rentals catalog there are four units shown on page 9, two Vac-Tron, a DitchWitch and a Verneer all with similar specs. 1-800-UR-RENTS or unitedrentals.com should point you to the closest location you can call for information. I've not used one of these units personally, but I know they are very versatile and also popular for excavating around utilities since you aren't digging with any kind of blade.

[Chas Hurst]

I've used my shop vac to clean out trenches for water pipe, and to remove the loose soil at the bottom of an augered hole. Works quite well.

[PeterD]

WILLARD! Attacks! Film at 11!

(sorry, had to do it...)

I suspect, if this is a crawlspace that it is either mice, or chipmonks (damn 'em) doing the damage.

Regardless one needs (must) provide a barrier between the insualtion and the rodent to prevent reoccurance, even if foam insulation is used.

Either that or spray the fiberglass with pepper spray?

[PeterD]

I used mine to clean out footing holes (had to be 5 ft, and my post hole digger was not up to bringing the dirt up that high... Mostly sandy soil however, and was a lot of work regardless. Didn't take long to fill that sucker up!

[Ivan Vegvary]

Hey Jim, You caught me!! Of course I meant 27 quart containers. Good eye!!!!

Ivan Vegvary

[RicodJour]

He is. Several in fact.

R

[G.Dub]

I am completely with you Jim. I'd rather do some jobs with muscle and time... I call it no-brain (needed) work... let's my mind think about important things, feel the satisfaction of progress every day, get exercise, and save my nickels.

[TimR]

Here's how to do it:

[Pico Rico]

after you limber up a bit:

[micky]

In front of my house, someone needs to jackhammer out a piece of blacktop 6 feet long by 4 inches thick, by 4 inches wide, I think that would be good exercise but the only time I used an electric jackhammer, I was tired in 30 seconds.

Do you think I can do this myself? In a full day's rental time?

Or can I rent a saw that does this?