Nuts am I unfit...

Just digging a short 4 ft trench by 2ft deep (ish) to add a new gully drain connection to the main sewer chamber.

Picture of moderate spoil heap:

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Picture of a 2ft high pile of concrete from the path:

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Now I am officially dead RIP. still, never was much use at digging...

Picture of trench:

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Just need to take an SDS to the concrete that's enclosing the blanking plug I need to remove. I do hope this does not end in disaster!

And the reason it was (or will be) all worth it:

Picture of old "soakaway" to use a very loose term!

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Reply to
Tim Watts
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On Saturday 20 April 2013 17:29 Tim Watts wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Surprisingly it seems to have gone well:

Picture of blanking cap:

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Always expect the worst - and just sometimes it goes OK!

Hmm - not exactly at 90 degrees to the house - I hope there will be enough slop in the joints to get it where I need.

Now to finish digging the trench to match the parts...

Reply to
Tim Watts

Nice.

BTW How much out of 90 degrees?

Reply to
ARW

You can get bends in all sorts of small angles (I have a bag of them somewhere), or even an adjustable one to align it if you wish

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

On Saturday 20 April 2013 18:09 ARW wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Not many - perhaps 5 degrees?...

Reply to
Tim Watts

On Saturday 20 April 2013 18:24 Andrew Mawson wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Yes - I'm knackered - so I will do the pipe tomorrow.Screwfix is 30 mins away if needs be :)

Reply to
Tim Watts

Could you not move the house around by 5 degrees:-)

Reply to
ARW

On Saturday 20 April 2013 18:37 ARW wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Of course - that's much more elegant L-:

I admire people who are fit...

Reply to
Tim Watts

On Saturday 20 April 2013 18:37 ARW wrote in uk.d-i-y:

At least I have not uncovered the foundations this time (unlike the other side of the house).

There was a bit of ribbed clay unglazed pipe came out - maybe there was a soakway of sorts. Crap one though...

Reply to
Tim Watts

probably a feild drain from before the house was built

Reply to
Phil L

On Saturday 20 April 2013 19:42 Phil L wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Possible...

Reply to
Tim Watts

Well, I no longer do digging,but has anyone noticed that wherever you decide to dig a hole and for whatever reason, its always got a nasty surprise there, it might be a pipe or a lump of concrete, use unknown, or a nasty smell otr somthing that make alarm bells ring. As I say, I think I may well be a deviner, as no matter where I dug, it was trouble.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

I find digging easier than pulling large SWA in.

Reply to
ARW

I never used to be able to do it - knackered too quickly.

I now do quite a bit of cycling, and found I can dig trenches. Done quite a few in the last year. Doesn't use the same muscles, but I think it was stamina rather than muscles I was lacking before.

BTW, a drain spade (or trenching spade) is much easier to use than a regular spade, if you don't have a large weight to force it into the ground. It's got a longer, thinner, and slightly tapered head.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

On Sunday 21 April 2013 20:51 Andrew Gabriel wrote in uk.d-i-y:

I was better today. Because I'd had a hernia done last year, I took it slowly - which was probably the best thing. Yesterday everything ached like a bastard - today, only half the aches :)

Must get fit...

That's interesting - My wide spade was a real PITA 2ft down - it dug easily enough, but it was hard to lift out with a massive clod of clay on the end.

Anyway, obligaory pics:

(Thanks to the folk who mentioned the adjustable joint - it would not have worked without):

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The joint retaining ring is (or looks to me) quit weak, compared to normal

110mm joints, so I took great care to tweak it unti nothing was under any stress.

Then, in case of ground shifts, I shoved some C20 concrete around just the ajustable joint to reinforce it:

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And added some concrete around the gully, after tweaking for level and square:

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I lobbed some reclaimed hardcore in the concrete to fill it out - the gulley in not really a highly structural element - just need a good enough base to build a little brick gully around it (next week).

A good weekend :)

Reply to
Tim Watts

You're welcome sir!

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

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