Suggestions for moving bagged topsoil via a wheelbarrow?

[Mathew Newton]

Next week I've got nearly 7 tonnes of topsoil arriving in 4 bulk bags and I will need to transport this via a wheelbarrow though my garage to the back garden.

It was my intention to simply fill the barrow using a spade but wondered if I might be missing something that could really help matters?

I've got a 1T engine hoist and can't help feel that could play a role - per haps by hoisting the bags in the air and my ripping a hole in the bottom ab ove the barrow? Of course, it sounds straightforward but is bound to either not come out or will end up with the whole lot burying the barrow in one g o.

Any tips or other words of wisdom? Even simple things like slicing into the side of the bags and shovelling from there rather than from the top?

[Andy Burns]

My recent experience probably doesn't help your situation, but anyway, I had three bulk bags of MOT1, I was able to have them delivered onto the area where I wanted it spread, unfortunately it arrived before I was ready to spread it, so I couldn't slit the bags while they were suspended from the HIAB.

I briefly considered trying to save the bulk bags by shovelling the hard core out, quickly decided that was too much effort, tried a single slice up the centre of one side of the bag, that made getting the bottom 1/2 out of the bag difficult.

For the final two bags, I cut round the base of the bag on three of the sides as low to the ground as I could, then cut up the centre of the middle side, that got a good spill of the contents, and by brute force I was able to lift/tip the remainder out.

Depends if you've got a large area to do that where your soil is actually going to be delivered.

I've got to get about half a dozen bags round to the back soon, not looking forward to that ...

[mogga]

Shovel. Find a few volunteers to help. Even if they only brew up. Soil isn't too bad to move, but cover it to stop it getting rained on. A bag a day would be reasonable if you're fairly fit.

Do a couple of barrows and have a rest. Walk about and stretch. Do a few more and stop for a brew. Repeat. If you aren't used to exercise then do not do more than 10 the first day. Clench your abs whilst lifting the barrow though and it gives them an extra workout. :-)

[John Rumm]

Its much easier to shovel off a flat surface than it is out of a bag. So if you have the bags put down on hard standing (or some 8x4 sheets of a suitable sheet material like OSB), then slit them up the side it will go quicker.

[Adrian]

So near-nuff 2t each.

D'you feel lucky?

[spuorgelgoog]

crane it over

conveyor belt

vacuum pipe and suck it through

rugby team

Owain

[Tim Watts]

Lift up, cut a 1 ft hole in the side, have something ready to clip the flap shut (needs to have a good grip, maybe mole grips). When the bag is under tension, the flap will probably not meet the edge of the hole so you may need to tie a piece of strong rope to one of the handles and molegrip the top of the flap to that. If it's mostly closed, the soil should stay inside.

If the soil does not run freely, cut a second 1 ft flap joining the first.

It's certainly the builder's preferred method, to slice open the bags.

[Graham.]

#There must be 50 ways to heave your shovel#

Coat?

[Mathew Newton]

It does help; thank you. And thanks for the other comments also.

It'll be on the driveway so I think it'll be a case of actually seeing how much material there really is and deciding what to do from there.

I bet not. Presumably shifting hardcore is a but more difficult than topsoil too.

[Mathew Newton]

Oh dear, perhaps I'm underestimating how much work there's going to be! I had visions of me finishing within the day!

I'll be fine with the fitness side of things, and there's no rush time wise (noting your suggestion to protect it from rain) so it'll take as long as it takes.

[Mathew Newton]

He he, I should've clarified my intentions there!

I figured that shovelling out of the top half of a bag probably wouldn't be too much of an issue, particularly given there won't be much bending over to do, and so would probably only attempt the lift-and-dump method once I'm quite a way down the bag.

Thinking about it now; I well may need to split the bags to let it all come out as the soil is consolidated and so likely not to the loose fluffy stuff that I'm picturing in my mind!

[Mathew Newton]

It sounds like it's certainly going to come to that, probably sooner rather than later once the desire to get the job done 'easily' overrides that of doing it cleanly!

[Mike Barnes]

The most difficult bulk material I've ever had to shift was a ton or so of smooth pebbles, orange- and lemon-sized.

[Mathew Newton]

Ouch. Too big for easy shovelling, too small for one-by-one shifting!

[Tim+]

+1. *Much* much easier to shovel it up from a hard surface. Well worth sacrificing a cheap bit of board for.

Tim

[Tim Lamb]

Agree about the flat surface for shovelling. Failing that, shovelling out the top half is reasonably easy as you are working down hill. By half way the lifting loops and bag top become a nuisance.

If you are determined to try lifting what is left you need a means of closing off the hole you have made in the bottom. Now, pay attention at the back, first find a piece of ply (12mm x 200mm x 1m will do) Cut the bag bottom in the form of a T with the cross bar the same length as the width of you ply.

When you want to stop the flow, insert the ply horizontally at the T top and push beyond the length of your slit.

Works for free flowing fertiliser so it ought to work for soil!

[John Rumm]

I played this game last year with some soil I ordered fro filling raised beds. While not exactly "fluffy" loamy stuff, it was not a compacted lump of sod either. Cutting the bag, and doing the first bit from the bag, and then tipping the remainder onto a bit of scrap ply made the second half easier. Note that I cheated somewhat in that I was filling a trailer that I could tow with the mower, so I could move a full bag in a bout three trips, and I could also use the mower to tip the bag over when half empty (rope through two handles, and pull).

[Tim Watts]

Even a sheet of tarpauline or heavy "DPM" type plastic can work quite well if you avoid hitting it too much with the shovel. When you are down to the last barrowload, you can pull the corners of the plastic up and gather the last of the soil into the centre. From experience :)

[bblaukopf]

Me and my dad shifted 4 tonnes of soil (I shovelled, he barrowed) and a similar amount of hardcore (he broke it out, I chucked it in the skip). He does it for a living, last time I did it regularly was when I was a kid.

I kept up, just, but my back was screaming at me by the end.

On the plus side if you shovel and barrow yourself, you'll be using different muscles each time you switch :)

[Bill Wright]

wheelbarrow though my garage to the back garden.

The students are on holiday from the 5th. Select a couple of young fit ones and offer something irresistible such as £9 per hour.

Bill