[Yogi]

Anyone here ever done a job like this before? Or helped someone else do theirs? I'm open to any suggestions that will make this easier. Some of it is dry/powdery, but for the most part it is damp-turning to wet clay the deeper I get. Right now the full height is about 5'6". I want a finished height of 7'6". Around the perimeter, I have to go down to 8'6" so that I can pour a 6"x16" footing. Then Using 4x4 uprights every 2 ft. Double 3/4" pressure treated plywood between the uprights and the dirt walls. Then after I get that done I have to dig down on the inside of the new footing another 1 1/2 ft to put in the weeping tile. ***Weeping tile*** Appropriately named, in this case since I'll be working in clay. For this part of the job I'm going to try to break up the ground with an electric rototiller.

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[SprCForr]

Electric jackhammer with a spade attachment might help. File the spade so that mother is sharp to help cut into the clay. Maybe rig an electric chain hoist so your minion doesn't have to carry the buckets up the stairs to dump.

[Alta_redneck]

About the only tip I can give you Yogi is don't fill the buckets so full, 1/2 buckets don't weigh as much.

A friend of mine just did his basement because of a water problem but he had to get the floor out first and that was 2000 sqft of cement with a jack hammer and buckets. Your lucky here, he also had to take out 30 cyds of wet clay, you know the kind that you have to scrap off the shovel.

[Brenda]

I just shoveled my driveway (60 ft in length or something, 2 cars wide) 2 days in a row, 5" of snow each day. My whole body aches and I found out I have muscles I knew deep down I had, but forgot about.

I so feel for you

[Yogi]

SprCForr wrote:

Electric jackhammer with a spade attachment might help. File the spade so that mother is sharp to help cut into the clay. Maybe rig an electric chain hoist so your minion doesn't have to carry the buckets up the stairs to dump.

It didn't take me tooooo many pails 'up the stairs, and around the house' before I said " There's gotta be a better fu**king way"! I was planning on renovating the kitchen/diningroom this winter, then I noticed what was happening in the basement. I cut a hole in the DR floor, and off-set mounted an electric winch on the ceiling. The buckets then get emptied right out the patio doors, as fill for my 'future' patio.

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[Yogi]

Brenda wrote:

I just shoveled my driveway (60 ft in length or something, 2 cars wide) 2 days in a row, 5" of snow each day. My whole body aches and I found out I have muscles I knew deep down I had, but forgot about.

I so feel for you

You come help me dig and I'll let ya use my quad & snow blower any time, B!

[Tricks]

All I can think of is the digging from the great escape.

[Regina]

I'd go with a...................Realty agent. Let the next guy figure it out.

[Yogi]

Regina wrote:

8O
I'd go with a...................Realty agent. Let the next guy figure it out.

I bought a NEW house once. Sat around, twiddling my thumbs & moaning "there ain't f**ck-all to do here"! Sold the place in less than 1 year, and bought my first really old 'fixer upper'.
This one is an Eaton's Catalogue house, circa 1920.
Built by one of our Senators-Wesely Stambaugh- who raised his family here. He then built the house across the street and retired there, and one of his kids raised his family here also.

[Regina]

Definitely lots of character in the old houses. Just that they're a pain in the ass to work on because of all the minor updates and patches that have gone on throughout the years. Some stuff new, some stuff old. I'm kind of anal when it comes to updating so I would always rip it all out and make it new. Just too much work if you're trying to live in it at the same time. My house it about 6 years old now so doing some little changes have been a dream. So far it's been adding or moving electrical and environmental controls but it's been nice knowing what's behind the wall.

[peck420]

Contact a hydro digging company and get a quote.

[Robair]

Yea, or lift the house and use a skid-steer.

Anything but a goon spoon.

[Regina]

Robair wrote:

Anything but a goon spoon.

[ShepherdsDog]

If you find bones or native artifacts DO NOT tell anyone...make an anonymous donation to a museum.

[Yogi]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

If you find bones or native artifacts DO NOT tell anyone...make an anonymous donation to a museum.

I was thinkin about having my daughter get me a couple of old skulls, and a few bones, then contacting the GRC's about my 'find'. They'd get my basement excavated for sure!