Reducing site levels

[Tony K]

Hi

My plot is 15m x 12m and I need to reduce it by about 60cm. Access is tight so I will be using a mini digger, but I can get the muck lifted away from a corner of the site. 

 

I've used a digger before but not for this purpose. Is there a best way to reduce the level whilst piling the spoil in one corner?

 

I've considered digging the whole site down 20cm at a time so I can use the little bulldozer thing on the front of the mini digger to push the spoil into the corner. 

 

Alternatively, I could dig down 60cm at a time and pile up the spoil next to where I'm digging. Whether I could push that much spoil into the far corner of the site or not I don't know. 

 

Other options include hiring a skid steer or a track dumper. 

 

Any insights into how an experienced driver would approach the task? 

[PeterW]

That’s a lot of soil ..! Do you really need to go that low, and can you not use any for landscaping ..? 
 

A JCB 3 tonner has a ground reach of about 4m at full stretch, so 3.5m max if you are digging. That would mean you could strip a 3M section and then dump it at 6m, you’d then need to move that a second time to the edge of the plot. 
 

Second 3m strip would still need to be moved a second time, but the last strips would be able to be dumped onto the collection point. 
 

If you can’t get anything other than a mini digger in, what is your plan for materials such as concrete ..??

[ProDave]

I used the dozer blade on mine to push the soil around the site.

 

I found you end up with a "tramway" that contained the soil as you push it.  you soon get the measure of how much you can push in one go, then pile it up at your chosen storage / collection spot.

 

 

You probably want to strip the top layer and pile it in one corner to keep for landscaping.  the further layers (subsoil) pile up in a different place if you need them taken off site.

[Tony K]

@PeterW yep, it's all got to go due to finished building levels for planning. The site is too small to reuse it.

 

Your idea of creating a pile then moving that pile more than once in a relay style is interesting. Mini digger has a shorter reach of course. 

 

@ProDave i thought I might end up squashing too much of the spoil back into the ground if I tried to bulldoze it. Guess I'll try it and see, and could add always hire a skid steer if I have to. 

 

Thanks 

 

[ProDave]

11 minutes ago, Tony K said:

yep, it's all got to go due to finished building levels for planning. The site is too small to reuse it.

 

So you will have to dig deeper than you need, keeping some of the top soil to put back on the bits remaining as garden.

 

Otherwise you will just be left with subsoil as your garden finish.

[Tony K]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

So you will have to dig deeper than you need, keeping some of the top soil to put back on the bits remaining as garden.

 

Otherwise you will just be left with subsoil as your garden finish.

 

I'm having a mixture of artificial turf, patio and a sunken trampoline (just to give me a bit more earth to dig out). 

[Russell griffiths]

You need a dumper, moving it with the blade is stupid as you end up double and triple handling everything, dig it out and put it in its final position just once, the blade on a ,i I digger is small and you end up with it spilling out the sides, I’m currently moving a few hundred tonnes a day on my own, I can load the dumper and jump off the digger and onto the dumper, I counted what I did one day and I do on average 40 dumper loads a day driving it 200m to tip. 

Get the biggest dumper you can. 

 

If you can get the spoil collected from one corner why can you not get a bigger machine in through the same access. 

 

If you are getting it grabbed over a fence, get the grab lorry to lift a 1 tonne dumper over the fence for you, or take the fence down. 

 

You will have 12 loads on a grab truck, do a deal with them and see if they do plant hire, get them to deliver and lift over, they will be used to doing all sorts of strange things. 

 

How owe are you going to manage with the rest of the build. 

[joe90]

I second @PeterW about a JCB, long reach. Get a machine with driver and he will do it half the time you will and make a good job. You may well be able to sell the topsoil, it’s not cheap to buy.

[Tony K]

56 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

You need a dumper, moving it with the blade is stupid as you end up double and triple handling everything, dig it out and put it in its final position just once, the blade on a ,i I digger is small and you end up with it spilling out the sides, I’m currently moving a few hundred tonnes a day on my own, I can load the dumper and jump off the digger and onto the dumper, I counted what I did one day and I do on average 40 dumper loads a day driving it 200m to tip. 

Get the biggest dumper you can. 

 

If you can get the spoil collected from one corner why can you not get a bigger machine in through the same access. 

 

If you are getting it grabbed over a fence, get the grab lorry to lift a 1 tonne dumper over the fence for you, or take the fence down. 

 

You will have 12 loads on a grab truck, do a deal with them and see if they do plant hire, get them to deliver and lift over, they will be used to doing all sorts of strange things. 

 

How owe are you going to manage with the rest of the build. 

 

Thanks. I'll get a little dumper. The grab lorry is indeed grabbing spoil over the fence. The only grab lorry I can use is the little four wheel one, and so I'd have to find out if they could carry a larger dumper over or not. 

 

The rest of the build is fine. Screw piles for foundations so they can arrive to the edge of the site in a van, a pump for the concrete slab, blocks and bricks dropped off near the edge of the site too. It's a bit of a challenge but doable. 

[PeterW]

Why can’t the fence come out, even temporarily..?

[Tony K]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

Why can’t the fence come out, even temporarily..?

 

It's fixed into concrete at the end of a private cul de sac, the residents of which have been good enough to let me bring work vehicles up already. 

 

It's fine. I'll use a mini digger and a track dumper. 

[Declan52]

For that volume you would get the job done much quicker with a 5t mini digger. More power,longer reach and bigger buckets. 

[scottishjohn]

get as big a dumper as you can -a micro one will not move much at a time -hire prices might not be much different  .

same goes for digger  been checking hire rates here and 3t digger is £270+vat a week . 6ton is £350+vat  big difference in what they can do 

I bought a dumper for my job  3ton swivel --and the hired  digger, a 14t  one  over filled it in 3 bucket loads, if soil  and about 3-5mins to do it 

the 14t digger was 2.7m wide --so if you will have a gate , so any smaller  digger you get will get on site 

maybe getting your entrance sorted and hard cored would be a good place to start -then access  will not be a problem 

getting delivery trucks and things stuck in the mud would not be ideal -must be soft site if you need screw piles is where my thinking is coming from 

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by scottishjohn

[Tony K]

The actual access to the site is via an 80m long, 1m wide footpath.

 

The attached photo shows where small muckaway trucks can get down to the far end of the adjacent private cul de sac to collect muck from the edge of my site. 

 

The muck will be piled up where the shed is in the photo. 

 

I doubt the little muckaway trucks could deliver a big digger or dumper over the fence so I'll use the long footpath to get a mini digger and dumper to site. 

[scottishjohn]

plan with dimensions ?

 so this house will have no vehicular access when finished?-just a foot path of 1m wide. that is shared access. and surrounded by neighbours

good luck with that --

you can forget working at weekends or at night --they will be complaining and getting you stopped by council and having you restricted to normal working hours for making noise 

 not really  trying to upset you 

have you had a valuation by estate agent of value of this house when built and ease of selling it 

you may want to do that now and see if it is worth doing ?

 

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by scottishjohn

[Thedreamer]

7 hours ago, Tony K said:

The actual access to the site is via an 80m long, 1m wide footpath.

 

The attached photo shows where small muckaway trucks can get down to the far end of the adjacent private cul de sac to collect muck from the edge of my site. 

 

The muck will be piled up where the shed is in the photo. 

 

I doubt the little muckaway trucks could deliver a big digger or dumper over the fence so I'll use the long footpath to get a mini digger and dumper to site. 

 

Are you on good terms with the neighbours? I would imagine as well as the noise, tight access and distance to the road you will have to keep that pretty clean if used by others. It might also need to be tarred when finished from damage during the build.