Removing soil from a garden when the only access is through the house.

[Claire O]

Hey all, looking for some advice on garden soil removal.

 

We’re buying an old Georgian house, and because of budget constraints, we can’t do everything at once. We're prioritising the inside first—rewiring, plumbing, new kitchen and bathrooms. The garden has no side or back access (only through the house), and there’s an old conservatory out the back. We’ve decided to keep it for now as a teen hangout—just clean it up a bit with some paint, lino flooring, and remove the old cupboards.

 

Long-term plan is to knock down the conservatory, take out the retaining wall, and dig back the raised garden to build a bigger conservatory and create a patio area below the lawn. That would mean shifting a lot of soil.

 

One builder suggested that even if we can’t afford the garden project yet, we should think about removing the soil now—before we renovate—because getting a digger through the house later won’t be possible, and doing it all by hand would be a nightmare and super expensive.

 

Problem is, we don’t have the money for that right now, and removing the soil now would leave the garden pretty messy with nothing to finish it off (no retaining walls, no landscaping, no proper drainage).

 

So I’m wondering:
Has anyone had to remove a lot of soil through a house without a digger?
How bad was it? What did it cost? Any clever workarounds?

 

Thanks in advance—any tips much appreciated!

[Onoff]

Why no side access? Does the property go the full width? No possiblity of taking down a bit of the conservatory by that wall and going through there. 

 

It's doable narrowing through the house just slow. Cheaper than the gym mind. 

[JohnMo]

22 minutes ago, Claire O said:

there’s an old conservatory out the back

 

22 minutes ago, Claire O said:

Long-term plan is to knock down the conservatory, take out the retaining wall, and dig back the raised garden to build a bigger conservatory and create a patio area below the lawn. That would mean shifting a lot of soil.

Assume with the conservatory removed you get side access again. Knock it down, prior to rebuilding do the soil, and bring hard landscaping materials.

 

Going through house is nonsense. Or get creative on what you can do without removing materials from the back.

 

Bet that conservatory is a melting hot this time of year, and colder than a cold thing in winter.

[Pocster]

I’d say doable with lots of labour . Thick plastic sheets down then wheelbarrows through 

[Marko]

3-4 tons were moved from my back garden through the house. Heavy-duty rubble bags were used to do this. If you go down that route, I'd suggest dumping it into the front garden somewhere and hiring a grab wagon when you're finished. Make sure to dump the bags out, though, because they will only take away loose soil. We didn't and ended up paying a fortune for skips. Get a couple of rolls of that sticky carpet protector too. Saves the clean up. 

[Claire O]

Hey, thanks everyone for your thoughts..  I cant figure out how to respond to each of you individually...  FYI - there is no side access...  never will be, as our house is semi detached and our house goes right up to the wall on the other side.  There is no access through any of the neighbouring properties either... . 

[Claire O]

31 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

It's doable narrowing through the house just slow. Cheaper than the gym mind. 

A builder suggested it would cost 30k GBP to remove that much soil without a digger.  I almost fell over. 

[Claire O]

14 minutes ago, Marko said:

3-4 tons were moved from my back garden through the house. Heavy-duty rubble bags were used to do this

I have no way of estimating how many tons, but I will ask the builder.   Therefore struggling to figure out how much this would cost.  The good news is we would bring the soil through the kitchen to hall to entrance, so no carpets.

[Claire O]

17 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Going through house is nonsense. Or get creative on what you can do without removing materials from the back.

The only way is through the house...  which right now, because it is a wreck, wouldnt be a problem but still a good distance to the front...  Maybe you are right, have a think about work with the yard without moving the soil...  We could potentially make steps going up to a patio, rather than putting the patio at the bottom near the house.  If we could ever afford to replace the conservatory though, we would definitely make it wider so a bit of soil would have to go then.

[Marko]

Just now, Claire O said:

I have no way of estimating how many tons, but I will ask the builder.   Therefore struggling to figure out how much this would cost.  The good news is we would bring the soil through the kitchen to hall to entrance, so no carpets.

 

• Volume = Length X Width X Depth.
• Soil density = Loose soil ~1.2 t/m3 - wet soil ~1.5-1.7 t/m3. 
• Weight (tonnes) = Volume (m3) x Soil Density (t/m3)

Not that it really matters 😄

 

 

[Claire O]

. In a few years, I was hoping for something like this.... its a lot of clearing of soil to create any patio to fit a table....

[Pocster]

12 minutes ago, Claire O said:

A builder suggested it would cost 30k GBP to remove that much soil without a digger.  I almost fell over. 

(expletive deleted) that ! . A digger would rip that up very quickly . It’s the labour of moving it all through the house . You and SWMBO make a great team 😊

[Conor]

Thinking back to a concrete pour I helped a mate with, I think four guys moved 7tonnes of concrete in about an hour. That's about 100 wheelbarrow loads, though a house and into the garden.

 

Theres no point doing anything until you have a full design done. Could be wasted effort.

 

Fyi that builder is taking the beeswax.

[Onoff]

Careful you don't lower or raise your garden to the point of it causing issues on the boundary. We've had walls leaning and gardens slipping on here and it gets very acrimonious. 

[Tetrarch]

Removing soil through the house - do you have a direct line through the house, navigating through and around door ways will be the real challenge.

 

In my experience, wheelbarrows are difficult to control consistently when loaded, I found a four-wheeled pull trolley easier to manage although a soil conveyor would be optimal - hence the first question.........

 

Regards

 

Tet

[Roundtuit]

Does it have to come out? Can't you level off where the patio will be and put the soil behind your new retaining wall?

[garrymartin]

Can't see it costing £30K to be honest. As mentioned earlier, if you have somewhere out the front to move it to for collection by a grab lorry, and assuming you can create a fairly straight exit run through the house, I'd be getting the builder to hire some soil removal conveyors. Set as many as needed up in series through the house, fill them in the back garden and have them depositing to the front. A week's hire for a 4.5M one is about £200-250, so depending on how many you would need, less than £1000 probably with no filling and emptying of bags - either straight into a skip or on to a front garden for grab lorry collection.