Moving dirt from basement

[Kaizen]

I’m laying conduit in my basement for garage power and getting oil tank replaced $$!!
Dirt floor. Low headroom. Fieldstone foundation. Digging out a four or so inches of soil. Have winch and trying to think of a tray that will hold say 5cu ft of soil that I can winch up a temp wooden ramp. Any ideas? Has to be able to have winch cable hooked to it



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[58Yeoman]

A neighbor that I had long ago, dug out his crawl space by hand, and used a small "elevator" (like they used to use for moving coal, corn, etc.) stuck through an opening to take his dirt outside. I don't know if he rented it or borrowed it from someone. It worked great for him once he dug out space for it.

 

[KBigg]

You could just use one of those plastic totes from walmart. Hook the winch to a fixed point outside or wherever.

 

[finn]

We cut out the floor joists, which needed replacing any way, and used 5 gallon buckets at first, but later made ramps and used a wheelbarrow.

Grunt work, but I hired some random guy who claimed to be a cage wrestler for $10/hr.

 

[casmurbax]

4 or 5 inches? how much of an area?

What kind of access to this area do you have?

How about a shop vac? I have used one before to remove dirt from a cellar floor for a shower drain that i was putting in.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Mortar pan or wheel barrow body. Could mount fixed casters to bottom and guide up the ramp with wood strips for alignment track.

 

[Jazz1]

Some good suggestions. Only person I know removing dirt used buckets to dig his crawl space out into a full size basement. Sort of miserable task but the price was right.
Sounds like a good job for the kids.

 

[txvwnut]

See if you can rent a tow behind hydro-excavator. I used one of those when I needed to remove dirt from under my house. It’s a lot faster than any method that uses a bucket or any other hand carry method when your in a small pace under a house, plus you won’t have a mound of dirt to deal with when done. The only drawback is you need at minimum a 3/4 ton truck to pull one.

 

[lilredex]

Around here you can rent a conveyor to move out dirt. Most just poke them out a basement window.

Many old houses here need floor lowering and footing under pinning, to improve the basement.

https://www.simplex.ca/en-CA/tools/portable-conveyor-ex1204

 

[Kaizen]

Thanks all. In the short term I’m doing only 8x27. This immediate need is for the oil tank pad I have to pour and to cover the conduit I have to lay. I can get a conveyor but not close nor cheap. Probably will build one for the rest of the basement when I do that.
I had to take the wall apart to get the conduit through so thinking if I take out the window I can fit something big through. Plastic bin will get destroyed. Excavator won’t fit. Liking the wheelbarrow tub idea. Maybe weld something to it.
Did the buckets through the bulkhead in the opposite side of the house into little tractor dump trailer. It’s going 20 feet outside this window so can probably winch it the whole way then just go flip it. Actually had to open hole down to the large rocks to get conduit depth




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[Kaizen]

Around here you can rent a conveyor to move out dirt. Most just poke them out a basement window.

Many old houses here need floor lowering and footing under pinning, to improve the basement.

https://www.simplex.ca/en-CA/tools/portable-conveyor-ex1204

I had hoped i could go down further and gain some headroom but was shocked to find my current floor is like an inch above the bottom of the lowest boulders. needless to say i did not dig out the dirt under them once i saw that. if anything a concrete floor will keep them from moving in at all.

 

[Bretny]

Theres a guy with a youtube channel where he basically underpins his house with an electric excavator, concrete buggies and convayer belts. It was quite the process but i didnt see a single shovel in site.

 

[Kaizen]

Theres a guy with a youtube channel where he basically underpins his house with an electric excavator, concrete buggies and convayer belts. It was quite the process but i didnt see a single shovel in site.

yes saw that. amazing. he had a large scale setup. must have spent 10-20k just on equipment.

 

[Handyfarmer]

a "muck truck" may do the trick, some places rent them, https://www.mucktruck.com/

it is a 4 wheel drive motorized wheel barrow, I made one, and one can use a ramp and even run the dirt up into a pick bed, they will climb up a set of stairs,

 

[MarlynOC]

How about the way they used to remove the sand to install a tube under the ocean for a lighthouse? Just insert a vacuum line from a large suction pump and add water then pump out the dirt.

 

[Two Sheds]

Check with your local rental shops to see if they have an electrically driven conveyor belt. Run it out the window to dump into a wheelbarrow.

 

[madison069]

Why do I envision several free Threadmills from trash days, place one halfway in the window and another infront of the mill outside to get the totes to the truck/dump so someone outside can grab the tote as it comes to him.

 

[Kaizen]

Check with your local rental shops to see if they have an electrically driven conveyor belt. Run it out the window to dump into a wheelbarrow.

Yes avail but just trying to get by with a more primitive idea. Going to use a winch on a dog bath I have. Very hard and think I can pull it up the ramp and just dump it.
I hate renting stuff. Pita. Plus have to bust my nuts doing it all in the day.


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[Kaizen]

Why do I envision several free Threadmills from trash days, place one halfway in the window and another infront of the mill outside to get the totes to the truck/dump so someone outside can grab the tote as it comes to him.

They are usually broken but that would be cool with enough of them


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[mcj115]

two thoughts....
look though CL or farm papers for a use small gas powered/electric grain screw or hay elevator. They would probably fit through the window opening if removed.
Pick something for for 1 or 2K sell it when you are done for 1 or 2 k.

 

[finn]

If you’re going through all that trouble, why not consider jacking the house up, installing temporary beams and cribbing, and digging a proper basement.

I had a rough quote for $20g to do that, but I could have had a walk out and doubled the sf of the house.

Too cheap at the time to look at the big picture...

 

[Jackfre]

Take a contractors wheel barrow and pull the wheel assembly so you are working with the handles and tub. Deep end down and you can put rollers under it. Love those old NE basements

 

[Kaizen]

If you’re going through all that trouble, why not consider jacking the house up, installing temporary beams and cribbing, and digging a proper basement.

I had a rough quote for $20g to do that, but I could have had a walk out and doubled the sf of the house.

Too cheap at the time to look at the big picture...

Don't really need the space now that i have the garage
Land and houses are not expensive enough around here to warrant something like that.

 

[Kaizen]

Take a contractors wheel barrow and pull the wheel assembly so you are working with the handles and tub. Deep end down and you can put rollers under it. Love those old NE basements

This is my second choice. going with what i have on hand first and then will go take apart my new wheelbarrow. gotta prove out the winch idea first.
Bet ya can't do this insanity on a whim in much of your area huh? lol.

 

[Kaizen]

two thoughts....
look though CL or farm papers for a use small gas powered/electric grain screw or hay elevator. They would probably fit through the window opening if removed.
Pick something for for 1 or 2K sell it when you are done for 1 or 2 k.

actually have one i could borrow but the gas engine is at the bottom which would be in the basement. with me. dying of carbon monoxide

 

[TommyK]

Some good suggestions. Only person I know removing dirt used buckets to dig his crawl space out into a full size basement. Sort of miserable task but the price was right.
Sounds like a good job for the kids.

This ^^

Done it many times. Buckets and "many hands make light work" principle.

If you are digging by hand it probably won't be cost effective to get a conveyor or other type of machine to help export the material because you can't dig fast enough.

 

[rsanter]

actually have one i could borrow but the gas engine is at the bottom which would be in the basement. with me. dying of carbon monoxide

Temporary swap the gas engine for an electric motor

Bob

 

[In2toys]

I'd second the wheelbarrow tub with something on bottom to guide it

 

[rayra]

what you want is an auger. But (100) 5gal bucketfuls will do it.

 

[paredown]

A topic near and dear--we have been living with our sprawling ranch with crawl space, no rat slab, no vapor barrier and no insulation--and it is getting old,

When we first moved in, I started taking out a few buckets a day as part of my morning routine, but that got old pretty fast.

I've watched many youtube videos, talked to a few people, and the bottom line is that there is no easy way. In Brooklyn where they were dropping basement floors in brownstones, it was the army of guys with buckets--that worked pretty well...

Personally, I'm leaning towards the roller conveyor and box set up for one end (I have seen people set those up with a small electric winch--and I have seen the roller sections (used for receiving in grocery stores etc) on Craigslist from time to time.

The other section--about which I have to make a decision soon--I have been thinking about opening a section of floor in a room currently being finished, and using some version of a small elevator/windlass with a platform, electric winch from Harbor Freight, and totes, and a buncha guys off the corner--to carry them outside to dump. (Opening would be converted to access hatch when done, since there is no outside access, and a second access hatch would be nice.)

Plan is to level about 2/3 of the space, pour some small footings and put in some CMU retainers to hold back the loose stuff where I can't go lower (I mean who pours their foundations out of level so then can get their 3' clear for frost?)--and then vapor barrier, pour a rat slab and then insulate

One problem is that we have very rocky soil, so this is not "dirt"--but more like boulders, large rocks, medium rocks, small rocks, gravel and a bit of dirt thrown in--so it will never be very efficient.

I did contact the guys that run the big vaccum trucks that they use for doing footings--they drop their hose and **** up everything up to a pretty large rock, and although I dream about this solution, it is pretty darn expensive. And this structure is not one I would even think about jacking up for all kinds of reasons...

If you have light dirt, I thought this was pretty ingenious--poor man's dirt vac using a cyclone vac:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Dig-Out-Your-Crawl-Space-Basement-for-Under-100/

 

[Kaizen]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Pouring the first pad today for the new oil tank. Using my homemade cement chute with leftover metal roofing that they used for packaging my panels. Hope my back hold out. Damn 80 pounds gets heavy after the tenth one




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[NUTTSGT]

I dug ours out and still working on the walls.

I carried it all out in 5 gallon buckets. Two pieces of advice, fill the bucket 2/3 full and make more trips, your knees will thank you. Secondly, undo the handle and add either a piece of 3/4" pvc conduit or 1/2" copper pipe over it and reattach. Trust me, your hands well be much happier.

Where I dug down below the stone wall, I formed up an poured a small concrete stem wall about 12" tall. On top of that, I'm laying block with the back side cut off. Once the dry, the get cored filled with some rebar.

 

[Kaizen]

I dug ours out and still working on the walls.

I carried it all out in 5 gallon buckets. Two pieces of advice, fill the bucket 2/3 full and make more trips, your knees will thank you. Secondly, undo the handle and add either a piece of 3/4" pvc conduit or 1/2" copper pipe over it and reattach. Trust me, your hands well be much happier.

Where I dug down below the stone wall, I formed up an poured a small concrete stem wall about 12" tall. On top of that, I'm laying block with the back side cut off. Once the dry, the get cored filled with some rebar.

damn nutts you sure are making me look lazy!!
Excellent idea on the handles and the 2/3 full. i was thinking wrap in tape but that would take too much. pvc is much easier.

 

[Bondo]

I’m laying conduit in my basement for garage power and getting oil tank replaced $$!!
Dirt floor. Low headroom. Fieldstone foundation. Digging out a four or so inches of soil. Have winch and trying to think of a tray that will hold say 5cu ft of soil that I can winch up a temp wooden ramp. Any ideas? Has to be able to have winch cable hooked to it



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Ayuh,.... A 6 cu.ft. wheelbarrow,....

 

[NUTTSGT]

damn nutts you sure are making me look lazy!!
Excellent idea on the handles and the 2/3 full. i was thinking wrap in tape but that would take too much. pvc is much easier.

Here's a link to the thread I started about modifying the handles.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=307649


BTW, I have some pics that I took on my phone yesterday after posting to show what I have been doing if you want me to attach them.

 

[Kaizen]

Here's a link to the thread I started about modifying the handles.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=307649


BTW, I have some pics that I took on my phone yesterday after posting to show what I have been doing if you want me to attach them.

I am clear on your procedure but feel free to post as others will find this later and might help them


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[NUTTSGT]

I'm doing this from my phone so I will edit back once I get on the PC.

This finished floor and you can see how I dug down below the wall. You can also see the rebar waiting to be covered with a short concrete curb/stem wall. That was the first set of steps I built but need to some more concrete work so they will be coming out and rebuilt when that happens.

 

[NUTTSGT]

The first thing I did was to add a sump pump pit. Once it was done and I formed the curb, I had to bridge over the pit because I put it too close to the wall. You can see the sheet metal that I used.
You can also see current block veneer wall getting built in the second picture. I've been cutting the back side of the block off and laying it in place. Generally the next, or that is the plan, I go back and core fill them, adding rebar between courses.

The last picture is the furnace which was at ground level when I started. I dug down to add stone and a 3" concrete floor. There is a curb wall also poured around the furnace. The jug is my water jug to mix mortar and I set it there as a visual reference to how much l lowered the floor.

I didn't get much lower but I can at least stand up in the basement with my work boots. I'm just under 6'1" barefoot. I previously had to walk around hunched over down there and now only need to duck under the ductwork.

I chose to do a block veneer after pouring the curb walls. My original plan was to tuck point and add a scratch coat to the old walls. The more I looked at it, I felt it would not stick and end up with what I have now.

 

[Dozerhand]

This is a horse drawn slip scraper. Looks like just what you need. Every farm in new England should still have one in the barn

 

[slimpickins]

Something along the lines of this, sized to fit your window.... except it appears he's using a drill as his winch...