[Cob] Foundation trenches

[Shannon C. Dealy]

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005, Lance Collins wrote:

> Amanda wrote:
> >If he had to do it in some of my soil, he'd be really sorry he ventured
> >out of his desired area!
> >
> >..............
> >Bill WANTS to dig foundation trenches:
>
> I know cobbers are basically impoverished masochists but you'd be nuts to
> dig foundation trenches by hand if it's at all possible to get an excavator
> in.   For some irrigation pipe laying I've just had a machine dig a trench
> 400 mm wide by 500mm deep for 100 metres and it took an hour and cost about
> $150.   My ground is very hard too.

This is very much specific to individual circumstances.  For many people,
it might take months to save up $150, and in many soils, the digging isn't
that difficult, each person needs to weigh their financial circumstances
against the amount of labor that would be required.  I could afford to
rent the equipment to dig the foundation trenches for all three of my
buildings, I didn't for the following reasons:

  1 - The soil here is fairly soft when moist (spring, fall and winter),
      so digging is not particularly difficult and a fair size foundation
      trench can be dug in one day, though it may take longer if alot of
      digging is required to level the site as well.

  2 - This kind of equipment really tears up the ground around the site,
      and digging a circular trench with an excavator is going to tear up
      things up even more.

  3 - I have better things I can do with the $150

  4 - I need the exercise :-)

Of course if I'd had the really hard soil that some people do, that
excavator might have started looking alot more enticing.

Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
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