Case Hydraulic Excavator Digging a Basement

[@lancesnyder2613]

I've been in business for 22 years in Michigan and that's not true about topsoil compacting. We strip and save the topsoil no matter what the project may be. It the right way of doing stuff. It may take a bit longer at the beginning but it saves a lot of headaches and money in the end

[@sharpselect7277]

3 different types of material in your pile, sod, top soil and fill. How can you now use the fill as clean? Use a single axle dump to haul the top soil to your shop and sell later or load a sub that does top soil that would get it for free. Industry standard is to use clean fill only even when back filling , using a sod mix will only cause low areas from the sod decaying under the ground.

[@DieselandIron]

This was pretty standard in the area we were working. It's not really topsoil. It was a sandy clay mix that settled just fine. Sure you had a some organic material mixed in but it was fine for the backfill. When building garage pads and other areas where compaction was crucial we would use clean fill.

[@codyralston2576]

dude most of this stuff is gonna get pushed into that hole again and it's probably gonna get filled in at least one more time after that I'm sure this is fine as backfill. whenever I backfill a house I just throw whatever is in my piles in the hole and go back and fix the settling and from there I let the landscaper and fine grader sort it out only spot I use clean easily compactable dirt is any spot where concrete is gonna be poured on top of it and I haven't had any problems.

[@DieselandIron]

Yeah, this is spot on and pretty much industry standard up here.

[@321DLCR]

What size bucket do you run on that 160

[@DieselandIron]

I'm pretty sure this was a 42" bucket but it's been about 6 years since I worked for these guys.

[@bradleymealing8907]

Where are your supports to stop it from caving in?

[@chessplayerelite669]

Don't need it for a foundation. Only for trenching where workers are in close quarters and should a cave-in occurr the walls collapse in such a manner as to fill most of the trench and pin the worker(s) against the floor or against the other wall is it needed to either slope the sides, build a shelf or use a trench box. Imagine in this video if the sides were to cave in, what harm would it do? None.

[@doughintzsche3219]

Chess PlayerElite tell that to the ministry

[@1853redman]

Why are you not saving the topsoil?

[@DieselandIron]

+1853redman Everything grows in Michigan soil. The builder doesn't want to pay extra to have us save the topsoil so it all gets graded in together. Grass grows just fine.

[@1853redman]

So you backfill with a mix of topsoil? Im just curious, thats all. Homebuilding is my business, and I live in south eastern Pennsylvania, where the the limestone fill dirt is good stuff too, but I keep fill dirt separate because topsoil doesnt hold compaction. So I strip all the topsoil from the driveway and garage slabs- and raise grade with only fill so it doesnt get soft. Just like to see how other guys do it, I hope you have had a good year.

[@DieselandIron]

+1853redman On a lot of these sites around here there isn't really much topsoil on the lot. It's a sandy clay mixture that's pretty common here in Michigan so it holds compaction without any problems. Generally we backfill shortly after the basement walls are poured and by the time we come back to finish grade the soil has settled all it's going to. For driveways and garage pads we keep any organic material out of the mix and it does just fine.

[@Redrider411]

Is the instrument on the stick a depth gauge?

[@DieselandIron]

Sorry for taking so long to get back with you. It's called a grade rod and it uses a laser to show you how deep your cut is. When you do all of your math to determine how deep your hole needs to be you set the laser up and you're ready to dig.

[@dylanskinner9473]

hard hat ?

[@DieselandIron]

What's that?

[@jerzygrimsby]

surprised ,where this dig is happening,,In Canada we ,,normally remove and save ,,, 16 inches as top soil...and not mix with deep old dirt...clay ?

[@DieselandIron]

+Jerzy S This was in Central Michigan. Grass will grow with no problems in this soil so we don't bother setting the topsoil aside.

[@bennyrlove]

ever dug up something weird??

[@DieselandIron]

+Benny ofAtlanta We dug up the hood of a car that had been rolled in when they developed the subdivision. Scared the shit out of us because we initially thought we hit an unmarked utility of some sort. After 20 minutes of careful digging we ended up pulling out the hood in one piece.

[@leostcyr5797]

howcome he didnt save the topsoil what a waste

[@DieselandIron]

+leo st cyr This is Michigan. It's all good soil. Grade it smooth and plant grass.

[@Amanwithoutaface112]

to slow . use a track loader instead

[@DieselandIron]

+Skankpronger I can't see that being much faster. You have to cart your dirt out of the hole.

[@Amanwithoutaface112]

ThatDiggerDude holds more dirt though

[@codyralston2576]

I would say that maybe a bigger bucket might yield slightly better results but I know for sure this basement seems to be going as fast as ours do with a track loader and it looks like a lot less headache

[@codyralston2576]

I'm watching these videos because I'm considering switching to an e85 and a t870 for basement dig outs just because the 963 is expensive to run it's not very comfortable to run repairs are costly and versatility is sub par but from watching this I may have to get a full size excavator for it