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Excavation for barn

Started by grweldon, January 07, 2015, 11:41:05 AM

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grweldon

104.5 hours of backhoe time logged since the 26th of December excavating for my barn site.  I finished up last night but it was too dark to take final pictures. An estimate taken from final measurements of the site puts the amount of dirt moved so far at 3062 cubic yards.  The "pit" is about 100' x 140' and measures between 4' and 5' deep at the shallow end and between 8' and 9' at the deep end.

If you want to see what the area looked like before I started digging you can check out this thread:
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,79027.msg1199773.html#msg1199773.  The trees in the 8th picture in that thread are the same trees as in the second photo in this tread.

Here's a few pics of the progress of digging out the area.  It's hard to tell the size of the excavation, or anything else for that matter.  The hills of dirt are about 12' tall.  These photos show the area when it was about 85% done.  I post some of what it looks like now when I take more pictures.




















My three favorite documents: The Holy Bible, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States.

Peter Drouin

All sand, can't beat that 8).
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

red oaks lumber

is your barn going to have a basement? i don't understand why a big hole for a barn. enlighten us  :)
the experts think i do things wrong
over 18 million b.f. processed and 7341 happy customers i disagree

reride82

Quote from: red oaks lumber on January 07, 2015, 06:28:39 PM
is your barn going to have a basement? i don't understand why a big hole for a barn. enlighten us  :)

I think he is going for a daylight floor level, and instead of a balanced cut/fill and having the hassle of compacted fill, he excavated to grade and moved the fill off-site. But, I've been wrong before.  :D
'Do it once, do it right'

'First we shape our buildings, then our buildings shape us'
Living life on the Continental Divide in Montana

thecfarm

Not fair!! Not a rock in sight.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

beenthere

He started a new thread, but the other one explained that he wants the barn to be the same level as his runway for his ultralight. Didn't want to push the ultralight up a hill to stow it away in the barn. So looks like he lowered the premises to accommodate the ultralight.
Happens when threads get split up. Lose the story line.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

GAB

Quote from: thecfarm on January 07, 2015, 06:55:03 PM
Not fair!! Not a rock in sight.

Ray:
Not everyone has been endowed like you have been.
Gerald
W-M LT40HDD34, SLR, JD 420, JD 950w/loader and Woods backhoe, V3507 Fransguard winch, Cordwood Saw, 18' flat bed trailer, and other toys.

Warped

I have acres of rock free sand----easy digging. But have to over dig quite a bit when going deep as it likes to cave in, especially with my high ground water. It can shake the ground pretty good when it goes.
Good with the rough stuff and rough with the good stuff

WV Sawmiller

    I concur - not fair to have all that sand and no rocks. Here in WV if you dig 6" deep and don't hit a rock you better stop digging because you are over the gas line and some one has moved the rock that used to be there. Same feeling about all that gently rolling or level land. There is no justice in this world.

    Good luck with your build and be real careful when you start raising beams and the working at heights.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

thecfarm

You can dig 6 inches without hitting a rock!!  :o   Never heard of such a thing.
GAB,I would like to be a little less unendowed at times. But I do use the endowment for filling in the wet holes.   ;D
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

grweldon

Quote from: Peter Drouin on January 07, 2015, 06:08:27 PM
All sand, can't beat that 8).

Actually Peter, there is quite a bit of red clay mixed in.  In the deepest part of the excavation the clay was so hard I had to repeatedly scrape it with the backhoe to get to grade.  Couldn't scrape it with the loader bucket, no traction.

Quote from: red oaks lumber on January 07, 2015, 06:28:39 PM
is your barn going to have a basement? i don't understand why a big hole for a barn. enlighten us  :)

As "beenthere" mentioned, the floor of the barn will be only slightly above the level of the runway for my ultralight.  Hills and airplanes don't quite get along.

Quote from: reride82 on January 07, 2015, 06:49:18 PM
Quote from: red oaks lumber on January 07, 2015, 06:28:39 PM
is your barn going to have a basement? i don't understand why a big hole for a barn. enlighten us  :)

I think he is going for a daylight floor level, and instead of a balanced cut/fill and having the hassle of compacted fill, he excavated to grade and moved the fill off-site. But, I've been wrong before.  :D

Partly correct, the fill (as clearly seen a few photos) was not moved off-site.  It was moved bucket by bucket to the runway site where it will be used as fill to level the runway along it's 500' length.

Quote from: thecfarm on January 07, 2015, 06:55:03 PM
Not fair!! Not a rock in sight.

No doubt.  Not a single rock in any of the dig, I mean, not even a 3/4" stone or a pea-sized pebble.  I never really thought about that until now.
My three favorite documents: The Holy Bible, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States.

Warped

Lot of material you moved with that front loader......how bout the fuel?
Good with the rough stuff and rough with the good stuff

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Looks like you scorched a few Pines while burning.  ;D
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

PC-Urban-Sawyer

Quote from: GAB on January 07, 2015, 07:27:49 PM
Quote from: thecfarm on January 07, 2015, 06:55:03 PM
Not fair!! Not a rock in sight.

Ray:
Not everyone has been endowed like you have been.
Gerald

@cfarm,

Yeah, I heard Poston saying you really have stones...

:D :D :D :D :D

Herb

grweldon

Quote from: Warped on January 08, 2015, 10:02:11 AM
Lot of material you moved with that front loader......how bout the fuel?

220 gallons, most of it at 2.699 per gallon...

Quote from: POSTONLT40HD on January 08, 2015, 10:44:18 AM
Looks like you scorched a few Pines while burning.  ;D

You're right...  I hadn't noticed that...  That's OK, they are destined for removal when I add the 45 degree slope to the cut (whenever that will be).
My three favorite documents: The Holy Bible, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States.

grweldon

I thought y'all might like to see some pictures of where I'm at with my barn foundation.  It's going slow, but at least it's going.  My son has been helping quite a bit with the digging.  I work on it a couple of hours a weeknight and all day on Saturday and Sunday, weather permitting.




My three favorite documents: The Holy Bible, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States.

OneWithWood

It's coming along.  Just keep doing a little everyday.
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

thecfarm

Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

SwampDonkey

I hope it doesn't hold water with the clay and banking all around. But, looks like a lot of work, slow but steady as they say. ;D Ah, stuff we do for our hobbies. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

coxy

 looks good   that's going to be a lot of concrete   are you doing it your self 

grweldon

Quote from: SwampDonkey on May 06, 2015, 06:23:13 AM
I hope it doesn't hold water with the clay and banking all around. But, looks like a lot of work, slow but steady as they say. ;D Ah, stuff we do for our hobbies. ;)

Although the dirt does contain some clay, it is mostly sand.  It drains well.  Until last week, we have had about 4 weeks of rain on and off,  that's why I'm not further along.  We had enough rain for me to collect about 600 gallons of rainwater from a 16 x 16 roof.  The site is dry.  The excavation itself isn't completely finished.  Besides being low in spots and high in others, the wall faces will become 45 degree banks and the ground will be graded away from the slab.  I intend to collect rainwater from the roof so I won't need to worry about that water either.  I'm also putting a vapor barrier under the slab.  It will stay dry.

Quote from: coxy on May 06, 2015, 06:43:11 AM
looks good   that's going to be a lot of concrete   are you doing it your self

As it stands right now, 55 cubic yards.  It changes periodically due to inaccuracies in the footing locations.  I use Solidworks for solid modeling at my job and I've modeled the slab.  It's simple to query the software for the slab volume.

I'm too old to do a job this big.  I'm hiring somebody to do the pouring and finishing.

Thank you all for your comments.  I certainly will keep you posted...
My three favorite documents: The Holy Bible, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States.

LittleJohn

Ok, another dumb construction question, are you heating the building?  Cause you may want to look at throwing some tubing in before the concrete goes down, JUST A THOUGHT

Hard to put radiant in a slab AFTER it has been poured

grweldon

I MAY heat the building but obviously I won't use radiant...
My three favorite documents: The Holy Bible, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States.

4x4American

Boy, back in my day..

LittleJohn

Quote from: grweldon on May 06, 2015, 11:50:54 AM
I MAY heat the building but obviously I won't use radiant...
Hey it was just an idea!  Figured as much, I am not even sure you would need much more than a candle to heat a building in Alabama, right??

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