Heavy Equipment Forums Heavy Equipment Community

Excavating under a house

Hendrik · 2009-08-06 20:13

Had an interesting job this week, digging out some dirt and rocks from under a house that is going to have rooms build there. There was a big patch of hard rock that I had to grind through with tiger teeth but apart from that it was straight forward but not a lot of room to maneuver.

Replies29
  1. #1upnover2009-08-06 21:30

    Cool, What did you do for ventilation with all those diesel fumes? Looks like a small mining operation.

  2. #2td25c2009-08-06 22:15

    That is an interesting job & good pictures Hendrik.It's always interesting digging a basement under an existing home.I like the walk behind tracked haul truck.I looks like its good for tight spots.Are you also doing the concrete & foundation work?

  3. #3Hendrik2009-08-07 05:53

    We had an industrial fan one end and an extraction fan at the other to keep the air flowing through.

  4. #4Hendrik2009-08-07 06:00

    No, someone else can have the pleasure of that, well I did some of the foundation stuff. Also I am not happy having to grind out bedrock, just to put in 10cm of dolomite, to keep a structural engineer happy. I do not mind doing necessary work but there was some real BS work that had to be done

  5. #5Hendrik2009-08-07 06:10

    And it can climb walls...........just about. I believe it is an American machine, made by Canycom http://www.canycomsales.com/menu/products/bfp602.php imported to Oz by Dingo and sold under the Bitza 400C brand, although it could be a Chinese copy of the Canycom. Has a Honda motor and a couple of design flaws but does the job

  6. #6strott2009-08-07 07:48

    Looks like your machines need a clean!!!!

  7. #7Hendrik2009-08-07 19:22

    Yeah and 5 minutes into the next job they look just like that again

  8. #8strott2009-08-08 14:35

    sounds about right!!!!

  9. #9Hendrik2009-08-08 19:25

    Don't get me wrong, I do like clean machines but in the sort of work I do it is difficult to stay clean. Especially in a job like this where I am up and down on the machines all day and you can see the water on the ground. A couple of wheelbarrow (or should that be trackbarrow) loads where just sloppy mud, like custard. I will have to give the machines a bit of a clean before thursday because I am doing a job for a landscaper who is a bit fussy and might be a bit funky about mud monsters dropping dirt everywhere they go.

  10. #10td25c2009-08-08 22:07

    Thank's for posting the link on the "Canycom"tracked carrier,Thats pretty neet.Dont worry about a little mud ,dirt & grease on your excavating equipment mate.That means you are busy & making money.Excavating equipment should always have some dirt & grease on it.If it's clean ,I aint doing nothing.

  11. #11Wolf2009-08-08 22:09

    Did you find any interesting old stuff when you excavated under the house. Where I am located, they excavate downtown and run into dumps that reveal the most interesting archaeological artifacts. Many of them wind up in the museum--Gold Rush Era type stuff---which is cool, as long as they don't shut down the jobsites in the process.

  12. #12Hendrik2009-08-08 23:05

    Nah, this is a fairly new house (maybe 3 or 4 years old) and you could see the teeth marks in the hard stuff where the original excavator dug out the site. Judging by the distance of the teeth, I'd say a 15 to 20 tonner did the original work.

  13. #13strott2009-08-09 13:01

    One of these is what you need!!!! (If anyone could tell me how to get these pics to appear in the post I would be grateful!!) IMG]http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb121/strott_2007/Trackeddumper6503.jpg[/IMG] IMG]http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb121/strott_2007/Trackeddumper6502.jpg[/IMG]

  14. #14Steve Frazier2009-08-09 13:12

    You must load pictures to our site, we don't link to images here for a number of reasons

  15. #15strott2009-08-09 14:03

    One of these are helpful!!

  16. #16Hendrik2009-08-09 19:32

    Yes but also cost a bit more than my basic dumper and require more maintenance. I have the dingo as well for loading/dumping but it is heavy and makes a mess, basically weighs twice as much loaded as the trackbarrow and distributes the weight over 4 small lug tires. Plus the dingo can't go places the barrow can. I have stood next to the barrow, scratching various parts of my body, wondering how I can improve the tipping action but the problem remains that if I where to alter it to tip better, it would be very hard to manually tip. Anyway it is working well enough for now and if I find I do a lot of work with it, I may splash out on a fancy model.

  17. #17willie592009-08-09 19:57

    Is that Kobelco the machine you made a thumb for? Looks like the perfect machine for the job your doing.

  18. #18Hendrik2009-08-10 01:50

    Yes it is and did a pretty good job working together with the big ex.

  19. #19maddog2009-08-10 09:43

    Thanks for all the pictures, nice job

  20. #20strott2009-08-10 14:19

    Are the tracks on your barrow belt or hydraulically driven?

  21. #21Hendrik2009-08-10 19:51

    It's all belt driven, basically the go lever engages a small belt on the motor which then drives a longer belt going to the gearbox. It operates like an old dozer, you pull the steering levers up a bit and it disengages the drive to that side and pull the lever a bit more and it engages the brake for that side and she spins around. It can't do pivot turns because the tracks cannot spin in opposite directions.

  22. #22strott2009-08-11 15:01

    Nice and simple, easy to fix - Don't know about you but I barely ever need to carry out pivot turns anyway.

  23. #23dozerdave2009-08-11 19:57

    Hi strott, Real neat, can I be nosey and ask the price?

  24. #24strott2009-08-12 08:27

    Over here in the UK they sell for about £5750 + VAT - that is for a diesel electric start version, they do a hand start petrol version which is cheaper aswell.

  25. #25cretebusters2009-08-13 19:14

    This is how we do it When it comes to limited access as well as fume -free excavation we do quite a bit of it. These are some links to shots of some of our jobs...I hope www.cretebusters.com

  26. #26gopher2009-09-06 10:06

    fumes i bought a scrubber for my bobcat 322g. i quick attach it to the back door , two bolts and its on and off . worked in the local grocery store hammering and digging for two weeks with 40 plus men working in there . no complaints on fummes. worked great. paid 600 can.

  27. #27Hendrik2009-09-07 20:01

    I'll let you elaborate on that, with some web links and pictures if you have them. The Kubota and motor barrow are not too bad but the Kobelco is a stinker, I have thought about sticking a hose on the exhaust pipe and running it outside but that has it's drawbacks.

  28. #28dozerdave2009-09-08 02:28

    Hi Hendrik, Good stuff, that neat little truck really hauls a load and saves an aching back.

  29. #29strott2009-09-08 08:17

    I would of thought that the kobelco wouldn't be too bad to run (its only 2 cyclinders isn't it??) Has it got a lot of hours on it? A hose may work if you can run it along the ceiling e.t.c.