Building site -- 15 degree south-facing slope |
Excavating Below Floor Level
The excavation would be rather simple if it weren't for the need to bury the conduits for the Annualized GeoSolar (AGS) system (previous description of conduits for AGS). The conduits will be ten in number and range from 5' below the floor level at the front wall to 3' below floor level at the back wall. To make things even more complicated, the piezometers that we placed and monitored for three years, told us that a French drain system* would be necessary to keep the AGS system isolated from the rainy-season water table. It will comprise seven separate drains 15' - 20' apart east to west, about 10' below floor level, canted southward by 1/4" per foot and reaching daylight downhill where they will drain into a rain garden.
Excavation Equipment
Remember the adage, "When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"? Well, our track loader is our hammer so I need to devise unorthodox excavation methods to stretch its functionality. Even then I anticipate having to rent a mini-excavator (small backhoe) for a few days for final shaping of the French drains.
French Drain Trenches
After the basic house excavation is complete, it will be necessary to trench down another 10' for the French drains. It is too dangerous to work in a narrow trench even half that depth so, if it needs to be wider, why not use the hammer I have and make it 6' wide (which is probably not a whole lot wider than is necessary for safety?). I will be moving a lot more dirt than a professional would but I have the loader for putting it back in the hole and all it will cost is a few extra tanks of diesel fuel and a few days time.
At the bottom of the 6' wide track loader "trenches", I plan to dig proper trenches for the French drains approximately a foot wide and a foot or so deep using a rented mini-excavator then finishing with selective hand-digging.
For the rest of the story, go to more details on our excavation.
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* Information on French drains.
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