So far we've used a mini-digger three times, twice
to dig and fill in the sewer line which was re-routed so that
it was clear of the new construction.
Early on in the project we discovered that there was an old concrete
septic tank under the lawn beside the house. It coincided with
the line of the outer wall of the living room, so it had to broken
up with a sledge hammer.
It took four days with a Mini-digger to excavate the 2 foot wide
trenches. A lot of the time was taken up with transferring the
subsoil to a skip in the road by wheelbarrow. So far we have filled
at least 12 six cubic yard skips with unwanted muck and subsoil.
After each digging session it takes a couple of weekends to barrow
the piles of soil away.
The site is on clay mixed
with flints and it is hard to dig, it can take three or four scrapes
to get a full bucket. Worse still, the clay is really awful stuff
to handle when it gets wet and sticky.
The trenches had to be 1 metre below ground level, although where
the Septic tank used to be they ended up slightly deeper. The
ironic thing is that the original parts of the house are stitting
on a brick footing that is only a foot below ground level. We
have to plan for differential movement between the extension and
the original house because the old part of the house is going
to be heaving up and down with seasonal changes in water table.
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