Question about digging with backhoes

pohorsky · Mar 21, 2015

How narrow a hole can you dig with a backhoe? Somebody needs soil samples at 10 ft on some of a property and were thinking about bringing in a backhoe to dig the holes. How wide a hole are we talking about?

TomSeller · Mar 21, 2015

pohorsky said:
How narrow a hole can you dig with a backhoe? Somebody needs soil samples at 10 ft on some of a property and were thinking about bringing in a backhoe to dig the holes. How wide a hole are we talking about?

That depends on the width of the bucket. A typical narrow bucket is 12" wide. A "standard" backhoe can easily dig to 10' deep, but not necessarily can your "homeowner's" backhoe.

hosspuller · Mar 21, 2015

Don't let anybody go down into a hole to get soil samples. A cave in even at 4 feet can be deadly. (Soil pressure on the chest alone can suffocate)

calman93611 · Mar 21, 2015

hosspuller said:
Don't let anybody go down into a hole to get soil samples. A cave in even at 4 feet can be deadly. (Soil pressure on the chest alone can suffocate)

hosspuller is exactly right! Now only can you suffocate but damage to internal organs is usually the result and may take up to 2 weeks to end in death.

I would dig the hole with a backhoe to the depth, "then" get a pipe and drive it down to get your sample. You should not need a large sample for whatever test it is needed for.

Good luck and be careful.

tractorgp · Mar 21, 2015

hosspuller said:
Don't let anybody go down into a hole to get soil samples. A cave in even at 4 feet can be deadly. (Soil pressure on the chest alone can suffocate)

A friend of mine that I shared an office with died this way. He was also a town councillor and an engineer. He was inspecting a deep hole that the city workers made.

vtsnowedin · Mar 21, 2015

The last bucket out of the hole could be your sample. In my case a ten foot hole would require an air track rock drill.

s219 · Mar 21, 2015

We had to get soil samples on my new property, first for foundation soil and then for septic. I couldn't imagine using a backhoe when it was so easy to use a simple coring tester on the end of a rod. We were going down 6' max, but they have extensions to go up to about 12' (maybe more, I don't know -- there is surely a practical limit). It took very little effort to do it by hand. Perhaps the only downside is that you go down in about 12-16" increments and have to pull a sample up to empty the corer whether you want it or not. SO if your only interest was 10' down, it could seem slow.

Utopia Texas · Mar 21, 2015

There are services that use BobCat type machines with vertical augers to take soil samples. The auger has 8 foot extensions and can literally go as deep as necessary. I do not think you will find a backhoe that goes 10 feet deep that will fit a tiny 1 foot wide bucket.

pohorsky · Mar 21, 2015

Utopia Texas said:
There are services that use BobCat type machines with vertical augers to take soil samples. The auger has 8 foot extensions and can literally go as deep as necessary. I do not think you will find a backhoe that goes 10 feet deep that will fit a tiny 1 foot wide bucket.

That was my thought.
Don't worry about me going into the hole. No chance of that. Some people are interested in leasing some of our land to grow grapes on and they wanted to get some samples, but I wasn't looking forward to a series of 10x6x10 holes on out property.

vtsnowedin · Mar 21, 2015

A backhoe can fill in it's test holes before it leaves the site if all you need are soil type and depth profiles for a vineyard. Should be just a matter of how much each machine would cost.

TomSeller · Mar 21, 2015

Utopia Texas said:
I do not think you will find a backhoe that goes 10 feet deep that will fit a tiny 1 foot wide bucket.

Both of mine have 12" buckets and both go deeper than 10'. Not uncommon.

jenkinsph · Mar 21, 2015

I would hire someone to take core samples, probably more accurate, less disturbance of the surface. Usually can be combined with an analysis report too.

EddieWalker · Mar 21, 2015

Are you renting the machine to do this? Small excavators can come with a 12 inch bucket depending on the rental place. That would be my first choice. If you are going with a backhoe, a full sized one will usually have a 24 inch bucket and can dig down to 12 feet. If you go with a compact, be sure it can dig down to ten feet. How are you going to get the machine there?

You didn't say why you needed the test, but if money is a concern, I wold also look into buying or renting a hand held auger with a couple pieces of pipe to extend the length to ten feet. As a kid, we drilled a well in our backyard this way to water the grass. It wasn't fun, but it works.

Amazon.com: Seymour Mfg. AU-S6 Post Hole Auger: Home Improvement

Eddie

pohorsky · Mar 21, 2015

EddieWalker said:
You didn't say why you needed the test, but if money is a concern, I wold also look into buying or renting a hand held auger with a couple pieces of pipe to extend the length to ten feet. As a kid, we drilled a well in our backyard this way to water the grass. It wasn't fun, but it works.

Eddie

Some folks want to lease some of our land to plant grapes, so they are paying for the work to be done, but want to find out about our soil, so they are the ones paying whoever to dig or drill.

bindian · Mar 21, 2015

TomSeller said:
Both of mine have 12" buckets and both go deeper than 10'. Not uncommon.

My BH will go down to 11 feet 4 inches. I have a 12 inch bucket, but normally keep the 24 inch bucket on.

I would google soil sampling before renting a BH. A little hole borer might be way cheaper (&faster) that the expense of hauling a BH out to your place and doing the dig deed.

I am sure these folks want numerous areas sampled...............so that would be a lot of BH time. On Gold Rush, I saw a sampling borer machine that would go down 30 to 40 feet. So the machine to fit your needs is out there. I'm just not sure a BH would be that machine.
hugs, Brandi

Utopia Texas · Mar 21, 2015

pohorsky said:
Some folks want to lease some of our land to plant grapes, so they are paying for the work to be done, but want to find out about our soil, so they are the ones paying whoever to dig or drill.

I am curious as to why they need to go down 10 feet for grape production. Most biological/ bacterial activity for plant growth is in the top 1 foot of most soils and porosity tests are generally in the 2-3 foot depth. I have owned two grape vineyards for over 30 years, 420 acres in Argentina and 80 acres here in Texas, and very old root stock pulled up in areas scheduled for replant is at most 2 feet deep. Are these folks experienced at grape production? Possibly there is something new I am not aware off though I keep up with new growing techniques constantly.

Depmandog · Mar 21, 2015

Geoprobe. That's what you want to look for. Search for an environmental company who does subsurface testing. Around here we have a company that has a fleet of geoprobes with operators that rent out on a per job basis.

They put the Geoprobe units on pickups through crawler units, to be able to pretty much access anywhere from heavy industrial urban sites to muddy fields. They don't go through rubble / rock - only soil.

paulfun9 · Mar 21, 2015

my Kioti wont dig ten feet down but my International will go to a 14FT flat bottom with no problem. I would let them pay someone with the right core machine to get the samples