Best way to remove 3’ of bed rock to burry septic tank?

[Oldpath05]

I’m still recovering from a broke ankle. I can operate my backhoe but the man behind the jackhammer won’t be me. One of my buddies has a jackhammer. I might try to get him to try it before renting a mini excavator.

I forgot you was the one with broken angle, sounds to me if you know someone with jack-hammer, I'm sure he wouldn't mine giving that a whirl, would be nice though if you did have one to hook up on your excavator. And yes you are to close to a foundation for explosives.

 

[4570Man]

It looks like I under estimated the dexpan and it would probably work. Is there cheaper source than the stuff on the website that’s $2 a pound or more?

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I'm going to suggest a mini with a hammer then use the backhoe to muck out the material. I sure wouldn't want to be the guy on a handheld jackhammer. Actually I take that back, hire the work to be done but be clear about needing a hammer and over excavating for bedding. A local contractor should have a much bigger hammer than you can rent and they get to take the beating in the machine.

Also, the comment about needing an engineer, this hardly requires an engineer, it's just digging a hole. I'd laugh at you and tell you to just get it done.

 

[mikester]

Re: Best way to remove 3 of bed rock to burry septic tank?

Around here code says you have to install a raised bed in situations like yours. You also have to dig several test trenches first to inspect soil conditions after which they tell you how the system needs to be designed. I wouldnt be very confident in your system designers if they designed your system without even looking at your property. If that designer is a civil employee they should be fired from that job...if they are a private contractor, run Forest, run!

You dont dig into bedrock to install a leach field because the treated effluent has nowhere to go. Its a recipe for premature failure of your septic treatment system. All you would be making is a cesspool.

 

[Thomas]

Oldpath05
Sounds like a jack-hammer job to me, just make believe your riding a Harley.
.........................
OUCH but good one. :thumbsup:

 

[oosik]

The install for the septic tank is simply a matter of material removal. The drain field will be an entirely different matter - if the same conditions exist out where the DF will be installed. Somebody is sloughing off if they - "don't care how the drain field is installed".

The OP will be looking at premature failure if an appropriate DF is not designed and installed.

 

[Egon]

Tank buried above the rock with a pump out from house to tank??

 

[Morning Wood]

The blasting will probably be more expensive anyway. There is a waiting process as the send certified letters to abutters and then someone comes and does a physical survey of the home to check for cracks etc. The blasting outfit also is required to use a sensor while they are blasting to make sure they don’t surpass a certain vibration level in nearby homes. I wouldn’t be worried about blasting 30’ from a home. We blasted 4’ from my home when I put in an addition. That was in New England granite. No worries.

If you hammer just get a bigger hammer than you think you’ll need.

 

[Industrial Toys]

If you have to bring in a drill for blasting, I can't imagine that is any cheaper than a hoe and hammer.

We bought a bunch of explosives years ago. Friends had done a blasting course. All kinds of safety issues. Fly rock and sound bouncing off the clouds. Who is going to pay for the neighbours windows?

 

[Morning Wood]

If you have to bring in a drill for blasting, I can't imagine that is any cheaper than a hoe and hammer.

We bought a bunch of explosives years ago. Friends had done a blasting course. All kinds of safety issues. Fly rock and sound bouncing off the clouds. Who is going to pay for the neighbours windows?

Blasting mats, but then you need a machine big enough to place them. Those suckers are heavvvy.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not something one would want to bring to a job site for one septic size hole. Again, the hoe makes more sense. Plus, explosive is not cheap either. And, it takes a lot more than I figured for pretty much anything we played with.

 

[hawkeye08]

This old house had an episode that they did some blasting.. used the heavy mats, pretty cool.

 

[Oldoak]

The blasting will probably be more expensive anyway. There is a waiting process as the send certified letters to abutters and then someone comes and does a physical survey of the home to check for cracks etc. The blasting outfit also is required to use a sensor while they are blasting to make sure they don稚 surpass a certain vibration level in nearby homes. I wouldn稚 be worried about blasting 30 from a home. We blasted 4 from my home when I put in an addition. That was in New England granite. No worries.

If you hammer just get a bigger hammer than you think you値l need.

Blasting mats, but then you need a machine big enough to place them. Those suckers are heavvvy.

Yep, Morning Wood is really knowledgeable about blasting.

I never was involved, but I have seen a lot of blasting in my area over the last several years. Some within the vicinity of homes but most was in farmlands and wood areas. Blasting was done on a big scale for constructing natural gas drilling pads and laying miles of natural gas pipelines. Got to know the permitting process and blasting procedures quite well.

 

[L47TLBwannabe]

Not something one would want to bring to a job site for one septic size hole. Again, the hoe makes more sense. Plus, explosive is not cheap either. And, it takes a lot more than I figured for pretty much anything we played with.

With proper blasting you don't get much fly rock and blasting mats are used along with smaller charges. Somebody in my home town tried that expanding crap in granite for a house basement and it hardly did anything they ended up have to blast with small charges so as not to disturb the neighbors. A septic tank is ok to install like that unless you have a high water table, a septic field however is usually installed closer to the surface if not on top of the surface. Soil type and water table will dictate how the field is installed in heavy clay they are usually built on the surface in a sand type mound.

 

[Industrial Toys]

The guy across the road split a huge boulder with that expanding stuff last fall. It was sticking out of the ground and was a hazard. The stuff worked to split the stone, I dug on each side of it and pulled the stone apart putting each section below grade.

Most of the afordable blasting around here was by a guy that showed up with an old pickup truck and his dog. He had the stuff, maybe a small auger, tamper, blasting machine and that's about it. If that couldn't do your blasting job, you were probably looking at a serious contract with a construction company.

 

[4570Man]

The days of going to the hardware store to get some dynamite are over. I have serious doubts of blasting being an option. I really don’t care how long it takes within reason. I never called the rental place but I suspect the rock hammer is the most economical option. The septic tank is 5.5 feet tall. There’s a possibility of getting a shorter and wider tank but still 4.5 feet tall. As to the fill line I have to dig 330 feet of ditch 36” wide and 24” deep. I don’t think rock will be a problem at only 2’ depth required. They’ve done soil test and mapped out the location and quantity of line.

 

[Morning Wood]

I’m not even sure why I recommended blasting. It’s way overkill for a septic tank. If I remember correctly it was like $6-$7k a day. Just rent a hammer or sub a hammer out and use your backhoe to dig out the hammered material. You should be able to do it in a day no problem.

 

[CADplans]

Re: Best way to remove 3 of bed rock to burry septic tank?

Spend your money on acid,,,
etch into the bedrock, in the shape of the septic tank,,
Cast a concrete lid in place,,

DONE,, instant septic tank,, made out of the natural stone. :thumbsup:

No worries about that sucker going bad,,,

 

[4570Man]

Is a 4-5 ton mini with a hammer adequate for this job? I’ve never rock hammered before.

 

[Industrial Toys]

How soft is the rock? Does it come apart readily in layers? I have various hand held hydraulic breakers. I love playing with those. The hardest part is how often you have to get back in the hoe to dig out the spoil, then back in the hole to break up some more stone. It would work so much better with two people.

Playing:



I wish I had more bedrock to make my way through. It's quite the manly toy to play with.