Which machine would you use?

[bigtiller]

I also plan to use perforated pipe during the last 50% of each run to give water a chance to shed off before reaching the exposed opening at the end. Even during a thunderstorm the flow won't be great and no more than 1/2" deep inside the pipes.

I think the planed 50' runs of drainage tile would be better with non-perforated tile to get the water as far away as possible from the building.

 

[Blue Mule]

Went outside today, took a guess as to where my sewer line was laid back in 2017. Marked a spot I thought will end up close to the intersection of my drain pipe and the sewer pipe. Started digging straight down with post hole diggers. Hit the pipe dead on the money in about 90 seconds. Even I was impressed. Nailed it.

Problem is it's only about 10" deep. Once I lay an inch or two of fill back in, my drain pipe on top, and then finish back filling I'll only have about 4" of soil on top of the drain pipe. Hopefully that'll be enough to grow grass. If not it's just a roughly 12" circle that'll be affected so no big deal.

Going tonight to pick up the trencher and materials. Will knock this out tomorrow.

 

[sandman2234]

Good luck with it!
Below freeze line issues isn't something we worry about too much in Florida, but I was wondering...
If you put a septic line in below freeze line, and then put another pipe in above it, will that pipe decrease the depth the septic line was buried, for freeze line effects? It is, after all decreasing the amount of insulating soil on top of the septic pipe, plus allows cold air to enter the drain pipe above the septic pipe, making it colder, faster.
Just wondering...
David from jax

 

[LD1]

Good luck with it!
Below freeze line issues isn't something we worry about too much in Florida, but I was wondering...
If you put a septic line in below freeze line, and then put another pipe in above it, will that pipe decrease the depth the septic line was buried, for freeze line effects? It is, after all decreasing the amount of insulating soil on top of the septic pipe, plus allows cold air to enter the drain pipe above the septic pipe, making it colder, faster.
Just wondering...
David from jax

Septic and drains aren't burried below frost here because they don't retain the liquid.

Not that it has frozen deep here in the past 10 years.....but our frost depth is around the 3' mark. And I know septic lines that are only 8"-10" deep and never an issue

 

[Fixastuff]

I have only used a trencher once. I am having a hard time envisioning how you could make two passes. Wouldn't a lot of the the dirt on the second pass just fall into the first trench?

Doug in SW IA

I own a trencher and this is 100%correct. If you want to chain trench 6" wide you need to rent one with an6" wide chain.

 

[Blue Mule]

Holy smoke! The walk-behind trencher made fast work of this! Got two 50' lines done in an hour! And when I say done I mean pipe buried and backfilled. I ended up taking the guy's advice above ^^^ and I did run solid pipe the entire length and terminated into a pop-up drain rather than using perforated pipe the last 25 feet because I didn't want to fool with the proper fill material to allow correct water absorbtion. Was easier and less expensive this way and still gets the water away from the house. Will do the other two on the detached garage in the morning! WAY better than a mini-ex.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Septic and drains aren't burried below frost here because they don't retain the liquid.

Not that it has frozen deep here in the past 10 years.....but our frost depth is around the 3' mark. And I know septic lines that are only 8"-10" deep and never an issue

Good luck with it!
Below freeze line issues isn't something we worry about too much in Florida, but I was wondering...
If you put a septic line in below freeze line, and then put another pipe in above it, will that pipe decrease the depth the septic line was buried, for freeze line effects? It is, after all decreasing the amount of insulating soil on top of the septic pipe, plus allows cold air to enter the drain pipe above the septic pipe, making it colder, faster.
Just wondering...
David from jax

our frost line is 6’ deep …. there isn’t a single septic field buried that deep. septic drains need to flow to a destination, if it would be 6ft deep 99% of them would flow to a dead end .., everyone know avoid packing the snow over a there septic field to avoid freezing so the snow insulated them.

it doesn’t freeze for a few reason, one hot waster from the house going in but more importantly the bacterial chemicals reaction generates heat.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Septic and drains aren't burried below frost here because they don't retain the liquid.

Not that it has frozen deep here in the past 10 years.....but our frost depth is around the 3' mark. And I know septic lines that are only 8"-10" deep and never an issue

Also, sewer lines carry mostly gray water which has a lower freezing point due to it's salt and mineral content. It will still freeze though if it gets cold enough and is allowed to remain stagnant in the pipe.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

Since you seem to know your soil pretty well, the trencher may work wonderfully. However, if you hit a big rock, you'll be wishing for the mini-ex.

 

[Doz]

You can only really only plan on one pass with a trencher so if you need to be wider rent a mini.

 

[workinonit]

He's done. The grass has probably grown back over his trenches by now.

 

[Kasamoto]

I need to dig 4 trenches. Each trench needs to be 6-8" wide and about 50 feet long. I'm going to lay pipe in the ground to carry gutter downspout water farther out into the yard. Currently it's dumping about 6 feet from the house. I want it to dump 50 feet away. So I'm going to bury pipe for 50 feet and then terminate onto the grass above grade (the yard has a nice slope to it).

I'm going to rent a machine for one day to dig these 4 trenches. I can't decide whether a Ditch Witch style trencher would be best, or a mini ex. I figure that the trencher would be more precise with depth, width, and staying in a straight line but would probably require two passes to achieve the 6 inch width I want to lay my pipe in the ground. A mini ex would give me a 12" bucket or slightly less so one pass would do the trick, but it may be hard to keep a consistent depth/fall on the trench as I move along. I have rented both machines a few times in the past so I'm no pro operator but I'm decent.

What machine would you use? Or is there something I haven't considered?

In the amount of time it would take to pick up and return the trencher and dig the trenches (not counting the time to earn the money to pay the rental) you can dig a trench with a sharpshooter shovel.

 

[charlessenf]

I figure that the trencher would be more precise with depth, width, and staying in a straight line but would probably require two passes to achieve the 6 inch width I want to lay my pipe in the ground.

The one I used at a Habitat build only required the one pass. Relatively flat, cleared, sloping terrain. Real simple to use - I thought.

 

[charlessenf]

He's done. The grass has probably grown back over his trenches by now.

Yeah, why'd I get an email with this thread this morning! Something amiss with this site's algorithms!

Yo, Moderator, you list'ning

 

[olenjohn]

CALL FOR LOCATES. Kentucky and Virginia laws require excavators, including homeowners to contact operators of underground utilities before performing any excavation work.
There is NO charge and it covers your butt.phone 811
Trench only if it can be done in one pass. Two passes side by side will not work.

 

[Atlfinfan]

Very helpful thread. I'm about to do the same thing, and I also live in a blue house I had built 2 years ago. Trencher it is.

 

[LouNY]

I know the original poster is done with his project but thought I'd mention one thing.
I really like daylight drains when ever possible. However open pipes attract vermin which will get in and plug lines.
My preference is to use a dry well, can be a purchased concrete one or even just a plastic drum with holes and some screening and stone fill with the drain line ending in the dry well and stone to keep most critters out of the system.

 

[tonynz]

if you already have a slope away from the house, I would use a trencher, much faster and cleaner. Here in New Zealand it is a requirement that all roof water is piped at least 20 metres away from the house. If the soil is free draining then at the end of the run, a large soak pit is dug and filled with rocks. This is to enable the system to cope with sudden downpours and give a buffering action. The alternative is to have a large drainage field of slotted pipes but it is not as good at coping with heavy rain.

 

[kthompson]

I was young once. Today, would never consider a shovel for that job.

 

[CaseyinAL]

Trencher - hands down!!!!!!!!!!!!