Digging out the basement

markct · Aug 4, 2003

a few years ago i was at a construction expo and they had a mini excavator there that was probably about 3ft wide, and about 3ft long on the tracks. it had a big 220 volts electric plug and a short cord coming out the back, the idea was you could use it inside a basement or in a building without worrying about fumes from exaust. seemed like a realy neat idea, and being 220 you could run it off most decent sized portable generators too if ya were working somewheres that didnt have power

Hoeman00 · Aug 9, 2003

I lowered the basement floor under our 1860's built house 3'and layed up 13 1/2 course concrete block walls.
We put 3 I beams under it to support the house and since the 28 X 28 addition was going to have a walk-out, I used my Deere SSL and dug it out w/ it.
The longest day riding in a SSL for 14 hours basicly non-stop to dig out the basement and remove the large sandstone blocks and level the floor plus put in 4" deep footers.
I cheated and used the trencher to cut down thru the dirt in the back where the crawl space was only 1' deep (8 1/2' of dirt to remove) this made digging MUCH easier.
I also have 2 buckets for the SSL (6' foundry w/ teeth and the 6' slurry bucket) and being able to switch buckets many times between digging and finishing the floor to grade (everyone needs two buckets instead of a tooth bar only $100 more).
It is a real weird to look thru the basement and we still lived in the house for the 5 weeks it took to excavate,pour footers lay 3000 block and frame up the addition w/ roof done and windows and doors in and the 26 X 28 attached garage too.
Everyone came by to look and some helped like the wife's cousin (a female attorney) she helped level the 57 gravel for the floor.
Mainly it was myself w/ some help from wife,my dad and father-in-law.
I've got photos but need to scan them in.

40Kchicks · Aug 9, 2003

<font color="blue">(everyone needs two buckets instead of a tooth bar only $100 more). </font>

Thats what I keep saying in these, "Do I need a toothbar," threads. No you need a slightly smaller digging bucket with teeth and a slightly larger GP (general purpose) bucket.

Eric

Hoeman00 · Aug 10, 2003

Yep the ideal set-up.
I've got a foundry bucket w/ teeth (higher back and shorter floor which gives more breakout and strong built)
Also a manure/slurry bucket w/ the higher back and long floor for more load capacity.

mrcaptainbob · Aug 10, 2003

There's not a drain any place in the floor. No sump, either. Just a 2 inch dirt channel around the perimeter. The house is on the side of a gentle hill. The whole area is boulder, rocks and sand. As long as the ground slopes from the house, there'll never be water from rain down there...Don't know what would happen if a water pipe popped, however! That's why I suspect the 2" dirt trough was the 'drain'.