Tag: dumpster

Basement Dig Out – Part 3

June 3, 2015 / Matt / 0 Comments

Sarah using the digger

I’ll be honest; I’m not sure how many “parts” to the dig out there are, but this is Part 3. It kind of feels like it’ll go on forever. We filled our fifth heavy debris dumpster in a row and took back the mini-excavator. I’d like to say that means we’re done, but instead I’m saying that “principle excavation” is complete, which is just another way of saying that we’re not done. What remains to do is finish clearing the dirt from the footings, remove a few piles of loose dirt including the dirt ramp we used to get the digger out the back door, and level everything, probably by renting one of those heavy rollers you fill with water. The bottom line is there’s more than a few wheelbarrows of dirt yet to haul out, and a lot more work to do.

Digging for new back steps

The last thing we used the digger for was to excavate a pit behind the house. This is where the new outside basement steps will go. Having the steps go up to the left makes more sense since it’s toward the sidewalk that runs along the side of the house and to the currently nonexistent garage, but it requires some reconfiguration, by which I mean busting out the existing concrete retaining walls and stairs and then putting in a new one. With the steps going to the left, we can eventually put a deck on the right side of the house.

In addition to the final clearing and leveling, we also need to clean up the inside edge of the footings so that it’s even enough to finish the walls down the road. Exactly how we do that “clean up” remains to be seen, but it’s stone, so probably hammer and chisel, concrete saw, and angle grinder. Of course after everything is nice and clean and level we have to dig trenches for the plumbing and weeping system, so we’ll be busy for a while yet.

Because we have to take out the concrete walls and there’s undoubtedly more dirt to clear for the stairs, there’s a strong likelihood we’ll need yet another dumpster in the not-too-distant future. Also, just a heads up to anyone planning an extended rental from Home Depot: a “month” is four weeks, so if you bring it back in thirty days it costs extra.

Basement Dig Out – Part 2

May 12, 2015 / Matt / 5 Comments

Ramp to basement

I’ve got this great new workout you should try; it’s called “pushing wheelbarrows full of clay up a steep ramp”. In the last two weeks we’ve filled two 10-yard heavy debris dumpsters, emphasis on the heavy. Tomorrow they swap the full dumpster for an empty one and it starts again, so this is basically our day off. We’re getting one per week and I expect that to continue for the next couple weeks.

Second dumpster filled

Our original wheel barrow was old when we got it and was not up to the rigors of this project. The bucket tore loose from the frame and we set it aside. Sarah’s dad lent us his wheelbarrow, but it’s looking a little crooked these days. Sarah bought two new wheelbarrows, and between the three we’ve been putting them to use. I hauled 30 loads in two hours Saturday evening. I’d guess each dumpster is about 150 loads, since we can only fill the wheelbarrows about half-full and still push them up the basement ramp. The ramps are working well, though the one up from the basement is the tough one, especially when it gets slick from the rain and mud. The ramp I built to get up to the top of the dumpsters is great, though. That was time well spent.

Digger and wheelbarrows

The digger (mini excavator) has proven its worth too. Every time we grab a shovel to manually dig around the footings we’re given a taste of what the task would have been like without it, and it’s just awful. Digging with the backhoe on the other hand is a breeze. Hauling up bucketfuls of heavy clay, the hardest part is dropping clods into the wheelbarrows without knocking them over (especially the crooked one) and not digging too deep. I used my laser level to confirm the footings are pretty consistent in height, so we just need to dig even with the bottom of them, about 14 inches total.

Excavation

Looking forward, we’ve gotten about a third of the dirt removed. With the dumpster we get tomorrow we can get most of the next third removed. That means it will be time to move the water heater and the laundry upstairs so we can pull up the last section of concrete floor. I’m taking off some time from work next week to get that done as well as level what we’ve dug so far. Our goal is to finish with the digger by the weekend after Memorial Day, which includes digging out the new back steps. May’s looking pretty busy!

Basement Dig Out – Part 1

May 4, 2015 / Matt / 0 Comments

Loading dumpster

It’s time to start digging out the basement! We got the first heavy debris dumpster in and last week I took out the concrete back steps leading out of the basement with a sledge and the rotary hammer so we can make a ramp. I used the concrete saw to cut out a section of patio at the top of the stairs to make the ramp more gradual, then put in a section of shingled plywood from the garage roof so we could start bringing wheel barrows up.

Patio cut

Removing steps

Finished ramp (also Derek)

We got the leftover concrete that didn’t fit in the previous dumpster loaded, along with the pile of bricks and dirt that I’d pulled up by hand. Just that was enough to fill the dumpster to the point that we had to close the door. Then we started using the ramp and platform I built to dump full wheelbarrows into the dumpster.

Mini excavator

Saturday I picked up the tool that will help make the dig out just a bit easier: a mini excavator. After a quick review of a Youtube video for a similar model, we got the excavator into the basement (I wound up having to take the door jam off) and started digging. The bottleneck is definitely the wheelbarrows. The excavator can fill a wheelbarrow in two buckets, so it took some practice before we worked out a solid system for working efficiently. About the time we’d worked it out, the first dumpster was full and we had to stop.

While we wait for the next dumpster I’ll start clearing out the footings along the wall and get our depth figured out. Up to this point we’ve been winging it, and we don’t want to go too deep! Using the excavator is fun, but I’m still sore from pushing all the wheel barrows of dirt up the ramp. We’re expecting to have three or four dumpsters all told, so this process will probably eat up the better part of a month.

Back Yard Cleanup and Ramp

April 24, 2015 / Matt / 3 Comments

Starting to fill

Following our back porch and garage demo, Sarah cleared a path in the back yard and last Friday the dumpster was delivered for all the debris. Unfortunately, even with careful loading and help from Dean we couldn’t fit everything in. Tuesday they swapped the full 30 yard dumpster for an empty 15 yard so we could get the rest of the debris cleared out.

Filled to the top and getting picked up

Before loading the second dumpster, I harvested some of the materials to build a ramp. Our previous experience with heavy debris dumpsters has made it clear that we need a better way to dump full wheelbarrows of concrete and dirt. For the first half of loading, the door of the dumpster is open and it’s pretty straightforward, but after the dumpster starts to fill and the door is closed, it’s not so simple. Previously we wound up using buckets or in the case of concrete, unloading by hand. But building a ramp makes the whole process much easier, and since we’re going to have at least three full dumpsters of heavy clay, it’s worth doing.

Ramp design

After a bit of brainstorming the simplest way to make a ramp that would stand up to load after load of heavy wheelbarrows, I settled on a design and drew it in Sketchup, using the measurements of all the pieces from my drawing to make a part list. I picked out 2x6s of the appropriate size from the garage pile and cut them per plan and then assembled the thing. It actually worked out really well and I got the whole thing done in a couple hours.

Completed Ramp (also Derek)

The second half of the ramp is a level platform to make it easier to turn the wheel barrow and dump it in. I didn’t bother with Sketchup because it was all right angles. I just cut a stack of boards and then screwed it together. The tops of the ramp and platform are sections of roof from the garage. The idea is that the shingles will make it easier to get traction with the wheel barrow, especially since it will probably get pretty muddy. We also kept a couple of roof sections for the dirt ramp we’ll have into the basement once I remove the back steps.

Ramp and platform

We got the second dumpster filled and even had enough room left for Dean and Siobhan to bring over a couple of carloads of junk that’s been accumulating in their garage. I didn’t get a picture of it full, but imagine a full dumpster and there you go.

First dirt dumpster

The new dirt dumpster was just dropped off and we’ve got some work ahead of us. You can see how the ramp will help with the loading once the door is closed. Things are about to get busy!

Back Yard Cleanup

May 1, 2014 / Matt / 0 Comments

Our back yard has been collecting material from the house. First we excavated the new footings in the basement, which resulted in a large mound of clay. Then, between the chimney removal and removing the brick fire blocking during subfloor install we added a giant pile of bricks and mortar. We removed the mortar from all of the good bricks and stacked them in a neat cube, but the broken and crumbling bits we just piled next to it.

Clay, bricks, mortar (and Derek)

In addition, we had an old raised garden along one side of the yard. It wasn’t the lovely cinder blocks that made us want to get rid of it now so much as the dirt itself: full of shredded plastic bags from rats nests, broken glass, bottle caps, an oil filter, bullet slugs, you-name-it. Sarah wouldn’t plant vegetables in it, so we used separate planters. She was planning to put a shovel-full of dirt into our garbage toters every week, but that was going to take forever. Instead we decided to get another dumpster (#4 if you’re counting).

Our beautiful garden (and Derek)

An added incentive to take out the garden sooner rather than later was that the wooden fence was bent into the neighbors yard because the dirt was piled directly against it. The small suspended fence you see above was screwed to the posts of the larger fence behind it.

Piles cleanup up

In addition to cleaning out all the clay, mortar, and broken bricks I shrink-wrapped the stack of bricks to make it a bit safer for Derek to be around. I don’t want anything to fall on him if he tries to climb on it. We were supposed to get a 10 yard dumpster for heavy debris, which is fairly short. I was hoping to make a simple ramp so that I could dump wheelbarrow-fulls into it. Instead they brought a 15 yard dumpster and said not to fill it up all the way. That meant it was too tall for a ramp and I had to instead carry three or four buckets in the wheelbarrow and then empty them over the side one by one.

Garden removed and fence fixed

The dumpster was delivered midday Thursday. By midday Friday I was exhausted, so Sarah came down and filled the buckets while I carried them out. The work went faster and it was a lot easier than doing all of it (not counting Derek’s assistance). We finished up Saturday morning, though the dumpster was blocked by a car and they wound up not picking it up until Monday. I’m interested to find out how many tons it wound up being.

Dumpster nearing the "two-thirds full" line

Dumpster approaching the “two-thirds” limit

We’re excited to have our back yard opened up a bit. With all the crap we’re doing to the house, the back yard —ugly as it is— is one of our favorite places. We didn’t have much of an outdoor space of our own at our condo. Having room for a table and chairs, a fire pit, a sandbox, and room for some small garden beds and compost bins still feels like a treat. Our other impending cleanup activity is the scrap metal pile in the basement. That won’t entail a dumpster, but like this will be a lot of work. Our house has more tons of material to disgorge before everything’s said and done.

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