Excavating under a house

[Hendrik]

Had an interesting job this week, digging out some dirt and rocks from under a house that is going to have rooms build there.
There was a big patch of hard rock that I had to grind through with tiger teeth but apart from that it was straight forward but not a lot of room to maneuver.

[upnover]

Cool,

What did you do for ventilation with all those diesel fumes? Looks like a small mining operation.

[td25c]

That is an interesting job & good pictures Hendrik.It's always interesting digging a basement under an existing home.I like the walk behind tracked haul truck.I looks like its good for tight spots.Are you also doing the concrete & foundation work?

[Hendrik]

Cool,

What did you do for ventilation with all those diesel fumes? Looks like a small mining operation.
We had an industrial fan one end and an extraction fan at the other to keep the air flowing through.

[Hendrik]

TAre you also doing the concrete & foundation work?
No, someone else can have the pleasure of that, well I did some of the foundation stuff.
Also I am not happy having to grind out bedrock, just to put in 10cm of dolomite, to keep a structural engineer happy. I do not mind doing necessary work but there was some real BS work that had to be done

[Hendrik]

.I like the walk behind tracked haul truck.I looks like its good for tight spots.
And it can climb walls...........just about.
I believe it is an American machine, made by Canycom
http://www.canycomsales.com/menu/products/bfp602.php
imported to Oz by Dingo and sold under the Bitza 400C brand, although it could be a Chinese copy of the Canycom. Has a Honda motor and a couple of design flaws but does the job;)

[strott]

Looks like your machines need a clean!!!!

[Hendrik]

Looks like your machines need a clean!!!!
Yeah and 5 minutes into the next job they look just like that again:(

[strott]

sounds about right!!!!

[Hendrik]

sounds about right!!!!
Don't get me wrong, I do like clean machines but in the sort of work I do it is difficult to stay clean. Especially in a job like this where I am up and down on the machines all day and you can see the water on the ground. A couple of wheelbarrow (or should that be trackbarrow) loads where just sloppy mud, like custard.
I will have to give the machines a bit of a clean before thursday because I am doing a job for a landscaper who is a bit fussy and might be a bit funky about mud monsters dropping dirt everywhere they go.

[td25c]

Thank's for posting the link on the "Canycom"tracked carrier,Thats pretty neet.Dont worry about a little mud ,dirt & grease on your excavating equipment mate.That means you are busy & making money.Excavating equipment should always have some dirt & grease on it.If it's clean ,I aint doing nothing.

[Wolf]

Did you find any interesting old stuff when you excavated under the house. Where I am located, they excavate downtown and run into dumps that reveal the most interesting archaeological artifacts. Many of them wind up in the museum--Gold Rush Era type stuff---which is cool, as long as they don't shut down the jobsites in the process.

[Hendrik]

Did you find any interesting old stuff when you excavated under the house. Where I am located, they excavate downtown and run into dumps that reveal the most interesting archaeological artifacts. Many of them wind up in the museum--Gold Rush Era type stuff---which is cool, as long as they don't shut down the jobsites in the process.
Nah, this is a fairly new house (maybe 3 or 4 years old) and you could see the teeth marks in the hard stuff where the original excavator dug out the site. Judging by the distance of the teeth, I'd say a 15 to 20 tonner did the original work.

[strott]

One of these is what you need!!!!

(If anyone could tell me how to get these pics to appear in the post I would be grateful!!)

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb121/strott_2007/Trackeddumper6501.jpg

IMG]http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb121/strott_2007/Trackeddumper6503.jpg[/IMG]

IMG]http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb121/strott_2007/Trackeddumper6502.jpg[/IMG]

[Steve Frazier]

You must load pictures to our site, we don't link to images here for a number of reasons

[strott]

One of these are helpful!!

[Hendrik]

One of these are helpful!!
Yes but also cost a bit more than my basic dumper and require more maintenance.
I have the dingo as well for loading/dumping but it is heavy and makes a mess, basically weighs twice as much loaded as the trackbarrow and distributes the weight over 4 small lug tires. Plus the dingo can't go places the barrow can.
I have stood next to the barrow, scratching various parts of my body, wondering how I can improve the tipping action but the problem remains that if I where to alter it to tip better, it would be very hard to manually tip.
Anyway it is working well enough for now and if I find I do a lot of work with it, I may splash out on a fancy model.

[willie59]

Is that Kobelco the machine you made a thumb for? Looks like the perfect machine for the job your doing.

[Hendrik]

Is that Kobelco the machine you made a thumb for? Looks like the perfect machine for the job your doing.
Yes it is and did a pretty good job working together with the big ex.

[maddog]

Thanks for all the pictures, nice job

[strott]

Yes but also cost a bit more than my basic dumper and require more maintenance.
I have the dingo as well for loading/dumping but it is heavy and makes a mess, basically weighs twice as much loaded as the trackbarrow and distributes the weight over 4 small lug tires. Plus the dingo can't go places the barrow can.
I have stood next to the barrow, scratching various parts of my body, wondering how I can improve the tipping action but the problem remains that if I where to alter it to tip better, it would be very hard to manually tip.
Anyway it is working well enough for now and if I find I do a lot of work with it, I may splash out on a fancy model.

Are the tracks on your barrow belt or hydraulically driven?

[Hendrik]

Are the tracks on your barrow belt or hydraulically driven?
It's all belt driven, basically the go lever engages a small belt on the motor which then drives a longer belt going to the gearbox.
It operates like an old dozer, you pull the steering levers up a bit and it disengages the drive to that side and pull the lever a bit more and it engages the brake for that side and she spins around. It can't do pivot turns because the tracks cannot spin in opposite directions.

[strott]

Nice and simple, easy to fix - Don't know about you but I barely ever need to carry out pivot turns anyway.

[dozerdave]

Hi strott,

Real neat, can I be nosey and ask the price?

[strott]

Hi strott,

Real neat, can I be nosey and ask the price?

Over here in the UK they sell for about £5750 + VAT - that is for a diesel electric start version, they do a hand start petrol version which is cheaper aswell.

[cretebusters]

When it comes to limited access as well as fume -free excavation we do quite a bit of it. These are some links to shots of some of our jobs...I hope


www.cretebusters.com

[gopher]

We had an industrial fan one end and an extraction fan at the other to keep the air flowing through.

i bought a scrubber for my bobcat 322g. i quick attach it to the back door , two bolts and its on and off . worked in the local grocery store hammering and digging for two weeks with 40 plus men working in there . no complaints on fummes. worked great. paid 600 can.

[Hendrik]

i bought a scrubber for my bobcat 322g. i quick attach it to the back door , two bolts and its on and off . worked in the local grocery store hammering and digging for two weeks with 40 plus men working in there . no complaints on fummes. worked great. paid 600 can.
I'll let you elaborate on that, with some web links and pictures if you have them.
The Kubota and motor barrow are not too bad but the Kobelco is a stinker, I have thought about sticking a hose on the exhaust pipe and running it outside but that has it's drawbacks.

[dozerdave]

Hi Hendrik,

Good stuff, that neat little truck really hauls a load and saves an aching back.

[strott]

I'll let you elaborate on that, with some web links and pictures if you have them.
The Kubota and motor barrow are not too bad but the Kobelco is a stinker, I have thought about sticking a hose on the exhaust pipe and running it outside but that has it's drawbacks.

I would of thought that the kobelco wouldn't be too bad to run (its only 2 cyclinders isn't it??) Has it got a lot of hours on it?

A hose may work if you can run it along the ceiling e.t.c.