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A few projects I have done recently

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
So LC we finally spread base for a parking lot.:)

Parking lot is 6" and 5" concrete paving and the GC wanted us to spread and grade the base. GC supplied stone, we supplied equipment and labor. Easy, peasy the 279 shined.



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Electricians were still running conduit in the under slab. The grate inlet in the pic is part of the CMP detention system.

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Rented a Hamm smooth drum roller, I'm not giving a plug to the rental company - they didn't discount the rent.:cool:

The roller was a rental so my evaluation needs to be based on that but let's say I was not impressed, wouldn't own one.

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CM1995

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Another chicken shack, this will be the 4th for the same owners. Mobilized the traveling circus from the auto repair project last week.




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Taking some pines down. Unfortunately the big water oak is destined to come down.

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Stripping topsoil and stacking the trees and brush. Stripped approx. 1K CY of nice topsoil, it was 6"-1' deep.

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Processing the trees and brush for haul off. The site is low and wet and the pines were weak with fat rings due to growing fast and sucking up the water. They broke up easily.

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CM1995

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Lot stripped, topsoil stocked behind loader.

A combination of CL 2 silt fencing, rip-rap with #57 stone and brush for erosion control. The brush is in the highest flow channel and can be moved easily if we need to get back into the retention pond area. Brush, especially pine tops, make a great erosion control barrier. When it gets silted up, it's easily removed and replaced with a machine, no manual labor. There are two more rip-rap/#57 filter damns downstream to filter the water before it exits the site.

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There is some rock on the high side of the parking lot. We'll have to hammer that down below grade. The lower portion of the lot adjacent to the HWY is 3-4' of muck. We're going to geo-grid 3/4 of the site and place 3-5' of chert fill borrow and hammer rock on the other 1/4 of the site. I love Alabama geology.;)

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Lucy hanging out on the site enjoying a nice spring day.:D


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So what do you do when you had an inch of rain Sunday night and the site is too wet to work Monday? Take Lucy to the Cahaba River of course.:p

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CM1995

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Thanks hvy.

Catwelder, Granite is doing an expensive "re-model" of the I-65/20/59 interchange in Birmingham, otherwise know as "malfunction junction". I have yet to see a Hamm roller on that project but they might have one tucked away somewhere.
 

Landclearer

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Hey CM, thanks for the the update. I saw the Hamm in the pic and was going to ask how it was, to late question answered:). Looks like if it is chicken or auto parts you are the guy.

You confirmed my thoughts on the pine. Looked like fast growing trash trees. Strange to see that rock sticking up like that( for me anyway). Sight cleaned up real nice after stripping. Something relaxing about stripping grass and topsoil!
 

CM1995

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Hey CM, thanks for the the update. I saw the Hamm in the pic and was going to ask how it was, to late question answered:). Looks like if it is chicken or auto parts you are the guy.

You confirmed my thoughts on the pine. Looked like fast growing trash trees. Strange to see that rock sticking up like that( for me anyway). Sight cleaned up real nice after stripping. Something relaxing about stripping grass and topsoil!

LOL LC yeah we do a lot of fast food and auto related business, it's what comes across the desk. I got an invitation to bid on an industrial expansion for a supplier to one of our large auto manufacturers which I am interested in pursuing.:D

The pines were pulp wood at best and not enough for a full load, the only plus if we did send them to the mill is that they were heavy.:p

That's my super on the dozer and I'm in the loader of course. There is something relaxing about stripping topsoil and grass - a combination of starting a new project, the smell of diesel and fresh turned dirt and making a showing at the end of the day. We can team up with him on the 5, me on the 53 and move dirt like a fine tuned V12 - you know when you get in that groove and get **** done, nothing like it.:cool:
 

Landclearer

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LOL LC yeah we do a lot of fast food and auto related business, it's what comes across the desk. I got an invitation to bid on an industrial expansion for a supplier to one of our large auto manufacturers which I am interested in pursuing.:D

The pines were pulp wood at best and not enough for a full load, the only plus if we did send them to the mill is that they were heavy.:p

That's my super on the dozer and I'm in the loader of course. There is something relaxing about stripping topsoil and grass - a combination of starting a new project, the smell of diesel and fresh turned dirt and making a showing at the end of the day. We can team up with him on the 5, me on the 53 and move dirt like a fine tuned V12 - you know when you get in that groove and get **** done, nothing like it.:cool:

Hopefully you will get the expansion job. How much dirt is there to move?

I don't know what it's like by you but we can't give away pulp wood. Just finished a job and had to grind up10 to 15 loads. If it were not for export wood we would have been in bad shape with selling logs.

Oh yeah gotta love tag teaming topsoil. Over the years we have had a few jobs where you get two dozers side by side and just push. Kinda mindless, nothing to think about but pushing and like you said at the end of the day it looks like you did something.
 

CM1995

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Hopefully you will get the expansion job. How much dirt is there to move?

I don't know what it's like by you but we can't give away pulp wood. Just finished a job and had to grind up10 to 15 loads. If it were not for export wood we would have been in bad shape with selling logs.

Oh yeah gotta love tag teaming topsoil. Over the years we have had a few jobs where you get two dozers side by side and just push. Kinda mindless, nothing to think about but pushing and like you said at the end of the day it looks like you did something.

Haven't got the plans yet on the expansion. Should have them tomorrow.

I don't deal in wood unless it's a big job then I bring a logger in or there are nice hardwoods enough to make a load and cover transport. I couldn't tell you what pine pulp is bringing across the scales.

How's the grinding business? There are just a few around here local that grind wood waste on site. We can open burn with restrictions from Oct. to May so most large scale clearing is done during that time span. Smaller clearing jobs are usually hauled off to brush dumps or wood waste grinding yards.

I know I've brought it up before but wood grinding is a business I'm interested in, however the cost of entry is high - your Peterson is a chunk of change.
 

Landclearer

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The clearing and grinding has been real busy lately. The grinder has been steady moving from one place to another. Got it back to the mulch yard to do some regrind and mulch coloring this week. Gotta find some time to add some AR400 to the floor.

I love clearing and grinding but it is expensive to get into(grinder wise). You already have everything else you need. I think the grinding business is like a puzzle with a lot of parts. A grinder operator has to be an operator, a mechanic, a truck dispatcher and all around problem solver. One thing we have going for us is a steady way to get rid of mulch and we do our own trucking. It kills you to depend on mills to take the mulch and outside truckers to haul it.
 

catwelder

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Thanks hvy.

Catwelder, Granite is doing an expensive "re-model" of the I-65/20/59 interchange in Birmingham, otherwise know as "malfunction junction". I have yet to see a Hamm roller on that project but they might have one tucked away somewhere.
I don't go to the capital much but went the other day and saw one and it was down getting fixed so if that tells you anything. "remodel" yeah that's a strong word because they been remodeling for about 5 years now
 

grandpa

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The road weight restrictions went off here this morning. Now I can finally go play in the dirt too. This will be my 58th year. Gosh it goes by oh so fast!!!
 

CM1995

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I don't go to the capital much but went the other day and saw one and it was down getting fixed so if that tells you anything. "remodel" yeah that's a strong word because they been remodeling for about 5 years now

So far Granite is clipping along on the I65/20/59 interchange here in Birmingham. Bridge piers are sprouting like weeds and pre-cast bridge beams are going in. It's a helluva job.

The road weight restrictions went off here this morning. Now I can finally go play in the dirt too. This will be my 58th year. Gosh it goes by oh so fast!!!

Now get that crusher thawed out Grandpa and get to selling some crushed rock!:p
 

catwelder

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So far Granite is clipping along on the I65/20/59 interchange here in Birmingham. Bridge piers are sprouting like weeds and pre-cast bridge beams are going in. It's a helluva job.

I think they just doing the actually road here I don't think they are adding any bridges. its still a hell of a mess and the roads are rough
 

CM1995

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Only worked 2 days last week due to rain.:mad:

This site is located in a valley with hills on both sides. The water runs through the rock at the rear of the lot and has no where to go except saturate the top 3 feet of existing ground.

Met with the geotechnical engineer and came up with a plan to install some under drains around the building bad and parking lot to cut the underground water off. We've done this several times on similar sites.

42" wide trench, filter fabric, 6" sock pipe and 1.5' of #57 stone. It took 500 LF of pipe, 2 rolls of fabric and 100 tons of #57 stone (4 loads).

The water in the pic is leaching out from underneath the road. The site dries up quickly due to it's sandy nature so it was easy to spot where the ground water is coming in at.

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Bottom drain installed in front of the building pad. This drain ended where the compactor was parked in the pic above.

The process of installation went as such - Dig trench to grade in sections the hoe could still reach back to the fabric. Gentle use the hoe to unroll the fabric, lay pipe and bed with stone using the hoe. The rock box made this very efficient. Use the machine not your back.:)

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The drain moves on.

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Completed section ready to cover up.

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ih100

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You certainly run a tidy site, CM. Thanks for sharing your pictures. Have you ever run a 4 in 1 on your CTL? I'm curious how they perform in real applications. Over here you hardly ever see 953/963's or backhoe loaders without them, but CTL's of any colour are as common as rocking horse droppings.
 

CM1995

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You certainly run a tidy site, CM. Thanks for sharing your pictures. Have you ever run a 4 in 1 on your CTL? I'm curious how they perform in real applications. Over here you hardly ever see 953/963's or backhoe loaders without them, but CTL's of any colour are as common as rocking horse droppings.

Thank you ih100. We try to keep a clean and neat site. The current site in the pics above is sort of a mess but it's like working on a sponge. Worked 4 12's so far this week brining in structural fill, it's much better now.

Years ago I demo'd a 4 n 1 on a Bobcat 853 I had and didn't like it because it was heavier than a regular bucket and when back dragging for final grading the clam wouldn't stay closed so it skipped across the ground. I have a tine and solid bottom grapple bucket for the CTL that we use when we need to tote debris or doing demolition. Everything else can be done with a standard tooth bucket in my experience, I haven't found I needed one.

Now I would like to have a 4 n 1 for my 420DIT, wish I would've got one when I bought it.
 

ih100

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I hired a 226 with a Cat 4 in 1 on it, it was quite a lightly built bucket and wouldn't stay closed at all. Just tipping it the bucket flopped open. I think that was more down to hirer abuse. Why don't you like the Hamm rollers? I've used the towed ones behind 953's and 63's, but that was over twenty years ago. They did the job at the time. I've seen traxcavators and some International machines with standard buckets, every 943/53/63 I 've ever operated on site has had a 4 in 1. Different ways of working.

Here nowadays most building sites get flooded with excavators. There's a nearby commercial job that I've been watching progress on, three warehouse units on about three acres. Topsoil strip, reduced dig, roadway stoning, warehouse bases, all done with three 12-tonne Hyundai excavators, two 7-tonne front-tipping dumpers and a Cat roller. A 953 would have done 95 % of what 6 machines and 5 guys did, in about the same time. I suppose it was keeping people in work.
 
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