John Banks
Well-Known Member
Hey guys, we dug a new foundation and retaining wall last week. We've got the footing all formed up and all of the steel in. Now, we have had a couple of inches of rain since then. So we've got a couple of relief holes dug with pumps for the collecting water. For the footing inspection, the inspector essentially wants the material dry, very little to no water and the ground has to be firm. After the guys got the steel in the footing, there was about an inch of muck from them walking around in it. The footing for the foundation is 2' wide while the footing for the retaining wall is 6' wide. With all of the steel in, it makes for difficult mucking of the hole now. I need to get this dried up tomorrow and friday am, since our footing inspection is Friday afternoon and we will be pouring it right after. Once we get all of the water out, we'll scrape the bottom layer of muck off with trowels and small shovels and I've thought about some ideas to get this all dry, such as kitty litter - but this will need to be scooped out, I've also thought about using a flame thrower style torch, the kind that hooks up to a 20lb tank, and hit the areas. Will the torch put out enough heat to dry the ground, or at least firm it up a bit?
Thanks for any and all ideas...
Thanks for any and all ideas...