Plywood alternative?

[Cowboy90]

Hello everyone, newbie here. I recently started working for a plumbing company doing emergency repairs. It’s usually just a spot repair in a sewer or water main. We cut the grass, lay it off to one side on plywood, then excavate the trench. We place the spoils on sheets of plywood so we can do the job and backfill without damaging the yard any more than is absolutely necessary. My question, is there a better way out there? I know they make special rubber mats specifically for this purpose, but the company doesn’t want to spend the money on them. Plywood works, but I’ve seen the sheets slide around and if the operator doesn’t notice, he digs up a big chunk of grass. Plus, in the winter it gets soggy and falls apart. I’ve thought about trying to get an old belt off a rock crusher and using that, but I figured I’d check for better ideas before I start trying to built my own system.

 

[kshansen]

Well most quarries, at least the one I worked for, had good supplies of used belting just laying about. If you are a customer for their stone for other projects they would probably be glad to give you some.

On a slightly OT subject. We had a neighbor who had a private target shooting range in his back yard. He wanted to save the bullets and recycle the lead for his reloading. What he came up with was to dig a trench under the target range area and fill it with a few inches of sand. Then he asked for some old belting from the quarry and hung several layers spaced a bit apart behind where he hung his targets. He could then check the sections of belting and dig out spent bullets and also sift out the sand under them to retrieve the lead.

 

[cuttin edge]

If it's an emergency, most people understand the lawn being disturbed. A good operator can clean off the grass with minimal damage. A few guys with rakes and some seed. A dump truck or a stone box can hold material until you backfill. The proper equipment would be cheaper than plywood in the long run, but if they won't give you the funds you use what you can I guess

 

[td25c]

If the toilet won't flush on Super Bowl Sunday ……

Forget about protecting the lawn . Dig it up & make it flow again .

 

[thepumpguysc]

Theres a co I found while searching Craigs list for something..
They "Re purpose material".. & some of their stuff is amazing what they've done w/ it..
They have thousands of rolls of "belts" & such.. just go to cr, list & type in> repurposed material & see what pops up.. u might just find whatchr lookin for..??

 

[Mylucky24]

I used to work for a guy who was a contractor for the county surveyor. We had to track in on plywood and all dirt had to go on plywood when we did residential repairs. Everytime, no exceptions, period. We always would buy “3/4 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. Ground Contact Pressure Treated Pine Performance Rated Sheathing” from the Home Depot. It’s expensive compared to regular osb plywood but it holds up so much long. A key to it’s longevity is when back filling is to not let the operator Knick the plywood with the bucket teeth. Leave a 2-3” of dirt on the plywood then just scrape the remaining dirt with a flat shovel. If the plywood isn’t all kicked up it’s a breeze to clean off.