Bill wrote:

"willshak" wrote in message

What work are you going to do in there? With only 3 feet of headroom
there's no standing and barely enough room for sitting.


For now I am doing some plumbing (moving bathtub and toilet, insulating hot
water lines), adding support under a heavy woodstove, and adding a beam and
support to fix a sloping floor.

For the future it would be nice to be able to get under there to run wires
or whatever.

The vacuum idea sounds great! Even a shop vac with two people working would
probably be an easier way to get the dirt out. Also dust is created when
disturbing the old top layer of dirt, so the vac could also remove any dust
clouds. Thanks for the idea.

The rental vacuum excavator units I mentioned are a far cry from a shop
vac. The units listed in the United Rentals catalog are all 25HP, are
trailer mounted and weigh around 5,000#. The collection vessels are ~500
gal and tilt for dumping the contents. A weekend rental of one of these
units and your project will be done.