On Apr 3, 5:39 am, "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.

I've done the experiment (only to prove the futility) a reasonably
sized shop vac can only do about 1 gpm loose dirt removal. Plus you
need time (or a helper) to empty.

You'll need a vacuum excavator which is serious machine.

cheers
Bob