I need to remove a strip of caliche about forty feet long, eight feet wide,
and in thickness from zero to 12 inches. I have some ideas on how to go
about this, but would like to hear from anyone who has worked with caliche
before.

My ideas a jackhammer with a spade bit, or drilling honeycombs with a
star drill on a rotohammer to a standard plane of depth, and then breaking
the honeycombs off. A layer of sand, then a layer of pavers will be put
over the remaining caliche.

I had my brother in law try ripping it with claws on the back of his
backhoe, but the stuff is too tough.

Ideas appreciated.

Steve

"Steve B" wrote in message
...
I need to remove a strip of caliche about forty feet long, eight feet wide,
and in thickness from zero to 12 inches. I have some ideas on how to go
about this, but would like to hear from anyone who has worked with caliche
before.

My ideas a jackhammer with a spade bit, or drilling honeycombs with a
star drill on a rotohammer to a standard plane of depth, and then breaking
the honeycombs off. A layer of sand, then a layer of pavers will be put
over the remaining caliche.

I had my brother in law try ripping it with claws on the back of his
backhoe, but the stuff is too tough.

Ideas appreciated.

Steve


Pick axe and a shovel has always worked ok for me. I suppose the
jackhammer route would work too but I probably wouldn't be able to justify
renting one when a bit of elbow grease works just fine. Good luck with
it. Not much fun.
Cheers,
cc

Steve B wrote:
I need to remove a strip of caliche about forty feet long, eight feet wide,
and in thickness from zero to 12 inches. I have some ideas on how to go
about this, but would like to hear from anyone who has worked with caliche
before.

My ideas a jackhammer with a spade bit, or drilling honeycombs with a
star drill on a rotohammer to a standard plane of depth, and then breaking
the honeycombs off. A layer of sand, then a layer of pavers will be put
over the remaining caliche.

I had my brother in law try ripping it with claws on the back of his
backhoe, but the stuff is too tough.

Ideas appreciated.

Steve



I never had anywhere near 12" when I lived in Las Vegas -- 2" was about
it most of the time. Being poor I always did the job with a good
old-fashioned pick followed up with a shovel. My guess would be that,
lacking a big demolition hammer on a tractor, a jackhammer would be a
good fallback. I've been told that on occasion when making big holes for
planting full-grown palm trees some landscaping contractors would drill
and use explosives. This sounds like more fun but probably isn't
practical for most people.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

On Jun 5, 6:34 pm, "Steve B" wrote:
I need to remove a strip of caliche about forty feet long, eight feet wide,
and in thickness from zero to 12 inches. I have some ideas on how to go
about this, but would like to hear from anyone who has worked with caliche
before.

My ideas a jackhammer with a spade bit, or drilling honeycombs with a
star drill on a rotohammer to a standard plane of depth, and then breaking
the honeycombs off. A layer of sand, then a layer of pavers will be put
over the remaining caliche.

I had my brother in law try ripping it with claws on the back of his
backhoe, but the stuff is too tough.

We have a layer about 28-32" deep that's roughly 8-12" thick here and
while it is certainly hard when completely dry, not so bad if a little
("little" being the operative work here ) damp.

Certainly nothing a good-sized backhoe couldn't handle, though.
Sounds to me like "bigger hammer" time--a D7 ought to be about
right!

For a relatively small area if it is totally dry, try setting out a
yard sprinkler and put a half to maybe an inch of water on it and let
it set overnight. Setting corner posts couldn't get through it if dry
w/ post-hole diggers so routinely carried water -- dug to layer top,
poured in a half bucket of water and come back next day--piece o'
cake...

--

"John McGaw" wrote


I never had anywhere near 12" when I lived in Las Vegas -- 2" was about it
most of the time. John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]

This is in Toquerville, Utah, just north of St. George. It is deceptive
because most of the terrain there is red sandstone or red sand dunes. But
just under that lies caliche in some places.

Steve

On Tue, 5 Jun 2007 19:58:43 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:


"John McGaw" wrote


I never had anywhere near 12" when I lived in Las Vegas -- 2" was about it
most of the time. John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]

This is in Toquerville, Utah, just north of St. George. It is deceptive
because most of the terrain there is red sandstone or red sand dunes. But
just under that lies caliche in some places.

Steve


More difficult to remove than Las Vegas? Or more costly, due to the
remote area?

Pool builders use the "caliche" word here to tack added cost or so it
seems. It can frighten a person; when they say _we don't know how much
caliche is there_!

Hire the job out and don't stroke over it. d8=

--
Oren

...through the use of electrical or duct tape, achieve the configuration in the photo..

"Steve B" wrote in message
...
I need to remove a strip of caliche about forty feet long, eight feet wide,
and in thickness from zero to 12 inches. I have some ideas on how to go
about this, but would like to hear from anyone who has worked with caliche
before.

My ideas a jackhammer with a spade bit, or drilling honeycombs with a
star drill on a rotohammer to a standard plane of depth, and then breaking
the honeycombs off. A layer of sand, then a layer of pavers will be put
over the remaining caliche.

I had my brother in law try ripping it with claws on the back of his
backhoe, but the stuff is too tough.

Ideas appreciated.

Steve


By previous posts this I gather that this is a mineral layer or a layer of
hardpan subsoil. Would someone please explain.
Thanks,
Chuck

On Jun 6, 6:35 am, "C & E" wrote:
....

By previous posts this I gather that this is a mineral layer or a layer of
hardpan subsoil. Would someone please explain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliche_%28Mineral%29

(Google is your friend... )

--

"C & E" wrote in message
...
By previous posts this I gather that this is a mineral layer or a layer of
hardpan subsoil. Would someone please explain.
Thanks,
Chuck


And contrary to the popular belief that diamonds are the worlds hardest
material, caliche is definitely harder, especially when you're trying to dig
it out!
cc

"Clark" wrote

Yabut he's wondering what he should hire out. I vote for a D-6. :-) Either
that or a six-pack of "No Habla"s. As always, YMMV.

I'm going the sixpack of "No Hablas" route.

Steve

"dpb" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jun 6, 6:35 am, "C & E" wrote:
...

By previous posts this I gather that this is a mineral layer or a layer
of
hardpan subsoil. Would someone please explain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliche_%28Mineral%29

(Google is your friend... )

--

Ahhh, impure calcium carbonate! Yep, gotta be hard!

replying to Steve B, Jason Cohen wrote:
Hi Steve. Have you tried Ecobust ? Company locally based in Las Vegas .
product works like magic and faster than any axe or jack hammer. Good luck

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...al-222932-.htm

On Friday, May 5, 2017 at 10:44:06 PM UTC-4, Jason Cohen wrote:
replying to Steve B, Jason Cohen wrote:
Hi Steve. Have you tried Ecobust ? Company locally based in Las Vegas .
product works like magic and faster than any axe or jack hammer. Good luck


Unfortunately, Steve borrowed a jackhammer 10 years ago when he first asked
his question. He drove the spade bit into his foot, injuring himself so
badly that he never worked again, lost the house he was working on and moved
in with the brother-in-law that drove the back-hoe. They got into a terrible
fight over the TV remote. The brother-in-law jumped into the back-hoe and
proceeded to pummel Steve's *other* foot with the bucket before throwing him
out of his home.

Steve is now crippled and sleeping on an ratty couch in a cardboard box
near the old abandoned railroad station. Just Steve and a couple of dozen
gerbils to keep him company...and fed.