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Default Digging out crawl space - Power tools?

On Fri, 18 Jul 2014 05:29:48 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote:

On Thursday, July 17, 2014 11:11:47 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In front of my house, someone needs to jackhammer out a piece of

blacktop 6 feet long by 4 inches thick, by 4 inches wide, I think that

would be good exercise but the only time I used an electric jackhammer,

I was tired in 30 seconds.


Blacktop 4 inches thick? unlikely. What's under it? Hope it's not concrete.


The original blacktop. Repaved once, patched once. I had a pro
out here last week -- he came out the morning after I called, even
though he knew the job was smaller than his company would want to do --
and he said it needs to be cut out, but his minimum was 3000 dollars.
Gave me a list of others with lower minimums, maybe $2000. I asked
him about doing it with a hammer and chisel and he said blacktop was
almost as hard as cement. Of course a pro in most fields thinks its
best if a pro does the work.

Basically you need to cut a 4 inch wide trench six feet long?


Yeah. It's open to a drain on one side, but the original drain opening
is obstructed by the extra blacktop about 4 inches high. The pro said
he'd never seen anything like it.

Saw cut it and pry it up, this is only an hour job. You can rent a saw.


Does the saw have a particular name? I think I read about one that one
can operate while standing up!!

I've heard you can do this with your circular saw but not tried it myself.


The same webpage mentioned this, and a diamond studded blade, but with a
7 1/4 inch saw, at most i could cut out 2 or 3 inches, and then how
would I get the rest. Less than 2 or 3 if I cut at an angle, which
somehow seems like the right thing to do. .
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Default Digging out crawl space - Power tools?

On Friday, July 18, 2014 12:47:48 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
The original blacktop. Repaved once, patched once. I had a pro

out here last week -- he came out the morning after I called, even

though he knew the job was smaller than his company would want to do --

and he said it needs to be cut out, but his minimum was 3000 dollars.

Gave me a list of others with lower minimums, maybe $2000. I asked

him about doing it with a hammer and chisel and he said blacktop was

almost as hard as cement. Of course a pro in most fields thinks its

best if a pro does the work.



Basically you need to cut a 4 inch wide trench six feet long?




Yeah. It's open to a drain on one side, but the original drain opening

is obstructed by the extra blacktop about 4 inches high. The pro said

he'd never seen anything like it.



Saw cut it and pry it up, this is only an hour job. You can rent a saw..




Does the saw have a particular name? I think I read about one that one

can operate while standing up!!


Lowes has a 14 inch concrete saw for rent. They say daily rates are $25 to $65 depending on the tool, they also have hourly rates. I would be very surprised if you couldn't cut two 6 foot slots in half an hour or so. Maybe also make a series of angled cuts every few inches so you can take it out in pieces. Then pry it up with a crowbar or the end of a pick. You really need to sawcut before any other method or you'll get a frayed sloppy trench. A chisel would take you a week I think.

Anyway, I'd go to any tool rental place and tell them what you plan to do. Spend $50 instead of $3000, make the cut and take the saw back, remove the pieces at your leisure.

My neighbor dug a trench for a water or waste line with a weird backhoe. I don't know what it's called. You don't drive it, it's a little tiny thing pulled behind a vehicle. It had a super small bucket, like 4 inches wide maybe, and you stand behind it and move levers, or maybe it had a small seat, but no cab. It took him all day to dig a short trench but it looked good. But that was in soil, it would never work on blacktop without the saw cut.
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micky wrote:

Does the saw have a particular name? I think I read about one that one
can operate while standing up!!


Concrete saw, strange to say:

http://www6.homedepot.com/tool-truck-
rental/Concrete_Saw_18_Walkbehind/37100HD/

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On Fri, 18 Jul 2014 19:21:55 -0600, rbowman wrote:

micky wrote:

Does the saw have a particular name? I think I read about one that one
can operate while standing up!!


Concrete saw, strange to say:

http://www6.homedepot.com/tool-truck...ehind/37100HD/


Wow. I went to Home Depot, where your link is from, today, Friday, and
the guy didn't know anything about this. He showed me a saw, a Hilti
700, that you use while kneeling or bending over, I guess, and I asked
him about something I could use standing up, but he had no idea, at
least at his store he said when I asked what he meant.

They should have a catalog and make them read it so the "associates" can
send people to other stores.

I have a reply to Tim, too, but it's probably longer and it's late.
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In ,
micky typed:

In front of my house, someone needs to jackhammer out a piece of
blacktop 6 feet long by 4 inches thick, by 4 inches wide, I think
that would be good exercise but the only time I used an electric
jackhammer, I was tired in 30 seconds.

Do you think I can do this myself? In a full day's rental time?

Or can I rent a saw that does this?


This got buried in a different thread about digging out a crawl space, so
you may want to post it as a whole new topic.

Any chance that you could post a photo or two? Is the section of asphalt
that you want to cut out easily accessible and in an open area where any
type of saw or jack hammer could be used to get to it? From your
description, I am guessing that you just want to cut out a 4 inch wide strip
out of the existing 4 inch thick asphalt.

I would also be interested in knowing what the purpose of doing this is
(such as to put in a pipe etc. in the 4 inch trench), and if you will be
patching/replacing the asphalt after it is done.

If it is just about cutting out a 4 inch wide section of the asphalt, a
large circular saw does seem like it should work. The walk behind kind that
someone posted about may be fairly heavy and may need a pickup truck or
whatever to get it to and from the rental place. Depending on where you are
located, there may be a general tool rental place nearby, or even a
contractor tool rental place that also rents out heavy equipment etc., and
either one should have the walk-behind saw to rent if you wanted that.

If I were renting a circular saw to do the cut, I don't think that I would
worry about getting one that is a walk-behind type. It is such a short cut
(actually 2 cuts) that I would be fine if it meant kneeling on the ground
next to the saw while cutting. I don't think it would be heavy work, and if
it were me, I would just take my time and do it slowly on a cool day --
maybe in the morning.

Another option may be to just hire a handyman-type contractor to do the cut
with me paying for the saw rental if needed.

Or, I see concrete people cutting out old concrete (sometimes mis-poured
concrete) all the time. I assume that any one of those companies could do
that for you although they may charge more than a handyman-type person would
charge.

Or, maybe just post an ad on Craigslist describing the job as a "small job",
"cut out 4 inch wide strip of asphalt", etc. and maybe throw in a photo or
two. I could picture someone there saying they could do it for 100 bucks,
maybe even using their own saw.

It doesn't sound like a job for an electric jack hammer to me although that
may work. But lugging the jack hammer to and from the work site and lifting
and repositioning the jack hammer a bunch of times could be tedious.




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micky wrote:

They should have a catalog and make them read it so the "associates" can
send people to other stores.


That's probably why on their website, after you tell them where you are,
they list the aisle and bin of whatever you're looking for. It's not
foolproof but it's saved me from long hikes looking for

a. the thing
b. an associate

I like to walk, but I'd rather be out in the woods while I'm doing it.


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TomR wrote:

I would also be interested in knowing what the purpose of doing this is
(such as to put in a pipe etc. in the 4 inch trench), and if you will be
patching/replacing the asphalt after it is done.


If it's just to run wiring or a pipe under a sidewalk, the OP might be able
to hydraulic his way under the pavement:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...341731539.html

There are commercial machines, but with a little PVC and fittings you can
easily make it through in most soils.

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Default Digging out crawl space - Power tools?

"rbowman" wrote in message
...
TomR wrote:

I would also be interested in knowing what the purpose of doing this is
(such as to put in a pipe etc. in the 4 inch trench), and if you will be
patching/replacing the asphalt after it is done.


If it's just to run wiring or a pipe under a sidewalk, the OP might be
able
to hydraulic his way under the pavement:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...341731539.html

There are commercial machines, but with a little PVC and fittings you can
easily make it through in most soils.


The link that you posted is interesting.

One problem may be that the link was about tunneling under concrete, but the
OP is dealing with an asphalt driveway. I think that most likely there is
compacted stone under the asphalt driveway rather than just dirt or soil, so
the water tunneling idea may not work.

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Default Digging out crawl space - Power tools?

On Sat, 19 Jul 2014 19:18:01 -0400, "TomR" wrote:

"rbowman" wrote in message
...
TomR wrote:

I would also be interested in knowing what the purpose of doing this is
(such as to put in a pipe etc. in the 4 inch trench), and if you will be
patching/replacing the asphalt after it is done.


If it's just to run wiring or a pipe under a sidewalk, the OP might be
able
to hydraulic his way under the pavement:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...341731539.html

There are commercial machines, but with a little PVC and fittings you can
easily make it through in most soils.


The link that you posted is interesting.

One problem may be that the link was about tunneling under concrete, but the
OP is dealing with an asphalt driveway. I think that most likely there is
compacted stone under the asphalt driveway rather than just dirt or soil, so
the water tunneling idea may not work.


I just got to this now and it's time to sleep already. I'll start a
separate thread tomorrow with answers to questions and maybe photos.
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Default Digging out crawl space - Power tools?

I have a very tight crawlspace that needs to be lowered to at least 24". It's very hard clay so a tool to break it up would be a great idea. Anyway, I've been researching and it seems to be common practice to excavate an external opening and dig out from there. However, I was wondering if I could pull up the floors (which need to be replaced due to mold issues anyway) and access the area from above. One problem I see is getting around the floor joists to dig. Would I be able to move them out of the way (remove/replace them) as we go or is that a bad idea? Are there other concerns I need to consider? Its not a very large area and it has deep footings so I don't think 2 feet down will destabalize them.


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Default Digging out crawl space - Power tools?

replying to RicodJour, 1josh wrote:
Stumbled across this thread 8 years later... I hope your job got done by this
time. Posting my comment for anyone else surfing for a solution. Start
punching 'auger' terms into google and look at pictures. Garden auger, ice
auger, earth auger etc. There's some that attach to a regular handheld drill.
Some with a short twist and a long stem, which maybe could be shortened. You
could get or adapt or magiver a plunge stand for the drill if there's no hand
room at first. Giver a look-see though, and I think you'll see the potential.
Heck you could even jimmy up something to auger the dirt out from under the
house instead of a conveyor. Anyway, just some thoughts. Hope you got er done
mate.

--
for full context, visit http://www.homeownershub.com/constru...ols-13210-.htm


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Default Digging out crawl space - Power tools?

replying to Bill, DB wrote:
Just hire a vacuum truck, he will do it with no hard labor, all you will have
to do is guide the vacuum hose under your house

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/constr...ols-13210-.htm


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replying to PeterD, eric wrote:
I use quarter inch aviary (chicken) wire mesh, but must staple or otherwise
secure ends to finish seal


--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/constr...ols-13210-.htm


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replying to Bill, eric wrote:
I bought a few shop vacs, expecting to burn them out. I figure cut bottom off
and secure to sealed garbage can to increase payload and reduce emptying
frequency. Haven't tried yet, also looking for screw conveyors for sale from
dismantled grain silos, or turning hay bale conveyors to belt, belt patch like
a live floor trailer conveyor or carpet swatch conveyors. Maybe rent vac
truck and a couple fellas with air chisels and shovels... I really don't want
to use low clearance track loader. Good luck... miserable work.

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for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/constr...ols-13210-.htm


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