Decided to build a garage. Now the fun begins.

[South VA]

Homeowners - Virginia811

Planning a home improvement project? If it calls for digging, it calls for Virginia 811. Installing a new fence or mailbox? Are you finally starting that garden you’ve been dreaming of? For

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Yes, thank you. Miss Utility located the buried power line a few weeks ago, and we located a secondary power line, that wasn’t installed by the power company, by dowsing (!), and confirmed by digging a hole.

We should be good to go.

 

[Erik the Awful]

The guy at the rental place claims it will dig through anything

The guy at the rental place, "It'll dig through anything!"

Also the guy at the rental place, "You break it, you buy it!"

 

[South VA]

The guy at the rental place, "It'll dig through anything!"

Also the guy at the rental place, "You break it, you buy it!"

Lol. No doubt. He said it will even go through rocks!

Of course there's no way I'm going through rocks with it. Fortunately all of the rocks in our garden are on the surface, and therefore easily (mostly) removed.

Almost zero rocks in the soil. Just roots.

 

[termite]

Lol. No doubt. He said it will even go through rocks!

Of course there's no way I'm going through rocks with it. Fortunately all of the rocks in our garden are on the surface, and therefore easily (mostly) removed.

Almost zero rocks in the soil. Just roots.

For shale, yes they will dig through but you can't try to push it. Just have to be patient and let it cut.

 

[South VA]

I'll pick up the trencher tomorrow, so we're in the throes of last minute prep before the dig.

We laid out the route using a couple of 50' lengths of garden hose, which worked pretty well. The final alignment will be marked with paint. It will be interesting to see how that works, as this machine digs in reverse. Meaning I'll be walking backwards, and I guess looking down at the paint line between my feet. Which should be ok for the straighter stretches, but I'll really have to pay attention at the points where the trench turns. At a minimum, it will be a learning experience.

Anyway, now we can measure the actual trench length, to determine how much more 2" conduit and how many elbows will be needed, and of course how much cable to buy.

Add to that some string to fish the cable through the conduit once it's in place, some wire lube, utility marking paint, and a long handled 5" wide trenching shovel for clearing out the dirt that will fall back into the trench, and for digging those sections where the trencher won't quite reach. We could use our entrenching tool, which is narrow enough, but I'm finding that using a short shovel while bent over (or even kneeling) is not very appealing. My back is fine, and I intend to keep it that way.

I must admit I'm a little apprehensive about getting the trencher here and actually using it; but am mostly excited. After a couple of months of almost no progress, it's looking like a major part of this project is about to happen.

It's about time.

 

[Stumpy]

I used a walk behind Ditch Witch, when I did mine, many years ago. You walked backwards with it too. Turning was not something you were going to do with that machine, other than slight variations. I was fortunate though, that my line was a dead straight 100ft run, from the back of my house, to the garage.

This one is almost identical to what i used...

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[Erik the Awful]

I get my annual bonus today, and I'm going to buy 150' of 2/0 2/0 1/0 0 Mobile Home Feeder so I can tap my shop off my wife's shop. I'll have to rent a trencher as well, but I can only dig about half of the way with it. I'll have to hand dig around the septic tank, her shop wiring, and the water line to her shop from the house. The time it will take to hand dig all that means that I'll likely have to wait until after the 4th of July since we'll have the family over for BBQ and fireworks. That also means the ground will be significantly drier and a real PITA to dig.

 

[Keeper]

Pick Hoes, one big and one small, are great tools for digging. Plus an old pair of loppers for smaller pita roots.

 

[South VA]

The ground has gotten pretty firm here too, from the heat and lack of rain. But we probably have had an average rainfall year so far. It's just that it has either poured or is hot and dry; with not much in between.

It took awhile, but I finally got the 'Witch hitched up and brought home. They had two of them there, and it turned out that one of the trailers was missing a taillight, which was discovered after it was hitched to the Subdivision. Between unhitching it and taking it back into the shop, and finding out that the second 'Witch had lights, but that didn't work, I was there for over an hour for something that should have taken 15 minutes. But, after some troubleshooting, some new electrical connections, and a new ground, I was finally on my way.

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When I got home it was too hot to start trenching, so I just got it off the trailer. I wanted an idea of how it would run.

The guy at the rental shop said that if I was operating it correctly, it would basically be a one-hand operation.

He was right. I backed it off the trailer, one-handed, carved a few turns, and positioned it for tomorrow morning.

Which is when the hose will come up and the paint will go down, and the carnage will begin.

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[Orpedcrow]

I think you’ll have fun with the trencher. The one I used meandered around but I eventually got from point A to point B

Note: if it starts bouncing and jerking, stop and check for hidden PVC pipe that runs from the well house all the way across the property to the back side of the shop that nobody knew was there because someone installed it in the most inconvenient location many years ago and “forgot” to mention it…