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I'm looking at buying some land, building a cabin, and digging a lake. Specifically, a 150ft x 700ft lake and having a well put in to keep it full. That's a lot of dirt. I haven't picked the land yet, so I have the (what might be) advantages of a partially existing pond with a history of collecting and holding water that I can extend, spring fed, and soil types(or just doing a liner. I'm really interested in doing it myself(not the water well!). I know paying someone who has experience could probably end up faster and cheaper in the long run(maybe even the short run!), so I have no misconceptions about how much money I'll be saving or anything like that. Anyone here every done something like this? Any better suggestions than purchasing some of the top rated books on excavation on amazon?
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Jul 7, 2015 19:08
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 13:55 |
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bobua posted:Any better suggestions than purchasing some of the top rated books on excavation on amazon? Buy a lake.
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Jul 11, 2015 19:29
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buy this book (seriously, i bought it, it's awesome, do yourself a favor) https://books.google.com/books/about/Earth_Ponds_The_Country_Pond_Maker_s_Gui.html?id=Y8ySNK4RwoQC&source=kp_cover&hl=en
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Jul 15, 2015 22:07
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also make sure to look into any necessary permitting etc as depending on where you are you might get F'd in the A by the government, ifyaknowwhatimean
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Jul 15, 2015 22:08
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So... You do realize that 150x700x6 (6' being a number for average depth that I just pulled out of my rear end, no idea what makes a viable non-swamp pond) turns into 23,000 cubic yards of fill that needs to be disposed of. And a big highway capable dump truck can hold maybe 16~ish yards at a time? Which is over 1400 loads to dispose of. And based on the number of YouTube videos of "idiot tips dump truck over" I suspect that might actually be the most difficult piece of equipment to use, especially off-road. I'm not saying you shouldn't do this, but are you fully considering the logistics for one person doing this and the time this is going to require? On top of making sure you don't accidentally create a swamp? When I was ~8, some presumably well to do person bought the land across the street from my grandparents place. Shortly after that, a bunch of earth moving equipment slowly started to build up. As near as I can tell, the guy started to slowly move things around and re-shape the land back there. Not exactly sure what since one of the first acts was to push up a giant berm along the road. Never really heard more than one thing running at once though. This went on, on and off, for roughly a decade. With Google earth now, I can see that there's a lake back there but I have no idea if that is new or not. For all I know he just made a giant zen rock garden. If you do go ahead and get some earth moving equipment, just a couple pieces of advice: The steel tracks they ride on are not indestructible, you can't just drive over anything you want. Excavators are not designed to drive; if they hit 10% travel time vs engine run hours, this is considered extremely high. You need to bring your truck to the dig site. However if you are moving one any considerable distance, do it in forward which means the drive sprockets should be to the rear of the machine. Do most digging over the side above either track but avoid digging with the boom directly over the front idler or drive sprocket. If you do end up breaking a track link, just call someone to deal with it rather than mess with it. One, they can move unpredictably if you're not used to them and two, tension on the track chains is maintained by a massive gently caress-off spring pushing on the front idler. If the track breaks in just the wrong spot it's possible for the entire idler and spring assembly - which weighs close to 1000 pounds on a medium size excavator - to be violently shot out of the front of the machine. I'm not an equipment operator or anything, I just deal with the poo poo idiots do to track undercarriage.
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Jul 16, 2015 03:27
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 13:55 |
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Cakefool posted:Buy a lake. For something that size, yes, just buy land with an existing water feature. Depending on where this is, they are not likely to be in short supply.
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Jul 16, 2015 04:32
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