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Attempting it by himself without that experience is nuts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by greg42
Hand digging to the depth of a sewer line would be insane.
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Originally Posted by Sherifftruman
This is absolute insanity.
I'm LMAO @ these responses. My husband dug our sewer line. Well, he started and intended to do it himself, but within an hour many of our neighbors joined in to help out. He didn't ask, they just showed up with shovels. Since the front of our house is partly above grade, the trench was about 4-1/2' deep. Granted, it probably would have been insanity if it were deeper.
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Originally Posted by chet everett
Third, real life ditch digging is not like the cartoons -- I have seen guys built like Mr. Olympia that cannot fling the heavy clay/ soil/ gravel mix found under homes far enough to make any real progress.
Guess my husband is stronger than Mr. Olympia type guys. He's a little dude, really!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chet everett
First off, in any place I ever heard off that has municipal sewers you need a permit to connect to them and do any work that effects them.
In my area, the homeowners can dig, tear out the pipe, and lay the new pipe themselves. A plumber is only needed to make the actual connections at the house and the municipal line.
Quote:
Originally Posted by John1960
He wants to dig this by a shovel because a plumber wants 2200.00 to do this job and this friend doesn't have the money. Can he do this himself or will he have to hire a person with a back-hoe?
Recommend he get quotes from backhoe owner/operators. He might be able to get a better price than the plumber quoted.
I'm LMAO @ these responses. My husband dug our sewer line. Well, he started and intended to do it himself, but within an hour many of our neighbors joined in to help out. He didn't ask, they just showed up with shovels. Since the front of our house is partly above grade, the trench was about 4-1/2' deep. Granted, it probably would have been insanity if it were deeper.
Guess my husband is stronger than Mr. Olympia type guys. He's a little dude, really!
In my area, the homeowners can dig, tear out the pipe, and lay the new pipe themselves. A plumber is only needed to make the actual connections at the house and the municipal line.
Recommend he get quotes from backhoe owner/operators. He might be able to get a better price than the plumber quoted.
You must have missed the part where the guy said the trench needed to be 9-12 feet deep. I work in commercial construction and back in the day dug some trenches or at least did clean up work when using a backhoe. 4.5 feet is doable with a pick and shovel, twice that or deepermis not, unless you are just digging your own grave, then go ahead.
I would not even recommend a homeowner rent a backhoe to dig something that deep unless they knew what they were doing and I definitely would not let my kids near it, much less help.
Hiring a backhoe guy separately from the plumber might be a good idea though.
Since the front of our house is partly above grade, the trench was about 4-1/2' deep. Granted, it probably would have been insanity if it were deeper.
Guess my husband is stronger than Mr. Olympia type guys. He's a little dude, really!.
4.5 ft isn't really that deep I suppose. I think many sewer pipes would be a little deeper, but it really depends upon the slope, house construction, etc. Sounds like the one in question here will be deeper, over your head type depth. Gets pretty dangerous as well as that much more digging. Also depends upon how far back and how much you're digging. My house for example is 50 feet back from the street. That would be a lot of digging.
Have to say, I dug out a 2ft-wide trench to a depth of 2-3 ft below grade (varying by the slope of the ground) and probably total length of...about 50 feet actually, pretty close to it, for a retaining wall foundation. The soil was mostly heavy clay, very nasty to work with. It took quite a number of hours piecemeal over several weeks to get it complete. Of course, I also needed to get it flatter on the bottom and such than would be necessary for a pipe, and 2 feet is wider than necessary even for a sewer pipe.
4.5 ft isn't really that deep I suppose. I think many sewer pipes would be a little deeper, but it really depends upon the slope, house construction, etc. Sounds like the one in question here will be deeper, over your head type depth. Gets pretty dangerous as well as that much more digging. Also depends upon how far back and how much you're digging. My house for example is 50 feet back from the street. That would be a lot of digging.
Have to say, I dug out a 2ft-wide trench to a depth of 2-3 ft below grade (varying by the slope of the ground) and probably total length of...about 50 feet actually, pretty close to it, for a retaining wall foundation. The soil was mostly heavy clay, very nasty to work with. It took quite a number of hours piecemeal over several weeks to get it complete. Of course, I also needed to get it flatter on the bottom and such than would be necessary for a pipe, and 2 feet is wider than necessary even for a sewer pipe.
We have the same FUN heavy clay soil since we live in the same region. Years prior to digging up the sewer line, hubby dug up the entire foundation to install a french drain. The side of the house with the sewer line is only below grade for 4-1/2', but the back of the house is completely below grade so there was a large portion that was over 9'. I think we've done all the digging possible on this property, which is a good thing since we're not getting younger. I do realize that digging deeper than 4-1/2' wouldn't be advised for most people in most situations, and that's why I recommended that the OP's friend get some quotes from backhoe owner/operators.
Just for comparison sake, it was a few years ago, (in michigan) that my parents had a basement dug.
The hole was 70 feet long, 28 feet wide & 7-9 feet deep ( extra deep).
The excavator did it in one day, perfectly & was paid $800.
I think his rate at the time was $75/hr for the man and the machine.
Pros aren't always expensive.
Middle-men (like the plumber) often are expensive...
This is a small front yard and the trench will be 10 feet long from the house to the city's sewer pipe connection. Trench is near a sidewalk to his porch and city sidewalk near the street.
This is a small front yard and the trench will be 10 feet long from the house to the city's sewer pipe connection. Trench is near a sidewalk to his porch and city sidewalk near the street.
A lot of folks are assuming the cost is to trench and thats it, so i got to ask, is the cost just for a plumber to dig a trench or is it for an entire job which may include permits fees, other fees to the municipality, removingt he old pipe, laying new pipe, making all connections, filling in the trench, grading and smoothing, and all the work involved from A-Z to CIDE and safety regulations?
I know i can have a trench dug for $X, but if a sewer line is involved, that cost goes up because at some point there is a pipe that has to be exposed by hand so that cost money. I wouldn't compare a standard dig a trench cost with an expose a sewer line cost.
The price of 2200.00 is for the entire job and it's going be done by a plumber that has in the past used a Electric Drain & Sewer Rooter. This sewer problem is caused by tree roots and caving in from old age. Pipe is the orange clay type.
A lot of folks are assuming the cost is to trench and thats it...
I wasn't assuming that, and I don't think anyone else in the thread was either. We were all very aware this was a sewer line. Sometimes you can save money by doing part of the job yourself or contracting out part of the job to someone else.
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