Yes it is. I’ve done this twice. Not difficult to drive you just need to insure when you swing round you are careful you don’t hit anything and no people are in range for ssfety reasons. Much quicker and safe, just take care.
Hire a Micro Digger?
- Thread starter seanf
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furnace
Established Member
I have a digger and use it around the farm. They're not ideal for removing larger tree stumps, but a "serrated finger" attachment to cut the roots makes a big difference. Diggers are also painfully slow, so you'll prefer some way of shifting the spoil - small dumpers work well. Much of this depends on access to the site.
If you're looking to "have fun", they're great. If you want a good job done quickly to a high standard, get a man in. He'll be much faster, neater and make less mess.
If you're looking to "have fun", they're great. If you want a good job done quickly to a high standard, get a man in. He'll be much faster, neater and make less mess.
Keith 66
Established Member
^^^^ This, We had a hedge grubbed out & old rockery removed. A local lad came with his mini digger & did the whole lot in a day. Fast, efficient & cheaper in the long run.
Thanks again all, very useful. I've really struggled to find anybody willing to quote for the job so far, it seems everyone is fully booked elsewhere so they either ignore me or make promises they don’t keep
The majority of what I want to shift is just soil. I have come across some roots whilst hand digging, but have simply been able to pull these out. A mini digger would probably be better and quicker, but it has to fit up the path at the side of the house. I am also considering a cheap rotavator to break up the harder ground and make it easier to dig out. I can continue to bag up the waste for now and get a skip in later. I can work to the fence line for my levels. Just need to decide whether to bring it down to the same level as the nearby grass and then turf it or leave it higher and seed (might have left that a bit late in the year though)
Sean
The majority of what I want to shift is just soil. I have come across some roots whilst hand digging, but have simply been able to pull these out. A mini digger would probably be better and quicker, but it has to fit up the path at the side of the house. I am also considering a cheap rotavator to break up the harder ground and make it easier to dig out. I can continue to bag up the waste for now and get a skip in later. I can work to the fence line for my levels. Just need to decide whether to bring it down to the same level as the nearby grass and then turf it or leave it higher and seed (might have left that a bit late in the year though)
Sean
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
If it's reasonable clean topsoil try an ad on your local facebook page. People building raised beds, greenhouses etc. might take it off your hands, even if only by a few sacks at a time. It's quite expensive stuff to buy by the time you get clobbered with a delivery charge.
Tris
What am I doing here?
Depending on what the old hedge was (i.e will it sucker) you could leave the roots, rotovate lightly, then rake roll and seed.
You've certainly got another couple of weeks window for sowing, warm soil in the autumn is better than cold wet soil in spring
You've certainly got another couple of weeks window for sowing, warm soil in the autumn is better than cold wet soil in spring
MARK.B.
Established Member
Not trying to be killjoy but although it may be fun to use and i admit i get a big kid like grin on my ugly mug when using one,a digger be it big or small is not a toy and can easily do a great deal of damage very very quickly
. On arrival check it over as best you can looking for damage and leaky hydraulic hoses ( take a couple of pics with your phone just in case there is any dispute when you send it back). Take a little time to get used to the controls before diving in head first,be very aware of your surroundings and keep pets/children well out of the way. If working on a incline try to get straight on to the area you are digging as a mini digger can and will pull itself over onto its side or tip over when slewing round with a full bucket at full stretch,always best to pull the boom in when pivoting round and then extend again if needed to dump the load . When working up close to your fence it would be a good idea to have another responsible person standing well clear but directing your movements, distances can be tricky to judge correctly . Use the machine at full throttle as it was designed to do or there is a risk you could do damage to the hydraulic pumps.
Give it a brush down before returning as some firms will charge for cleaning.Buy your own diesel and send it back with a full tank(it should arrive filled and its worth checking this) this will save you money as most if not all hire firms will charge a premium on fuel costs.
Have fun as i am sure you will, but above all Stay Safe
. On arrival check it over as best you can looking for damage and leaky hydraulic hoses ( take a couple of pics with your phone just in case there is any dispute when you send it back). Take a little time to get used to the controls before diving in head first,be very aware of your surroundings and keep pets/children well out of the way. If working on a incline try to get straight on to the area you are digging as a mini digger can and will pull itself over onto its side or tip over when slewing round with a full bucket at full stretch,always best to pull the boom in when pivoting round and then extend again if needed to dump the load . When working up close to your fence it would be a good idea to have another responsible person standing well clear but directing your movements, distances can be tricky to judge correctly . Use the machine at full throttle as it was designed to do or there is a risk you could do damage to the hydraulic pumps.Give it a brush down before returning as some firms will charge for cleaning.Buy your own diesel and send it back with a full tank(it should arrive filled and its worth checking this) this will save you money as most if not all hire firms will charge a premium on fuel costs.
Have fun as i am sure you will, but above all Stay Safe
Stevekane
Established Member
My feeling is dont dig unless you have to, once you break it up you will end up with lots more soil than you started with! Rake any loose stuff level and pull out any roots you find as you go along, its surpriseing what you can yank out with a ratchet strap if there is anything to tie it to and then let it over winter to settle back down again,,and then reseed,, but Im not a fan of digging,,
I would love to have a go in a mini digger though!
Steve.
I would love to have a go in a mini digger though!
Steve.
Homeless Squirrel
Established Member
Was just about to say same thing Free cycle etc and get them to remove it
redefined_cycles
Established Member
Thanks very much for asking this question @seanf as I'd too been thinking about it for the near future (tight alleyway to back garden which I plan on building a solid base and brick shed). Interested to see how you finally decide then get on.
FWIW, unless I can find a man with a micro digger I'll probably be going for the Rotavatr option. All the best for your project...
FWIW, unless I can find a man with a micro digger I'll probably be going for the Rotavatr option. All the best for your project...
redefined_cycles
Established Member
Oh... btw. Not sure if it helps (and hopefully won't irritate any tree huggers). But when we moved in to the property there were two massive conifers at the end of the garden. Unkempt isn't the word but they'd just been left to their wn devices and taking up at least 4m by 5m footprint of basically all their sheddings over the years.
We had them cut down and I then drilled into the stumps and poured some petrol in. 4 years later and they've had mushrooms eating away at them as well as me giving them the old chop with the axe every so often. I reckon by the end f this year - the one I need gone as I want to start the build of the brick shed here - will be fully broken down in terms of rot and I should be good to remove the remnants.
Sorry if that doesn't help but if you can help it's composing process and wait a year or so - might help!?
We had them cut down and I then drilled into the stumps and poured some petrol in. 4 years later and they've had mushrooms eating away at them as well as me giving them the old chop with the axe every so often. I reckon by the end f this year - the one I need gone as I want to start the build of the brick shed here - will be fully broken down in terms of rot and I should be good to remove the remnants.
Sorry if that doesn't help but if you can help it's composing process and wait a year or so - might help!?
Homeless Squirrel
Established Member
Trouble with confers is their droppings ie resins "sterilise" the area below stood it's toxic to animals namely cats one reason should use pine disinfectants around cats esp
The comments in the thread are good, especially about an experienced driver saving money / time. A guy and a machine can do a lot in a day. A mini digger is better than a micro if you can get it in the garden.
With regards services, you'll want to contact your local electric board and ask very politely if they'll email you their cable maps for your property. They might, they might not.
If they will do it, it'll give you a rough indication of where cables might be and, if you hit one, you can demonstrate that you tried to avoid it
Just this week we stumbled across this beauty! Western power did the repair. We had a c.a.t 4 scanner and it didnt pick it up, likely due to depth or soil type ( compact and dense )
Attachments
Very easily done. Even the professional who do it all the time get caught out sometimes. To reinforce Baldkevs point the drawings from the electric board can only be used as a guide you cannot rely on them for positions. The quality of underground service information is poor at best and at worst can be very misleading. Be cautious around any services. I
Stevekane
Established Member
Why are we looking into trenches? Unless our friend is planning on building a house there,,I thought it was for a shed? He wants nicely compacted gound, so why disturb it any more than really nessesary, slice off any high spots, but try not to break up the ground. My 12ft x 12ft block built shed is built on a 3 or 4 inch slab sitting on fairly undisturbed ground, i threw in some sheep netting and anything else that could be used as reinforcement esp around the edges and despite tree roots, a mature plum tree right beside it, and parking 3 motorbikes plus plenty of other junk on it Ive had no issues at all over 25yrs,,no cracks, nothing. Rotovating seems to be the last thing you want to do in a situation like this?
Steve.
Steve.
Last edited:
My post was to illustrate the dangers lurking underground. Our driver hit a soil pipe on a previous job. It was 4" under a lawn! As for the op's levelling off, have you seen the garden, because i havent.. he could be on sloping ground and want to create a bigger flat area. More info/ advice is more helpful then less
Jonm
Established Member
Lots of good advice here. Difficult to get an idea of scale without pictures or dimensions. My suggestion is to measure the volume/weight of what you want to move. Is barrowing and putting in a skip feasible. When I was younger I did fill a skip full of soil, had a door and this helps to start with but ended up with door shut and scaffold board ramp to get the skip full.
If more than one skip load then the suggestion to use a grab wagon is good but you need an area to pile the soil and protection of what is underneath, I would speak to the grab company first.
As others have said, soil once excavated bulks up, there seems to be about 50% more material coming out than expected.
Personally, if I was hiring a digger I would want to use it to load the soil in to something like a mini dumper. Issue then is how to get the soil in to the skip, tip alongside and use excavator, substantial ramp?
If more than one skip load then the suggestion to use a grab wagon is good but you need an area to pile the soil and protection of what is underneath, I would speak to the grab company first.
As others have said, soil once excavated bulks up, there seems to be about 50% more material coming out than expected.
Personally, if I was hiring a digger I would want to use it to load the soil in to something like a mini dumper. Issue then is how to get the soil in to the skip, tip alongside and use excavator, substantial ramp?
Jonm
Established Member
One of these would be good for loading a skip
https://www.wellerhire.co.uk/tool-hire/tracked-skip-loader-dumper-1-tonne/
https://www.wellerhire.co.uk/tool-hire/tracked-skip-loader-dumper-1-tonne/
flying haggis
Established Member
Do NOT NOT NOT hire one and do it yourself. My neighbour got in a contractor to remove a few largeish stumps and the experiencied operator still managed to catch his foot and ankle with the machine!!! Stump grinding machines dont care what they grind.................... (turned into an air ambulance job and the poor bloke was flown from North Norfolk straight to Addenbrookes in Cambridge.)
