Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Dec 24, 2014 9:48 pm Gday all, Had an excavator drill our piers for our retaining wall 450mm hole 1700mm deep. We have had a heap of dirt fall back in the hole after the operator has left. We need to clean out the hole for the surveyors inspection, i found the scissor shovels at Bunnings but they won't go down that deep. Any ideas how to clean out the hole? Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience. George Carlin Re: Cleaning out deep piers 2Dec 25, 2014 8:14 am Construction companies use Vacuum Excavation, sometimes called non destructive excavation, or hydro excavation (For an example of a Melbourne company see http://www.rangedaledrainageservices.co ... o-loading/) Not cheap but would only take a few minutes per hole. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Cleaning out deep piers 3Dec 27, 2014 11:12 am We had this problem on one of our jobs quite a while ago so I bought a small metal garden spade with the scoop part probably 200 x 200mm, took the blade part off and welded it to a 2.4m length of gal pipe at 90º. It was a bit awkward to use but with some patience did the job. Your worst part will be when you lower your reo cage into the pier hole without knocking more dirt into the hole. You could always extend the scissor handles too. Stewie Re: Cleaning out deep piers 4Dec 27, 2014 6:37 pm Sacrifice a square shaped plastic container from your kitchen, one that is fairly rigid and secure it to a piece of 2x1 about 2.5m long and away you go. Ensure you clean around the top of the hole first. Re: Cleaning out deep piers 5Dec 28, 2014 10:53 pm Thanks for the reply guys, I ended up bending a shovel tip and scooping it out, took a while but done the job. Destroyed a good shovel thou ha ha Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience. George Carlin How good is Simeon?! Always taking time to help others out! Wish we were building in NSW and could work together. Thanks for all that you do! 7 5173 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair That’s very helpful information. Will find out more from there. Much appreciated. 11 11804 3 718 |