Part 3 - Digging a hole and filling a hole

Me and my trust Shovel, pick and wheel barrow

So the site is generally cleared of debris but now the location needs a bit of leveling. The top part that is basically root balls and old tree roots are cleared first. Usable topsoil which makes up the first 8 to 10 inches is separated. The roots are thrown in a pile and are taken away to the dump. The top soil itself is relocated where good soil is need at some other location. We are then finally to the sub soil which is inert soil. Top soil is made up of decomposed organic material and is what stuff grows in. It has nutrients and such but it is no good for building with. So with the sub soil exposed it’s time to dig the foundation hole. I chose to build on rubble trench which is basically a French drain. I began to dig a trench two feet wide and three feet deep all the way around. All of the soil removed was wheel barrowed to a pile where we would use this very sub soil to form our walls and floor. Digging was tedious and several times I had the realization that I was not going to complete this project for many years. At these moments I may have shed a tear or two, it happens. I figure I moved about 12 yards of subsoil that summer. Imagine a large dump truck. To make matters more interesting the ground was filled with rocks and lots of gravel that we used for pathways and the foundation itself.

I give you one trench 2 ft wide, 3 ft deep

When the hole was finally complete a perforated drain pipe was laid in the bottom and we ordered a dump truck to deliver some drain rock. The next endeavor was then to shovel into the wheel barrow and relocate to the trench. The concept here was to put about 10 inches of gravel and then compact by hand. This was repeated for a seemingly long time until the trench was finally filled within 10 inches of the surface.

I must say that as the summer was nearing an end that it sort of looked at this point like very little had been accomplished. Really I had dug a hole and filled it back in. Not a lot to look at that’s for sure! At this point I had a large pile of stones amassed just from digging and logic said that they would be the start of my foundation wall. I had never done any of this so don’t forget we are on a huge learning curve. I knew how to build things in a modern fashion but this concept was outside of my knowledge and skill set so it was time to learn some new skills! Over the course of the summer I hand shoveled about 20 yards of material. That is a whole lot! Think two dump trucks full minimum! 

Next is building the stone foundation wall! Part 4

Perforated pipe is laid first just in case water
 levels are an issue