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Posted

I'm up embiggening the size if the hole. Originally it's like 39x57 (so 30" + 2x 3.5" + 2x 1"; and 48" + 2x 3.5" + 2x 1"). Butninfigure I needed about another inch or so around. My idea is to pour some concrete down the edges once I get a set or two in. I figure it would help keep rain water from rushing in. Moved the pavers back a little.

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Posted
  On 7/4/2022 at 5:05 PM, CleverNickname said:

There is something about postholes that are utter agony for my back. For whatever reason this hole has been downright invigorating, far more fun than some of the postholes I've dug. 

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I’m digging in sandy loam so it’s soft but so dry that getting the sand/soil out with the digger was a true PITA. Had to use my hands to finish it off (just like in bed HEYOOOOOOOO)

Posted
  On 7/4/2022 at 5:34 PM, hookemATL said:

I’m digging in sandy loam so it’s soft but so dry that getting the sand/soil out with the digger was a true PITA. Had to use my hands to finish it off (just like in bed HEYOOOOOOOO)

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That's why it's really a shame that these have been made virtually extinct due to unpopularity. For narrow, deep post holes it's a must-have. Mine has been repaired about as much as it can be and I rue the day I can't use it. The regular style diggers are pretty much worthless for my use.

 

51c4eFuOXPL._SY500_.jpg

https://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Industrial-Digger-Various-Pattern/dp/B00VWKT5W6

 

Posted
  On 7/4/2022 at 9:09 PM, DougO said:

That's why it's really a shame that these have been made virtually extinct due to unpopularity. For narrow, deep post holes it's a must-have. Mine has been repaired about as much as it can be and I rue the day I can't use it. The regular style diggers are pretty much worthless for my use.

 

51c4eFuOXPL._SY500_.jpg

https://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Industrial-Digger-Various-Pattern/dp/B00VWKT5W6

 

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Almost $400 for that thing!?  What in the actual fuck?

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Posted
  On 7/4/2022 at 9:37 PM, The Royal We said:

Almost $400 for that thing!?  What in the actual fuck?

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I think they were about $200 back when we got ours at American Fence Supply. I'm tempted to buy another one, but WTF is right. I may have to rebuild my old one and hope the metal parts hold out. 

Posted
  On 7/4/2022 at 5:03 PM, CleverNickname said:

Knocked down the sides. I think I got the one side a little deeper but didn't measure.

New wheelbarrow. Fancy two wheel model. 

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Technically, that would make it a wheelsbarrow.

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Posted

Damn! Although I gotta say that despite the hardship of having considerably more rock than that dude has (and those Indonesian primitive technology guys), my hope is that my hole is somehow more long-lasting than a hole that is made in deep dirt/clay.

Posted
  On 7/10/2022 at 12:45 AM, CleverNickname said:

Damn! Although I gotta say that despite the hardship of having considerably more rock than that dude has (and those Indonesian primitive technology guys), my hope is that my hole is somehow more long-lasting than a hole that is made in deep dirt/clay.

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I’m still curious about the purpose of this hole.  I may call Geraldo Rivera to go check it out.  

Posted

OP was definitely aware of his hole digging peer across the pond! I'll note e is another guy digging in what seems like just clay. We yanks are made of, and dig in, sterner stuff.

As for purpose: I'll let yall know when I find it. It's probably just a little bit deeper.

Posted (edited)

Remember this guy in Austin?  

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2016/10/14/man-who-dug-space-under-home-sues-city/9776940007/

  Quote

Joe Del Rio, the retiree who excavated a huge pit underneath his East Austin home that prompted a raid by SWAT and bomb squad officers last month, is suing the city for taking his private property by filling in the hole, his lawyer said Thursday.

Earlier this week, Austin city officials had ordered the collection of tunnels and rooms, which they have characterized as a 35-foot-deep multilevel underground structure, filled with concrete to prevent Del Rio's house from collapsing. Work crews for a private contractor were scheduled to begin filling in the underground space this morning, which officials said would take about 33 truckloads of concrete.

A spokeswoman for the Public Works Department said the estimated cost of filling Del Rio's pit is about $61,500. The city will pay for the work and then bill Del Rio, Sara Hartley said.

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  Quote

"He used car struts and welded them into the basement walls as supports, and empty car batteries as cinder blocks," Kaplan said. "Everything had a plan — he was never just digging to dig."

Code compliance inspectors visited Del Rio's house in 2008 and 2009 in response to neighbors' complaints about various holes, according to city records. After an inspection in early May, officers from Austin's Police, Fire and Public Works departments on May 8 swarmed onto the property, fencing it off. Del Rio has lived with relatives since then.

In a mid-May report, city engineers, citing deep excavation under load-bearing walls and scant reinforcement of walls in the pit, declared that Del Rio's home was "in imminent danger of collapse."

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Edited by TexasEd
Posted
  On 7/13/2022 at 4:59 PM, SquishMitten said:

Maybe I missed it, but here's the GOAT of randomly digging a hole. Looks like he's up to 15 videos on this project. Highly recommend to all hole-digging enthusiasts.

 

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Well... there does an hour I didn't spend with my wife and kids.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/a-year-ago-deadly-fire-exposed-secret-tunnels-under-bethesda-home/172166/

It didn't end well--some excerpts from this weird ass story:

A year ago, a deadly fire exposed Daniel Beckwitt's curious campaign to build an underground bunker for protection from a nuclear attack. Neighbors in Bethesda knew nothing about the tunnels before they heard Beckwitt's screams and saw smoke pouring from the house where 21-year-old Askia Khafra died that afternoon.

Maryland prosecutors portray Beckwitt, a 27-year-old millionaire, as a paranoid computer hacker who recklessly endangered Khafra's life. In May, they secured Beckwitt's indictment on charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.

During a recent interview at their Silver Spring, Maryland, home, Dia Khafra, 69, said he and his wife, Claudia, tried to persuade Askia to stay away from Beckwitt's tunnels. Their son met Beckwitt online and agreed to help him dig the tunnels in exchange for Beckwitt's investments in an internet company Askia was launching.

"I always feared something dangerous would happen to him," the elder Khafra said.

Investigators found the younger Khafra's charred body in the basement of Beckwitt's Bethesda home. A hole in the concrete basement floor led to a shaft that dropped down 20 feet into tunnels that branched out roughly 200 feet in length.

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Posted (edited)

Excerpts from a good DC mole man story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/inside-the-tunnels-of-washingtons-mole-man-harrison-g-dyar/2012/11/03/169851cc-1d41-11e2-9cd5-b55c38388962_story.html

On the first day there was the Mystery: On or around Sept. 25, 1924, a truck fell through the earth near 21st and P streets NW, revealing an elaborate, multilevel tunnel underneath. What in blazes was it?

“Old Tunnel Here Believed to Have Been Used by Teuton War Spies and Bootleggers,” read a headline in The Washington Post. Speculation was rampant.

But speculation can last only so long. On the second day, people didn’t want the Mystery; they wanted the Explanation. And that’s what the Reporter was in search of. He left behind the scrum-milling at the cave-in near Dupont Circle and headed across town to find the previous owner of 1512 21st St. NW.

In the red-brick house at 804 B St. SW, across from the National Museum, he found the answer. The tunnel-maker confessed. He was a Smithsonian scientist named Harrison G. Dyar. A scientist who studied bugs. An entomologist.

An entomologist was not as exciting as a Teuton war spy. An entomologist was not as interesting as a bootlegger. An entomologist was boring.

Even Dyar’s reason for building the tunnels was boring: He said he did it for exercise. Some men play golf, he told the reporter. I dig tunnels.

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Edited by Mdhorn
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

It's been a minute since I was up at the ranch. I started on concrete forms. I'll do a real basic ready mix pour. I figure it will help keep rain from washing inside, and will be a nice weight spreading surface for when I put in sets. I am the world's crappiest carpenter. Nothing is entirely level yet. Nothing is exactly square. Everything is a fucking rhombus! I fucking hate rhombuses! At this point I think I'll tinker a bit more, stake it, and when I pour I will attempt to keep level the places where the header will rest. The other portions I will try to shape to keep water out of the depths.20220814_122004.thumb.jpg.2981594771d4527ff9e5a36bb1993c8c.jpg

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Posted

I did some math and realized if I did that whole area it would he like 20 80lb bags. So I made the bond beam a little smaller. It's 7.5" around, so good for an 8x8. Eight bags.

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Mixing concrete by hand really sucks. 

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My hope is that if we get a lot of rain, it should be buttoned up pretty well.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

Weird teach holiday = unpaid minor children labor! It was 82 at 11:30am. Fall!

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Didn't do much. The deepest is at about 5 ft, so it's just a matter of getting all of it low enough. Soon I'll have to do first set of lagging.20220926_110311.thumb.jpg.a0de63d1b206acc6982980d27de7d538.jpg

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