I really love your content brother. I learn a lot from watching your videos and your content is building my confidence. I work for the sewer department and another way that we bust into concrete manholes is to take our utility saw (like the one you cut the street with) and cut a square out of the manhole that is large enough to accommodate the pipe size that we're using, and then we knock that square out with a sledge hammer. Then, of course, we fill in the gaps between the pipe and the concrete with grout or quickcrete just like you did. The saw method might be another way you could try it someday, but I also like the way you did it here! Super great content! Cant wait to keep watching more!
I love the talking to yourself haha. Reminds me of me! 1/2 ton of #57 makes those 2x2 inlets a lot easier to set. I didn’t see if you had placed any gravel before trying to set it. Also it’s easier to cut the hole before setting, as you can just cut it square with the saw, then pack with hydraulic cement. If you cut too though you’ll probably need some backer (crumpled up paper) on one side then remove and finish filling after it sets. Lastly, cutting off a small section of the male end allows you to do all that work out of the ground which is much easier, then just slip the female end right into your stub.
If you charged 5K for this, you definitely earned your money! With the cost of rental equipment and the prefabricated box with grate, this must have a for family or a really good friend! You spent a lot of time doing “ground work”. Awesome job especially by yourself! Bet you slept good. Lol. For your first drop inlet, you did an amazing job. Now that you’re finished, what will you do different on the next one?? Thanks for sharing and loved the piano music during time lapse. Hilarious 😂 😂😂. You are the man!
Glad you called 811 I enjoy ur videos they show me what contractors are doing when they call a ticket in I mark utility lines i never see the process ive seen people carry water for hard ground it makes it easier to dig
Setting manholes and catch basins, undercut about 6 Inches and use a washed rock base underneath for leveling. Backfilling something like that with a very low cement/sand mix fillcrete. It will be easier than trying to compact and you won't get settlement around the base. It sucks doing jobs like that alone, but I know how it feels.
I came back... I really get a ton of good ideas from your videos! Thanks for your enthusiasm. I'm just starting out and it helps to keep me motivated! I'm running a kubota b2301 with backhoe and box blade attachments, 12000# dump trailer, chevy 2500hd 4x4. 😎👍
I came back to watch again and I really enjoy site revisits. Reminds me of gate city foundation drainage. He does “after” vids a lot. And I love it when I get to rent a micro ex. too. They are so much fun.
thinking you did a pretty good job on it. Maybe a Touch on low side. Could have raised it up bit more. so the Grate wasnt to deep. tis more about cars/trucks that might ride along the edge and actually go down into it abit.
I liked your "micro-mini" excavator comment from the return visit video, then watched this one for the install. That "micro-mini" is like my BX23S, but better because it can twist all the way around which is a lot more than my sub-compact 140 degree swing arc. LOL
I see you have the right drill for the job, try buying a clay spade bit for it and get the longest one you can find, if you want also get the shortest one you can find. You will not use them often but then one day you will come to a job where they will save you hours. I bought one 3 years ago for a job, then it rained for 3 days before I went to dig the hole and the ground went from a rock to putty, so I didn't use it. Then I had need for it this summer when I was trying to dig right up against the house under some things while we were in a drought. My digging bar was just bouncing on the dirt, I don't have machines, so my other choices were my foot or the clay spade. I tried the spade and dug all 75 feet of that ditch from 18 inches to daylight in about 45 minutes on a day where it was 100 F in the shade with 90% humidity. You know those kind of days and that tool saved the day for me. Thanks for the videos, keep at it.
"I CAME BACK!" Lovin' the attitude Todd, keep up the great work! And BTW, I also like all the variety of work you do, as well as when you explain how it's done and what the after effect is supposed to be. Cheers!
Living in the Ozarks, I’d never consider digging hole without a breaker bar/spud bar/ice breaker/digging and tamping bar… what do you call them where you live?
Hey Todd you did a great job. I’ve been putting those things in for years and I know how exhausting they are .Just a quick tip Because I know you said it was your first time The road engineers where I am require a layer of mortar under the frame and grate . Reason being is they don’t want water to freeze under there and lift the grate . We usually put a layer of mortar then set the frame on it using bricks if need be then mortar around the top of the great and use a wet sponge to smooth off the mortar Inside the structure and out. I don’t know what the temperatures are where you are so it may not be required. Keep up the good work 👍
Hey my brother!!! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge. It costs a lot less to listen to trusted friends than learn from my mistakes
@@DigginLife21 It might not be a requirement where you are I just know the town Engineers stand over us and watch us do it . The boxes normally fail around the pipe so they make us mortar quite a bit on the outside also then we have to wait before we hit it with the compactor so it don’t crack the mortar we usually hand tamp under the pipe first .
Just out of curiosity, why not use a sand collar for the penetration into the new catch basin? I have only ever seen someone dry pack grout to a sand collar vs. smooth plastic (corrugated pipe, C900, SDR 30 etc.)? Just wondering is all. Nice video sir!
If you put the hole in the catch basin before you put it in the ground it's much easier. Lay it on its side and take you hammer drill and drill around in a circle where the pipe will go. Drill holes right as close to the previous one as you can get all the way around. The hole and pipe needs to be at the inside bottom floor of the box so it doesn't hold water in the box. When you seal around the pipe with concrete (regular sackrete works good) you need to fill the bottom of the box up to the pipe so the water will go out. When you put the grate on the top you can use type S mortar mix like what you use for brick laying to seal it in place. Put the mortar from the frame of the grate out to the edge of the box sloping it from the top of the grate to the box edge covering the frame. The little supports on the corner of the frame are angled and you can use those as a guide. Oh you need to fill around both the inside and outside of the pipe. Also when setting a culvert box you can wrap a chain around the box about a quarter to half of the way up all the way round hooking the hook back to the other side of the chain and take the rest of the chain over the box and hook that end into the chain on the other side. Both ends being in the middle of the side opposite each other where you hook them. That way you can pick up on box with the chain going across the top of the box like a basket handle and the chain around the box will grab the box as you lift and won't slide off if you have it tight. The way you had the concrete guy fill in around the frame and grate and outside of the pipe worked good to hold everything in place. I've put in probably 100 or more of these boxes and it's no fun. I hope you understand what I've said and that I've helped you somewhat. I'm in Rowan county in NC and I think you're in the NC mountains aren't you?
That little 08 has buck teeth 😂 Just curious if your 80 has a sloppy turntable/slew gear like that 08 which swings back and forth when you bring the swing to a stop. My Vio35 is brand new, and it has that annoying play and it drives me crazy for detailed work. Doesn’t matter how slow you turn it still goes back and forth like 4 times before the bucket comes to a stop. I heard it’s a Yanmar thing. Shoulda done more research before I purchased a new mini. My larger excavator is as tight as can be. Stops on a dime even at full swing speed.
I own an identical machine they're not fast but it's better than digging by hand with a shovel!! Put's it into perspective comparing that tiny little bucket on the SV08 to the one on a grown up Yanmar - it looks vast.
Great video buddy. I'm sick and watching u do this and I had to laugh a few times. I'm waiting results of the covid and I haven't laughed for aweek and now u maid my night thanks buddy.
It's all about perspective. I would love to have that little guy available instead of a shovel. Might be slower than the bigger rigs, but every tool has a job it's perfect for. That thing would be great for doing work in someone's backyard where the only access point is a 32 inch wide pathway. Perfect bucket for a French drain in most cases. Burns way less fuel than the bigger rigs. Doesn't take a massive truck or trailer to haul. A person could build a whole business model focusing on tight access jobs in a city with one of those little excavators, one of those small, drivable, half yard "wheel barrels" that has a dump bed (don't remember what those are called) and an old F-350 with a dump bed. Leveling work for installing patios, debris clean up in hard to reach places, French drains, and a dozen other things I'm not thinking of. If a person wanted to just get their foot in the door with cheap, throw away type machines from China you could pick up the 2 machines for less than $8k and an old pickup for another $6k (I'm looking at an old 1982 F350 with a dump bed for $4800 right now...it's not pretty, but if it does 100 hours of work it'd be worth it.) If the 2 machines last 200 hours (every video I've seen of people using them suggest they last longer than that) you're looking at less than $50 an hour per machine for cost. Decent way to start building profit for better machines without risking your life savings getting started and not having to break your back with a shovel.
You seemed to do a really good job doing this coming from someone who has installed many of these for the township I work for, I wonder if it was necessary renting the small machine or you could have gotten away with just the larger machine you had? Either way good job
Dig a larger hole next time & level the bottom of it & then set your box in. The more room you have to work with the easier the job of setting the box the right way for sure. You will get better at these with more experience.
I feel for ya having to keep getting in and out of an excvator a bunch of times.....tough on legs and shoulders. I try to stay in mine as much as possible....LOL
It really is a lot of work. I found out the hard way on a really hot day. If you do any considerable about of storm work you need a laborer on the ground for sure.
Hey Todd, getting ready to start my business up and was just wondering what kind of insurance coverages you have would love to hear from you on this thanks for the help, jesse .
I carry a 1 million dollar general liability policy. That will cover any job I do. Ive heard if you work around state highways you have to carry a lot more
Jesse you’ll typically have a liability policy based on the classes of work you do. If you are financing your equipment you’ll have inland marine insurance. If you are doing this legally you’ll have commercial insurance on the vehicles you use to haul the equipment, to too,emotional any occ/acc insurances. All of this can be pretty expensive particularly dump truck insurance. It seems the vast majority of people I see doing the smaller jobs aren’t doing it above board and most of them are skirting the dot regs by not running their vehicles commercially. That only brings liability on oneself. Even if someone hits you and would be theoretically at fault. If you aren’t operating according to the law you’d be at fault and subject to any litigation brought forth. Unfortunately the fly by nighters make it that much more difficult for the ones who do it right to compete.
@@hoytballard5504 thank you for your advice and I will be doing everything legally im looking to start with a 1 ton dump truck and a small back hoe and rental excavator if the job requires it till I can build funds and work to justify buying a excavator im looking to start with as little payments as possible just in case things don't work out. the economy in my area isn't the greatest but I feel if I can market my services more to residential clients that I will have a better chance of success. I'm still researching insurance policy's and what will fit my needs the best. I recently asked a friend to mentor me with the areas im struggling with
@@jesseludwick4912 Before you do a lot a planning you need to investigate insurance. Less and less people are writing commercial policies and the prices are getting stupid from the ones that do. Another bit of advice is do not tell the underwriters you don't do a certain type of work but advertise that you do. Meaning, don't say "oh I don't do trenches or any kind of excavating" but yet you have an excavator. The underwriters will search you out via your company website and any social media. Having liability insurance doesn't mean anything if it doesn't cover the classes of work you are doing..
check the hunting section of walmart, I picker up a bag seeder with a shoulder strap for food plots marked way down the other day, and it works surprisingly well for seed fertilizer and lime
I'm looking into an off brand 1 ton mini excavator from China. Getting quoted at $4800 without any extra implements, which includes $800 for shipping to a port 30 miles from me. Tariffs might bring it to $6,000 to $6500. Found a few videos of people using them, one guy has about 200 hours on his digging out a sizable retention pond and it's still running fine. I'm looking at it from the perspective vs renting one. At $6,000, if I get 200 hours of work out of it I'm at $50 an hour. Renting one costs about $1200 a week, but my schedule would only allow me to use it for about 20 hours a week. So the break even would either be at the 100 hours of "work done" mark or 5 weeks of renting. I think I'd rather go that route than deal with the harbor freight tool. Way less mobile, less breakout power, less stability in odd terrain, and the legendary reputation of Harbor Freight behind it :p
If ya marked the whole then cut the pipe whole before you put catch basin In would have been smarter faster & more clean plus you wouldn’t be so tired! Good job tho all on your own but damm hire a set of hands so you don’t have to run around so much ?😂
Well someones kid is crying at their playhouse sandbox "but I only had it outside 10min, and, and, Mr. Clean, kicked dirt at me and when I looked back, him and my Tonka were gone". (Just a joke people) don't start with the that's so cruel and mean.