We have been busy for the last week… On Friday we set out the trench lines for the leach field.

Day 1 – Saturday

Marked out and dug the first trench next to the hedge.

Day 1 - A neat trench
Day 1 - A neat trench

Day 2 – Sunday

Made a dispenser for the Geo-textile. Then started the cross trenches so we could lay the geotextile in the first trench and partially refill. The problem was the corners started to collapse into the first trench.

Day 2 - Trench After the corner fell in
Day 2 - After the corner fell in

Dug out the collapsed stuff and tried the geotextile. There wasn’t enough intact walls to support the geotextile !

Day 2 - After we tried the Geotextile

Day 3 – Monday

So we decided we would just dig the whole thing out! Then line with geotextile and refill in layers while compacting it down. Most of the hole dug out today.

Day 3 - A Big Hole
Day 3 - A Big Hole

Day 3 - Pile of Dirt
Day 3 - Pile of Dirt
Day 3 - Pile of Sand
Day 3 - Pile of Sand

Day 4 – Tuesday

Finished the hole and started to dig a ramp to allow machines access to the pit. Greased to digger.

Day 5 – Wednesday

Finished the ramp and drove the digger to the bottom! (A bit scary) Leveled the bottom and compacted

Day 5 - Completed Hole
Day 5 - Completed Hole
Day 5 - The ramp
Day 5 - The ramp

then fixed geotextile over the whole of the hole.

Day 5 - Geotextile lining completed
Day 5 - Geotextile lining completed

Started to put the sand back.

Day 5 - End of day - some sand back in hole
Day 5 - End of day

Day 6 – Thursday

Spent all day filling in the sand in thin layers and compacting as we went. Had a scare at 17:27 (see the time lapse)…

Day 6 - End of Day - most of the sand in
Day 6 - End of Day

Yes the dumper rolled off on its own and Shaun was down there… Luckily I noticed it starting to move and shouted “SHAUN – GET OUT OF THE WAY” and he ran to the corner. It actually stopped as soon as it reached the bottom of the hole and wouldn’t have hit Shaun but …

By Stephen

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