Just get a bunch of beagles and wait two weeks.
[quote]VanderLaan wrote:
Khronos wrote:
I vote for going through your neighbor’s yard. You’ll have to agree to compensate the neighbor for any damages (messed up grass, flower beds etc.), but that’s really not a big deal, especially if you do it yourself. Talk with your neighbor, go out and buy all the plants for his approval, take down the fence, build the pool, and replace all his stuff yourself. That would strike me as being the easiest approach.
This is the smartest approach. I know you say you want the pool badly, but few - if anyone - has the determination to excavate a pool by hand. You may start strong, but you will most likely fade. Especially if you are talking about the real deal - 20x40, 10 foot deep, diving board, etc. Go home and dig a three foot trench outline of your pool. I bet after that, you will bring your neighbor a fifth of fine bourbon and a blank check.
[/quote]
At 2 cubic yards a day a pool this size would take 148 days.
[quote]NewDamage wrote:
analog_kid wrote:
Hadow Khan wrote:
10 Friends
1 Weekend
A shit load of beer.
That’s what I would do.
While this sounds like a good idea at first glance, I can see how it would almost, without fail, change from a swimming pool hole dig into MUD WRESTLING BLOOD PIT OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, filled with dead and dying friends.[/quote]
Just make sure someone has a video camera…
[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
Where are you going to put the dirt and rocks that come out of the hole?[/quote]
That’s easy. Just dig another hole and put the dirt in there.
If my brother-in-law can build his house in one year nearly to the day, all by himself, I think you can dig that hole. I’d have a pro come in at that point for the finishing/leveling work, though.
[quote]Renton wrote:
Yo Momma wrote:
Where are you going to put the dirt and rocks that come out of the hole?
That’s easy. Just dig another hole and put the dirt in there.
[/quote]
That’s actually a very good question nd something I’ve been thinking about since you posted it.
I would probably stock pile it in the driveway or close to the curb in the street (if the city would allow…don’t want no beef with them). Then When I was done I could get a truck to off-haul it in one shot to minimize cost. This whole thing would be a bitch but I think I would do it if it came down to it.
Simple solution:
DB
[quote]Electric_E wrote:
He lives in SA and he dug the pool out himself?
That must be the first time a white guy has taken on any serious manual labour like that in Africa
[/quote]
He’s a half psycho, Afrikaans police reservist - the pool was done in under 2 weeks I believe, and he had no help digging the hole.
I don’t know about the rest of you guys, But I’ve always wanted to dig a real big hole. Alls by mas self.
Seriously. Go for it. You’ll be the fucking king of that pool, and no one will be able to say otherwise.
i applaud you for even thinking of digging the pool yourself, buuuuut, i would have to agree with the other poster, definatly get some help from a bunch of friends.
i remember back a couple years ago my neighbour said they would pay me $150 to dig a 5’ deep pond, this was the worste thing i think ive ever agreed to.
[quote]Vicomte wrote:
I don’t know about the rest of you guys, But I’ve always wanted to dig a real big hole. Alls by mas self.
Seriously. Go for it. You’ll be the fucking king of that pool, and no one will be able to say otherwise.[/quote]
There IS something very satisfying about this kind of work. When I used to work in a garden centre, one winter I had to dig a trench to lay down pipe for a watering system. It was dug in before we built 3 million square feet of glass houses.
The whole thing - especially the trench (4’ deep, 800’ long, one spade width, frozen ground) was deeply gratifying.
[quote]mazevedo wrote:
That’s actually a very good question nd something I’ve been thinking about since you posted it.
I would probably stock pile it in the driveway or close to the curb in the street (if the city would allow…don’t want no beef with them). Then When I was done I could get a truck to off-haul it in one shot to minimize cost. This whole thing would be a bitch but I think I would do it if it came down to it.
[/quote]
Just find a pregnant woman that’s craving dirt
this post makes me want to dig a huge hole, and i think i’m going to. Seriously, if I owned my own house and had enough room for a pool, I would do that shit in a heartbeat.
so long as it’s legal but i guess it is.
[quote]mazevedo wrote:
tedro wrote:
How much space do you have? The pool companies may not have a mini excavator, but somebody will or you could rent one.
Check this guy out, 39" wide.
http://www.bobcat.com/excavators/compare/323
These things are a lot more fun to run than a shovel, too.
Damnit, the guy from the pool company told me the minimum dimension for a Bobcat was 5’-6". I will send him that link and see what he has to say.
Or I can rent it and hire someone who knows what the fuck they are doing to operate it.
I know he said the minimum dimension that THEY USE is what I stated above, but they don’t own the equipment anyway. I don’t see why they couldn’t rent one of those 39" ones. It would cost more because it would be more labor intensive but who knows. I will look into it. Thanks.
[/quote]
Even if 39" is still too wide, you can get the Ramrod Taskmaster w/ backhoe attachment.
On a side note, who the hell came up with that name?
[quote]Chris82362 wrote:
this post makes me want to dig a huge hole, and i think i’m going to. Seriously, if I owned my own house and had enough room for a pool, I would do that shit in a heartbeat.
so long as it’s legal but i guess it is.[/quote]
I want my own pond. I keep native fish, and having a place to keep them, and enjoy them when making room for other fish.
the guys saying mini-hoe are right on. my brother runs the family’s excavation business and he said they can pretty much get that little fucker in everywhere. or pick up the mini hoe with the claw from the excavator over your neighbors fence.
I don’t know about by hand, you might want to at least get a shovel.
[quote]SouthernGypsy wrote:
I don’t know about by hand, you might want to at least get a shovel.[/quote]
LOL I was waiting to see how long it would take for this comment to show up.
Again, many great ideas and thanks to all. I read every single post and there is definitely no doubt this will get done one way or another. Nobody will blow the whistle on my operations.
A few years ago I dug a 16’ x 16’ x 4’ pit by hand for an in-ground hot tub / elevated deck. It was a ton of work. The soil was so hard that it was pickaxe all the way down with shovels useful only for moving loose dirt out of the hole. And that was maybe 1/4 the excavation you’d have to do for a pool. Were I to do this sort of thing again I’d go for the mini-Bobcat.
If you DO decide to do this yourself somehow, post progress pics here.