[Jakerex]

This might be a dumb question, and I know there are a lot of variables with soil type, but how hard is it to manually dig a 4ft x 4ft x 4ft deep hole with only shovels, picks, digging bars, etc.

In average soil conditions is this something that can be completed in one day by two men in good physical shape?

Or should I rent an excavator?

I can dig a 4ft deep post hole pretty fast but never thought about digging such a big hole.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience with something like this!


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[SeniorSitizen]

Sure, but you guys will also need a Ribbing Chair. That's the chair the guy resting will set on while telling the guy in the hole how slow he is.

 

[daveb1]

So many variables. Your idea of average soil is different than mine. Around here I wouldn't need a pick or bar unless I got a rock. Except for this time of year, I'd hit frost at about a foot deep.

But depending on your physical condition, it's doable. Will you be willing by hand? Hauling away the excess dirt? (Where does the extra dirt come from?)

 

[Colbyt]

Myself (age 19) and another guy dug 5x5x4.5 by hand in a less than a full day. This was mostly clay after the first foot.


You will sleep very well and be sore the next day.


Even with an excavator there will be a lot of spade work if you want clean straight walls.

 

[Bud9051]

You won't know until you get started. I've dug (by hand) on pure sand, piece of cake. Then a long trench with a backhoe, took a week, glacier impacted soil they called it.

At my current house below 1' it is pure clay and impossible to dig by hand.

Check rental prices for one day, it may be worth it,

Bud

 

[dj3]

You can do it, we can supervise!

 

[Colbyt]

You can do it, we can supervise!

But we will need chairs and lots of beer.

 

[Jakerex]

I’d rent an excavator in a heartbeat but this dig needs to stay as low-key as possible if you know what I mean...
Any other quiet ways to dig a big hole?


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[Marson]

I dug an egress window well hole about that size. Easy digging in dry sandy loam. Wouldn’t do it again, but I am old and I was alone. I did it in a day but man was I spent after that. Two things hit you that you don’t think about. First when you get down a few feet lifting the dirt up and out gets to be a lot of work and second you need to move the dirt away from the edge of the hole early on. I got to the point where I had to fill buckets and lift them out of the hole and then climb out and dump them farther away. Dirt is kind of like garbage on a construction site. You always wind up with about twice what think you’ll have.

 

[3onthetree]

I’d rent an excavator in a heartbeat but this dig needs to stay as low-key as possible if you know what I mean...

Usually concrete boots and throwin in the river is better for that . . .

 

[Colbyt]

I’d rent an excavator in a heartbeat but this dig needs to stay as low-key as possible if you know what I mean...
Any other quiet ways to dig a big hole?

So who are we burying or do you directions for a DIY septic tank?

 

[DoomsDave]

@Jakerex, WELCOME!

Where are you? That might make a difference, with the level of water in the soil; also if it's up north, maybe still frozen in places? (Hope not, but. . . . )

My late dad told me that when guys were bad in the Army, instead of flogging them, like in olden days (this was the 1950s) they'd make them "dig a six-by" meaning a hole even bigger than you're contemplating.

Mind telling us why you need to dig such a deep hole?

In any case, I've done it and, the younger you are the better. Get a number of different kinds of shovels; both broad and narrow blades if possible.

In many cases, you may find that the first layer of soil isn't so bad to dig through. That's how it was at my place. Go down about 18", pretty easy, feel like Superman.

Things got really really tough after that. I hit a layer of hard, compacted clay that hadn't been dug in heaven knows how long. Broad bladed shovel gave way to skinny one, then, a really skinny one, with me in all my then-buff bulk jumping on it, one little bit of clay at a time. (Stab, hup-oomph, stab, hup-oomph, etc.)

The deeper I went, the harder it got. Fortunately, I didn't have to go four feet, but a mere three and a half to plant a big palm tree.

A pick might be easier, at least to loosen things a bit.

The reason I was pushing about what you needed the hole for is that maybe there's a way to do what you want to do, without having to dig a hole that deep.

Anyway, go for it! And tell us about it, give us more knowledge. And, I energetically concur with what @Marson said. I almost had me a cave-in . . . .

 

[lenaitch]

As mentioned, way too many variables. "Two men in reasonably good shape"? Probably, depending on the soil and water table. When we were in our 20s, a buddy hand dug his in-ground pool. He was a teacher and had all summer and you kinda have to know him to understand (extremely good shape, even today, but tighter than bark to a tree). Also as mentioned, the lower you go, getting rid of the spoil away from the hole gets really old really quickly; it's a different set of muscles.
Who are we burying?

 

[Jakerex]

Usually concrete boots and throwin in the river is better for that . . .

I guess my vagueness sounded bad. Hahaha. I’m burying a IBS water tank and tote under an outhouse. New location. Not where it sits now


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[Old Thomas]

Back when I was 31 years old I dug a dry well by hand in one day, 7 feet in diameter and 7 feet deep. Remember a ladder, it can be hard to get out without a ladder within reach.

 

[DexterII]

About 10 years ago, I was roughly in my mid-50's, and was involved in a volunteer project that required a drywell about 4x4 x6' deep. No problem, I thought, because I was going to load up the backhoe on the trailer and make short work of it. Nope, we had a number of "energetic" teens involved, and the concensus was that they would eat that right up. I knew better, showed up anyway, without the backhoe, had more than enough help to dig out the sod, but they quickly started wandering off to other things, and I ended up digging the majority of it myself, relieved once in a while by a half hearted tag team effort of two 20 some year olds, one who had recently gotten out of the army. So they had the upper hand, but I'll guarantee you that they were pretty whipped keeping up with this old man. Long story short, about 3-4 hours best as I can recall, in ground that was what I would probably call sandy loam, so it's going to go up or down from there depending on what you have.

 

[SeniorSitizen]

Sports have time limits but this ain't a sport so forget about time. Just dig until done and you'll have a memory of that to - tell everybody several times - when you're 80.:smile:

 

[Nealtw]

A rotary hammer can come in handy if not small jack hammer. It wasn't that long ago wells were dug by hand.

 

[HotRodx10]

I did one about that size with my dad once (foundation for a big satellite dish). It took us about the equivalent of a long day, but we split across 2.



The only thing I can add to what's already been said is, have a couple of 5 gallon buckets with some comfortable rope tied on them. When you get down past the 2 1/2 foot level, there's not room for 2 people to dig, but one can be digging and filling a bucket, while the other lifts one out and dumps it.

 

[Marson]

I forgot to add that when I dug my hole, I figured out what those short handled shovels were for.