Best way to move dirt?

[bowman316]

So basically replacing the string with long boards?

 

[alldodge]

So basically replacing the string with long boards?

No, much easier. They used this method to lay out the aqueducts over many miles

 

[bowman316]

I don't quite grasp it yet, so your trying to line up the 2 red boards, and the 2 blue boards? one give you left right level, and the other gives you forward back level?

Is there a more detailed article about this? I couldn't find much on google.

 

[bowman316]

ohhh, i just got it! I had it backwards! leveling the 2 blue boards will get you level east west ways.

 

[alldodge]

ohhh, i just got it! I had it backwards! leveling the 2 blue boards will get you level east west ways.

Correct but not east west, it's up down. If you look at the two blue boards and they appear like two boards. Now if the front board is lower from where your standing, you will squat down until the front one goes up and the back one goes down (in appearance only). Once you find the spot where you can only see one board, this is level with the two boards you set up as level with each other.

You can dig a trench this way and make it level, just set the boards up, parallel and level with each other. Dig the trench down to the depth you want. Now stick a board in the trench and look at the two boards were they become only one. Mark your stick and continue trenching stopping and checking as up go.

 

[alldodge]

Maybe just to add a bit more clarity. If you put a table on the ground and made sure it was flat and level. Once there you can move higher or lower and the table thickness with increase in any movement other then level. The reason to use two boards is so you can see light between from a distance. The 2x4 work good over a large distance, if you were only working with 100 foot or so I would use two broom handles or lay the 2x4 on it's side

 

[bowman316]

so your standing at the dot, looking down the closest blue board? and the other 2 parallel blue boards are already level with each other?

IDK, the string idea seems easier. Once you have a level string up, hammer wooden steaks into the ground, and stop when the top of the steak is even with the string. then just pile dirt up to the steaks.

I have also used a long 2x4 to level out a spot for a pool. just by putting a level on top of it.

 

[alldodge]

Hope my second post clears it up for you. This works at any distance, even a mile away, but may be to much for under 30 foot

 

[bowman316]

Have you heard of the stick trick for estimating where a tree will fall? Take a straight stick and grab the far end, put the near end right next to your eye. Then hold it parralel to the ground, pointing the end where you plan to put your notch to cut the tree down. Then rotate the stick 90 degrees, so it is now vertical. Now move forwards or backwards until the top of the stick is even with the top of the tree. Your standing where the top of the tree will land.

Your creating a 45 degree angle with the stick, so you have an equilateral triangle, where the tree is one side, and the ground is the other. The distance on the ground from you to the tree trunk is how tall the tree is.

 

[alldodge]

I've heard of it but have yet to try it out. Most the time I just eye ball it. The next time I cut a tree down I'll give it a try, because it sounds like it would work great

 

[bowman316]

You can place bets on who's stick is closer.

Do you have an article on that leveling thing? I cant find that anywhere.

 

[gm280]

Interesting reads. My younger son, when he was still in school, won the FFA contest with measuring the height of trees using his thumb. He would walk up to the tree in question, turn around and walk off X number of feet, Then he turned again and used his thumbs one over the other horizontally until he reached the top of the tree. Then he would state how tall it was. And it works very well. He won the contest doing that. So there are lots of older forgotten ideas to do things. JMHO!

 

[alldodge]

You see it on construction sites sometimes. The last time I saw it on TV was on Discovery or TLC, some kind of Alaska or Yukon show. Don't normally watch the shows but it was a cold day and I was bored. The guy was putting in a septic and lateral field for an inside toilet. He set a 55 gallon drum up on end, leveled in all directions and then laid two 3 foot or so dowel rods on top about 1 foot apart.

All you do after that is step back a ways and squat down until the two sticks go together

 

[rbh]

Anyone tried the old clear garden hose trick, the height of the water at point A of the hose is the same at point B of the hose-self leveling.

 

[alldodge]

I'll keep looking but this is my last try for a visual. Image on the left is just look sort of straight but front board is lower then back. Keep in mind just an illustration, boards are flat and level to one another. Image on the right shows land slope on the bottom in orange. The green pole with the black dot is being held by the person doing the sighting in front of them and looking at the boards from a distance.

The dotted lines is what would be seen being high, level and low. If you looked at it level you would see only one board, going high or low you will see two boards

 

[Scott Danforth]

use a trash pump and a long hose to fill your pond from the creek when you need to. easier than digging

also, they make these things called laser levels.... I think $30 from sears. (same cost as the boards, however fits in your hand)

 

[StarTed]

I've used the laser level from HF and it worked better than I expected. I took levels for my septic field then moved the level to the other side and did it again. I was impressed how close it came. I believe that I purchased a better receiver but the rotating laser from HF was more precise and repeatable than I expected.

Another method I've used is to take a long level and sight down along the top while keeping it level. With help from someone else you can mark elevations around as needed. It's always good to build in some redundancy.

I've tried the water level trick but find it doesn't work as well as the technology would suggest. I think capillary attraction with the water interferes with the precision. The water looks like it is humped up on the end. Maybe a larger size hose than a garden hose would work better.

 

[bowman316]

Finding where you need to be is one thing, the hard part is actually dumping the dirt where it needs to be. You need a way to mark how high to pile the dirt, that wont be in the way once you dump the dirt. Thats why the wooden steak idea sounds good. Just bury the steaks.

 

[dwco5051]

No Title

Back in olden times I used these to mark posts for pole buildings, set foundation forms, etc. I even used them for mounting wall track for suspended ceilings. Could not afford a transit or good construction level and lasers had not been invented yet. Still have them on a shelf somwhere in my shop.