The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2011 8:20 am**

When I have to do it at work, I use a machine that has a kind of microscope built into it so the ends of the fibre look huge on a monitor. You then fuse the ends together using the same piece of kit.

You then test its loss and if ok, heat shrink the joint in a special strenghting tube.

This is all in a nice clean apps room but I would not care if I was in a trench if it was saving me loads of money.

Have a look at

http://www.fibreopticcabling.com/fibre%20Optic%20Splicing.htm

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:38 pm**

GB_Groundworks wrote:No they're cobbles haha, well rd this way anyway

The tellyfolk, DIYers and homeowners might refer to them as 'cobbles' but they are actually, and accurately, setts.

Cobbles are lumps of unworked stone sourced from river beds or beaches or field stone. Setts are, according to the official pan-European definition, stone dressed into cuboid form, with six identifiable faces.

A full definition is given here

Folk may well talk about Coronation St cobbles, but they are actually setts. The same folk often talk about using "cement" to 'stick bricks together'.

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2011 8:49 pm**

so root ball was 3 metres deep took an good 30 mins each stump

there is something quite satisfying about digging out a tree stump. i could do it all day long (though not by hand!!)

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2011 9:11 pm**

I have done a fair few with a mattock and it is no fun at all

we did 1 years ago in stain albans and the bin men were emptying the bins nearby
I asked if we bunged them a drink could we tie the stump to the thing that lifts bins with seat belts
20 quid later half the front garden and all of the footpath was laid to waste as a treestump 400mm in diameter was ripped out
probably saved us 2 days getting the stump out but cost us a day reinstating everything

LLL

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2011 9:59 pm**

We spent a whole day with the big machine, narrow toothed bucket and chainsaws getting a 1600mm diameter sweet chesnut out. Did not want to come out had a crater round it. Nice feeling when they go though, my trick with those was one all dug rd push and pull them then push the weight of the machine on them and vibrated the bucket curl to vibrate the stump out

Posted: **Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:05 pm**

Giles, why don't you invest in a ripper tooth. I have one for the 008 and its so much more powerful than any bucket. you can snap roots.(and gas mains!)
Once i have snapped as many as possible I always hook the ripper under the edge of the stump, crown the bucket and at the same time push the boom forward. iot exerts enourmous leverage, and does not use the weight of the machine at all. I have dug some huge stumps out with the little machine. so big, you can hardly drag them out of the hole!

Posted: **Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:07 pm**

What's the situation with removing trees & ground heave? I have a willow right next to the neighbouring property's wall. God knows why it was left there. If I remove it will the surrounding ground heave & damage the wall? Our soil is very light & well drained but does have a bit of clay & sand deeper down. It's over chalk bedrock as far as I know.

Al

Posted: **Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:51 pm**

if its not heavy soil, it shouldn't be a problem. How big is the willow?
by the way, whats graden maintenance?

Posted: **Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:00 pm**

Cheers ddd. My English is getting worse.
Tree is now 12ft tall ish. Reduced it by 3ft while snowed off last winter. Willows are thirsty trees and it puts on a lot of growth if that makes any difference.

Al

Posted: **Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:24 pm**

if its only 12', then cut it down no problems. it won't cause heave.

Posted: **Sun Jan 16, 2011 11:32 am**

of all trees willow are the most feared by surveyors,the weeping willow roots can go 100M (so i am told) and any adjacent excavation ends up silly deep (3m last time for a single storey extension
having said that chalk is 1 of the best sub grades for building on
LLL

Posted: **Sun Jan 16, 2011 11:57 am**

A mature willow can take 2000 litres of water a day out the ground hence why feared, take them out you get saturation etc, Heave etc.

Dan don't really need one with the big machines, specialists tool for a few stumps a year. About 1500 to save a bit of time, had a narrow bucket made this year that would have been better but didn't have it with us.

Edited By GB_Groundworks on 1295196612

Posted: **Sun Jan 16, 2011 1:42 pm**

lutonlagerlout wrote:of all trees willow are the most feared by surveyors

Have you ever seen a willow root when it gets into a sewer?

We cleared one in Prestwich, Manchester some years ago, and what had started out as a fine root getting in through a cracked pipe that was only 3 years old, a HUGE rootball developed that was blocking an 18" main sewer. The excavated mass was a more-or-less solid 18" dia cylinder around 5m in length!

Posted: **Sun Jan 16, 2011 5:45 pm**

Thanks all. When I say 12' I should have said that it has been pollarded in the past. Done maybe 2-3 years before March 09. I pollarded it again in winter 10. At ground level it is very thick but has sent up 3 main leaders. At a guess 20-30 years old. I should have done a ring count. I'll continue with a yearly reduction unless anyone suggests anything else.

Al

Posted: **Sun Jan 16, 2011 6:57 pm**

al

because you have been pollarding it regularly, the water intake has already been reduced, regardless of its age.
Many tree surgeons will recommend that you pollard it, over a few years before felling to reduce ground heave.
not a problem for you!