The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:40 am**

Hi,
I'm about to embark on some D.I.Y gardening and basically I need some advice on trenching. I need to dig two trenches, one for drainage and one for foundations. I was wondering how I can dig the trenches safely and also if there is any preparation work that needs to be done? If you could please give me an example of a drainage trench as a guide line that would be really helpful. The foudation trench will be deeper but I might hire a machine and do that myself, I could do with some advice on what machine I should use and again how I can do this safely. Sorry, this is a long one but any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks David

Posted: **Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:30 pm**

Safe trenching is basically commonsense, which is notoriously uncommon. Dig only as wide as is necessary and don't work in any trench more than 1200mm deep unless it is properly shored. In fact, if a trench needs to be deeper than 1200mm, bring in a professional contractor.

As for a suitable machine, have a look at some of the threads in the Tools and Plant section. general opinion is that a machine of 1.5-3 tonnes is best for this sort of work.

The Brew Cabin

Trenching? - How to?