For small buildings, excavation is carried out manually by means of pick axes, crow bars and spades etc. In case of large buildings and deep excavation, mechanical earth cutting equipment can be used.
For hard soils when the depth of excavation is less than 1.5m, the sides of the trench do not need any external support. If the soil is loose or the excavation is deeper, some sort of shoring is required to support the sides from falling.
Planking and strutting can be intermittent or continuous depending on the nature of soil and the depth of excavation. In the case of intermittent or “open” planking and strutting the entire sides of trenches are not covered.
Vertical boards (known as poling boards) of size 250 x 40mm of the required length can be placed with gaps of about 50cm. These shall be kept apart by horizontal waling of strong timber f section 100 x 100mm at a minimum spacing of 1.2m and strutted by a cross piece of 100 x 100 square.
In the case of soft soils continuous or “close” planking is adopted and the vertical boards are kept touching each other without any gap as shown.
It’s great to know that a small building can be manually excavated by pickaxes, crowbars, and spades. With that in mind, my brother has to choose a contractor that has quality tools to work in the construction of their small shop. From what I heard, my brother and his girlfriend wanted to open a vape shop. Thanks for the information!
There is a project that I have been working on for sometime. Thank you for letting me know that strutting can be intermittent depending on the type of soil and how far excavation takes place. I’ll need to look more into the right type of excavation company to go to.
My dad was cleaning our basement when found that there are cracks in our basement. It was explained here that excavation can be done manually by means of axes. Furthermore, it’s recommended to hire professionals when dealing with excavation.