Newbie question.

[Diggin Daddy]

My house is an old farm house, found out where the old outhouse was, would like any advice on how to go about digging it up, my brother also owns an old farmhouse and know where the outhouse was located, I have access to a backhoe, but have got alot of gasps when I mention it so I'm guessing it would not be a good idea to use it. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

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[epackage]

Use some shovels, don't use a spoon it would take forever and the backhoe can do alot of damage....Good luck and post some pic's....Jim

 

[jgas]

Hands on digging....backhoe too big....watch for gas lines and such...be careful and dig straight down for the good ones! Show us what ya get. jgas

 

[creeper71]

just wanted to add that there could an probly be more then one privy on your lot... You will need to buy or make a probe to locate the other privies.

 

[sodetraveler]

just wanted to add that there could an probly be more then one privy on your lot... You will need to buy or make a probe to locate the other privies.

You can buy some nice probes at: www.tandttools.com

I'd recommend the TPA48

 

[epackage]

See if you can get the original property survey or better yet the sanborn map for your property, it may show privy locations....

 

[gleaner1]

Excellent advice from all. sodatraveler, HOLY COW!, thanks for the excellent link to a probe source. My order is placed.

 

[sodetraveler]

Excellent advice from all. sodatraveler, HOLY COW!, thanks for the excellent link to a probe source. My order is placed.

No problem gleaner1

In response to your original question: a shovel is good for starters, but it will break bottles - especially the smaller thin glass medicines

When you get down deep enough to start seeing glass and bottles, you will find that a short probe is exactly what you need to gently dig those puppies out. The TPA36 is short enough for this purpose and I use it all the time

Here's a picture of a few of my tools at our last dig - note these are all used for digging since we already know where the bottles are!

 

[Diggin Daddy]

Thanks for all the great advice, sorry I did not respond earlier, alot of overtime . I am hoping to start soon. We have finally got a few straight days of rain so the digging may be alot easier. How far shoud I have dig until I start to see any type of finds, I would hate to give up because I do not know what I'm looking for.
Thanks again.

 

[olepossum]

maybe3-4 feet depending on how close the people wanted the waste to get to the top before they filled it in