Question...........

boogeyman · Jan 28, 2009

Hi Tom,

You've got a point. I can understand their point too. If they got a bunch of dumps and front loaders going, it's way too easy to squish a guy trotting around with headphones on.

The times it's worked for me was when I saw them thinking too much, then I popped up the release And they gave permission, as long as I didn't hold up the various crews. To me it's just another tool. They can't shoot ya for tryin or askin

Hey just a question. Did you think to ask or see where the dumps were dropping the material & possibly searching it there?

Side note for fun, I know one guy who sold the same 13 loads of dirt 4 times & got payed to move it each time.

Tom_in_CA · Jan 29, 2009

boogey, yes I've quite often "chased the dump trucks" leaving old-town demolition sites. But there's nothing more frustrating than hunting piles of dirt 20 ft. high. If you did start finding oldies on the outside 6 or 8" of the massive piles, it would "tick you off" knowing how much more is probably on the insides of those piles ::)

So then I start raking and shoveling down the sides of the piles, which is back-breaking work.

The best scenario is if .... wherever they dump it .... they spread it out afterwards (like if it's being used for groundcover somewhere).

You've got to figure too, that .... normally ... in these old town demolition sites, the critical layer/strata is just within the top 6 to 12" or whatever (the previous generation of board-&-batton structures that were there prior to the current one coming down). So if dump trucks are hauling out dirt where a basement is going to be built, you can bet that 99% of that out-going dirt will be sterile. Not good odds when looking at un-leveled piles of dirt. So the best demolition site hunting is when a low-rise (not to exceed 2 or 3 stores, so thus not having deep footings) old town building is *just* demo'd and scraped, yet the scraping has not yet progressed to below the strata of losses. Very critical timing needed for these type hunts

boogeyman · Jan 29, 2009

I hear you about raking down the piles. I kind of didn't write what I was thinking ::)

I meant if they're taking it from the demo site to a site where they're doing lifts or as you said spreading it. That's what I was poorly trying to convey. I got a couple of chances in Colorado, and another opportunity where they had scraped 2 -5 1/2' out of a City lake. That one still makes my knees ache

ended up just using the lower shaft on those piles, it was easier to just stay on my knees. You're right, I still wonder how much I missed due to the time factor.

BTW, I still have some scars on my shins from stones from you sweeper guys ::)