Digging soon: flat shovel? How many tiers of shelves?

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I'm digging my own now, but mine is half the size of yours.
Have probably put in about 4 days of shoveling and have only gotten down 12 inches.
planning to have raised sides of 2 ft so will only be digging down 2.5 ft

In addition to what others have mentioned, I'm also using a digging pick (Mattock) and a heavy iron pry bar for the large rocks. The pry bar is 6 ft and weighs about 30 lbs, I love that thing for right job.

My suggestion is to try to dig a small pit in the middle of the pond for an hour and see how deep you can get. Your progress in an hour will tell you whether you're up to the task or need help.

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That is really great information and advice! I appreciate it.

I think doing this solo by hand might be out of the question, then.
 

Mmathis

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@TallGrassBigSky Just out of curiosity, where do you live and what kind of soil do you have?

We rented a small excavator for a weekend. NO WAY we could have dug out our pond otherwise.

I think everyone else has answered your questions and given some very good advice, but I'll add my personal experience input..... Believe it or not, I had to resort to using my reciprocating saw! Not to dig the shelves, but to "sculpt" the darn things! We have really funky clay here and there is no such thing as digging anything even remotely smooth or level -- when it's dry enough to work with, the soil/clay comes out in huge hunks & chunks, LOL! I don't recommend this technique, but it's just one of the amusing tales that goes along with our own pond build!

@qclabrat Sadly [I guess] we don't have naturally occurring rocks here in LA, but if we did, a Mattock would work! In fact, it is good for breaking up clay-clods!
 
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@TallGrassBigSky Just out of curiosity, where do you live and what kind of soil do you have?

We rented a small excavator for a weekend. NO WAY we could have dug out our pond otherwise.

I think everyone else has answered your questions and given some very good advice, but I'll add my personal experience input..... Believe it or not, I had to resort to using my reciprocating saw! Not to dig the shelves, but to "sculpt" the darn things! We have really funky clay here and there is no such thing as digging anything even remotely smooth or level -- when it's dry enough to work with, the soil/clay comes out in huge hunks & chunks, LOL! I don't recommend this technique, but it's just one of the amusing tales that goes along with our own pond build!

@qclabrat Sadly [I guess] we don't have naturally occurring rocks here in LA, but if we did, a Mattock would work! In fact, it is good for breaking up clay-clods!

I live in the heart of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I honestly don't know what my soil is like beyond two feet. The topsoil basic black soil.

Maybe I'll dig a test hole one of these nights.

Thanks for all of the great advice, everyone.
 
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I wouldn't even limit yourself to a pond company to hire for the dig. We hired a local landscaping firm that also installed our cobblestone patio. They had never dug a pond before but we knew what to do - we just needed someone to run the equipment. My husband was there to confirm and consult. They did a great job. And as has already been mentioned, you will have literal TONS of dirt to remove. Our pond is 17 x 14 and just inches over 3 feet deep at the deepest point. We paid to have three truckloads of dirt hauled off site - I was astonished at the sheer volume of dirt!
 
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I wouldn't even limit yourself to a pond company to hire for the dig. We hired a local landscaping firm that also installed our cobblestone patio. They had never dug a pond before but we knew what to do - we just needed someone to run the equipment. My husband was there to confirm and consult. They did a great job. And as has already been mentioned, you will have literal TONS of dirt to remove. Our pond is 17 x 14 and just inches over 3 feet deep at the deepest point. We paid to have three truckloads of dirt hauled off site - I was astonished at the sheer volume of dirt!
that's right digging is half the job
frankly the digging isn't the hardest part, I have to wheelbarrow my dirt uphill to a flower meadow I'm doing as a side job. My legs are so sore from this up and down.
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I wouldn't even limit yourself to a pond company to hire for the dig. We hired a local landscaping firm that also installed our cobblestone patio. They had never dug a pond before but we knew what to do - we just needed someone to run the equipment. My husband was there to confirm and consult. They did a great job. And as has already been mentioned, you will have literal TONS of dirt to remove. Our pond is 17 x 14 and just inches over 3 feet deep at the deepest point. We paid to have three truckloads of dirt hauled off site - I was astonished at the sheer volume of dirt!

Well, I am thoroughly convinced now!

The one possible hiccup is that my yard is fenced in and accessible only via human-sized gates. I'll have to check around to see how companies can with that.
 
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Well, I am thoroughly convinced now!

The one possible hiccup is that my yard is fenced in and accessible only via human-sized gates. I'll have to check around to see how companies can with that.

Our yard is fenced. The digger machine they used (backhoe maybe?) was a compact version that would fit through the gate. Then they used motorized wheelbarrows to haul the dirt to the front yard, up the ramp, and dump into the waiting trucks.
 
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Our yard is fenced. The digger machine they used (backhoe maybe?) was a compact version that would fit through the gate. Then they used motorized wheelbarrows to haul the dirt to the front yard, up the ramp, and dump into the waiting trucks.

Good to know! Can I ask how much you paid for the labor and hauling?
 
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Yeah, I fear the same things. Maybe I'll get excavation estimates from a local pond company. Thanks for the advice.

Did anyone here hand dig their own pond of a similar size? Seems like some did?
I think a lot depends on your patience, age, fitness level, time, and soil quality.

My pond was smaller -- 9 x 12 -- 3 feet deep at deepest. I'm 50 and was hand digging through concrete-like hard red clay. I started last August and filled the pond in February. That's how long it took, digging by hand. Part of it for me was the Mole Challenge Factor. I was just determined and every boulder that I got out was a weird little victory. Of course, I ended up at the doctor with tennis elbow!

If paying someone to dig is an option for you -- and you don't get that quirky satisfaction (like I do) out of digging, it would certainly make sense to at least get an estimate.

If you go for the hand method, block out a loooong amount of time and go to Costco for a huge bottle of Motrin! :)

I can't wait to watch your progress!!!!!!
 
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Good to know! Can I ask how much you paid for the labor and hauling?

Nope, don't mind you asking and I would tell you if I knew! We had a bunch of other stuff done at the same time so the machinery was already here. Plus I'm not the money person - I add beauty. My husband pays the price! ;)

I do know it was $300 a truckload to haul away dirt - when I heard that I was like "hang on one sweet minute" and talked to my neighbor/HOA president. He happily took the dirt to do some filling in the areas around our neighborhood ponds that were eroding. I may not pay the bills, but I do love to find a bargain!

For us it was also expediency - my sons built the pond for us and they had only weekends to work. We needed to get the big stuff done quickly. Start to finish we were done in less than a month.
 

Mmathis

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And as has already been mentioned, you will have literal TONS of dirt to remove. Our pond is 17 x 14 and just inches over 3 feet deep at the deepest point. We paid to have three truckloads of dirt hauled off site - I was astonished at the sheer volume of dirt!
Oh, yes.....the dirt! What we did with our pile of leftovers: used some to build berm; tilled compost into some of it (almost 100% clay!) and used it to fill in low spots in yard; paid to have the rest hauled off! It's sad when you have to PAY to have dirt removed. We advertised on Craigslist.....no takers:(.
 

Mmathis

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@TallGrassBigSky I think we paid around $300 to have one huge load of dirt hauled off. Too much, I felt, but I was soooo ready to get rid of it!

I don't recall the cost to rent the excavator when we dug our pond, but we got it over a weekend -- I think they calculated the cost based on use time (there was a timer, meter thing that ran whenever the ignition was on). For some reason, $250 rings a bell, and that would be including delivery and fuel used. Of course, we provided the labor, LOL!

Costs will vary by location. Shop around.
 
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Oh, yes.....the dirt! What we did with our pile of leftovers: used some to build berm; tilled compost into some of it (almost 100% clay!) and used it to fill in low spots in yard; paid to have the rest hauled off! It's sad when you have to PAY to have dirt removed. We advertised on Craigslist.....no takers:(.
it's worst paying for dirt, when we redid out backyard, we had 15 doubles of top soil delivered, at $800 a load it was a lot of money for dirt....
 

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