Digging A Grave
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Digging graves is an overlooked job. It is a job that requires both precision and compassion. Many smaller cemeteries contract this task out and it might be something to consider if you have an excavator/backhoe. This video will describe the digging process.
In England we do up to 3 a day over a dozen cemeteries from flat plains to steep hills with 4 staff members between 4.6 to 9 feet down, 2.5 to 3.5 feet wide and 7 to 8 feet long depending on culture, box size and ground conditions. It can be a struggle some days and a pleasure the others. Some collapse a bit, flood. Some are hard rock, clay or even shale but we get the job done and more videos like yours really help the general public understand even just a little how digging a grave can be far more complicated that just a hole in the ground. Thank you brother.
Can i ask?? I am only a beginner driving an excavator, but how do you dig a hole with flat bottom and square ends when it is 6 7 8 9 feet down. I mean, you cannot see the bucket, do you get some one to guide you?? When opening up a grave that has already got someone in it, do you often break through into the lower person as it were??
You are a good grandson. God be with you.
Third generation digger here, great video!
Awesome video! This is exactly what I was looking for. I just started at a cemetery and have to mark out and dig the graves. I haven’t dug one yet so just doing a little homework and came across your video. Very informative. Thanks for the tips.👍
Glad it helped! What equipment does your cemetery have to dig with?
so you just decided to start a cemetery..so how big is it ?? like in acres or size ?? how many grave sites and room for more..every one dies and needs lots more space....
Great video! Retired local 150 operator!
Not enough thanks goes to the gave diggers, rain snow excessive heat and bitter cold they help
Us provide our loved ones their final resting place
I thought there should be a none intrusive factual show about what we all do. Everyone else seems to have a mini series.
@imt2475 How about a video filling the hole in?
Or what about big rocks and tree roots you may come across? That hole seemed free of all that.
I feel better after watching this! I can emagine how you must feel
Creamation is best 👍
My 33rd year digging we still use shovels, tractor with 8’ bucket and dump trailer. We never pile on the ground. About two hours of actual digging for two people. Just about 5 yards of sand. I know I have shoveled over 500 yards easily by myself.
oh wow, that's a lot of shoveling!what state are you in? Do you ever have trouble with cave-ins?
Laws when I did this were two feet of dirt on top of the casket lid. 18” from the lid of a concrete vault. Usually single grave was around five feet, double depth was no less than seven, double depth vaults were eight feet to the bottom. We also used a “cemetery” bucket that was purpose built and a different shape than the average excavator bucket.
Very interesting! What state did you dig in?
@@ExcavationRevelation it was Resthaven Memorial Gardens in Scarborough, which is an amalgamated city with Toronto, Canada. We had 54 acres, and the cemetery was getting old and full. When I first started there could easily be three internments a day. When I left 15 years after, we had weeks where we might not even get three, and about 50% of everything by that time was a cremation.
I find the idea of a vault rather objectional
Imagine digging that sucka by hand
Envy you guys in the flat country. We use a terramite backhoe here in west virginia. Rarely could we get a dump truck beside the grave. So we move the dirt with the loader. 12 endloaders or 21 wheelbarrows. Depending on the vault. This is the cleanest job ive seen with an excavator. In our terrain the boys on excavators leave a pretty bad mess.
Termite is one awesome little beastie
In Northern England we have to also deal with marble border sets around the grave joining the headstone and our graves are 1 foot between one another. That gets difficult when reopening for the next internment.
I was a grave digger and we dug them the height of a shovel. The only time I dug one deeper than 6 ft was that a full size burial was going in and an urn vault was going on top of that.
Graves are dug here in Australia 6ft or 8 ft.
Nice information, I'm going to dig a grave tomorrow, frozen ground, I've got the thawer (is that a word) maybe heater thawing the ground as we speak. I'm in western Montana and the ground is probably frozen 1-2 feet deep this time of year. I use a edger to define the size of the cut, keeps from just gouging out the sod. There is not a lot of video's on this subject, I might make my own.
I've never encountered ground quite that frozen! I would be interested in seeing one dug in Montana
I been managing a cemetery for over two years, dug plenty of graves with a mini excavator. Experienced a few cave ins but managed to make better choices in the future. Also we use a edged tool for the walls of the grave while digging, and I don’t use a bucket with teeth it’s completely flat. But good video though !
You should have side cutters on the bucket!
Yes, agreed, side cutters make a big difference!
What are your thoughts on equipment for grave digging and backfilling? I think navigating a tractor with a backhoe around a cemetery could have its pitfalls, especially if its on an off-camber slope. I'm partial to excavators in general because nothing digs as efficiently but then it seems as if I'd need some kind of loader. Do you just backfill with your excavator or do you bring in a loader/tractor to do backfilling?
I was a construction site development foreman for years; I can dig a trench any inspector would be proud to look at for 5 seconds, so cleaning up the sides of the graves isn't going to be a huge deal for me. My wife is a funeral director and embalmer and suggested I look into this mostly because now that the house and everything is paid off I don't feel so compelled to go out and do all this dangerous stuff anymore. I'm over the 12 to 16 hour days and just need a change but I love working with equipment and being outdoors.
I picked up a 7000# GVWR 18' low profile car/equipment hauler from Smouse (your trailer video was pushed to me right after I bought it, which is how I found this video) just yesterday to pair with my single cab long bed F150. I'm looking at a Kubota BX23 and some mini excavators but find myself quite indecisive.
A mini excavator is the way to go, both for digging and backfilling as long as you can a dump truck/cart close to the grave. This one was very easy to access and dig, without a single headstone to contend with. Most aren't this easy.
I know of a cemetery that uses a skid steer with a backhoe attachment. They load the extra dirt directly into a gator as they dig and dump it in the back. But some cemeteries don't have the space/terrain and you have you haul it away. You don't want to be handling the dirt more than you need to.
With the Kubota, the back of the grave might be a bit hard to reach, especially if there is a headstone between the machine and the hole. Also, a jackhammer might be needed if the cemetery is rocky. I have had to use one many times at a different cemetery.
Mini excavators are just very versatile with 360 swing, the blade to level and hold the machine, and the rubber tracks to go almost anywhere in any weather.
Very helpful, been looking after a cemetery for a couple years now have a mini excavator on order of which I'll be using, in part because the ones the funeral home hires seem to damage the grounds and do a poor job back filling.
what kind of excavator are you getting?
sounds like you'll have less headaches doing it yourself
its a Kabota U17, trying to figure a way to remove the dirt for the services, some don't but I think it looks better. I have a single axial and a double axial trailer but there not dump trailers and I hate to purchase another trailer so I'm searching for ideas.
also use the digger spade at the rear gives you so much more power and stability
I usually keep it in the front unless there is a headstone in the way, or if I'm digging uphill. Excavators are designed to dig over the idlers when possible, it helps prolong drive train life, but granted it's not always possible
@@ExcavationRevelation i have never herd off that but if you get the chance try it makes the machine so much more stable we have a kabota kx62x and they say in the book where ever possible dig with the spade at the rear and to be fair in my case they have got it right
It must not be very cold there. Here in Pocatello Idaho, we can't even start digging until we jackhammer past the frost line.
also we always shape the grave coffin shaped
Did you have to heat the ground or does that thing dig through frozen dirt?
R.I.P all
Very informative. Question, why so shallow at just 4 & 1/2 ft in PA? I'm gassing no doubling up allowed, etc? Here in NYC I've seen 3 in a single grave (or more with cremains added) ..
Not really sure how that was determined in PA. Stacking is allowed, it just isn't common in our area and I've never done it
When some one is being inturned in to a grave in Australia you are buried in a wooden coffin. Have good friends how own a funeral business.
The graves I dig aren't that deep, but just deep enough that they shouldn't be discovered under the brush piles on top.
Edgy
I would imagine if your putting one vault with casket on top of another,the grave would have to be at least 9 feet deep.Please correct me if I'm wrong.🤔
are all the graves you dig are singles at 4 and a half feet in england we do dig singles doubles and trebles which is 5 7 and 8 feet deep
we are out in the country, so I've only ever done singles. I have heard of doubles but never triples!
used spade and shovel same result
How much did you charge
Sort of a loaded question...$700-$900 is pretty common in our area. Hammering is sometimes needed and the material often needs hauled off site. Sometimes graves need to be dug on weekends or you need to disappear for hours while the ceremony is going on. Some cemeteries require you to plant grass as well. They all vary a little.
How many times do you run into an adjoining vault, not knowing where it is, is a grave before or aft the headstone, and is the headstone place right at the head of the casket or above it?
Depends on the cemetery. Some are marked out very well with rarely an issue. There is one in our area that's always an adventure...I put a whole in vault once because I felt something hard and my helper told me it was just a rock (there wasn't a headstone nearby), talk about fowl smelling water! Another time there, we couldn't fit the vault in because the ones beside it were so crooked and off. The headstone is usually placed beyond the vault, but sometimes, depending on where the vaults are set, the headstone may end up slightly over the vault.
It's always best to dig slow and be ready for surprises!
Why don’t you clear the area with a leaf blower.. and use plywood for the dirt
I always thought that the cemetery did their own grave digging.
Most larger ones that have full-time staff dig their own. We have many small cemeteries in our area that sub out the digging and mowing
@@ExcavationRevelation how do I find a grave digger in my
area. are there associations with members?
@ohcontrare not that I'm aware of. I would either post on your town's fb page, or call around to a few different excavation companies for quotes
I use a 1/4 stick of dynamite.....BOOM...all done....time for dough nuts 🤔😝
I thought 6 ft deep
4 1/2 ft. Any deeper is way too deep in most circumstances.
Generally its 4-6 feet deep depending on the cemetery and the ground the hole is dug in. I've worked at a cemetery that is all rock and some of the older burials could be dug up by hand bc they had to jackhammer the entire hole out of the rock. they didn't want to stay there all day and jackhammer it to full depth.
The max depth is only the height of the vault with lid plus 4-6". That way the person can knock the soil off when they flip open the top so can get up for a stretch.
❤❤
Eight feet deep
4 1/2 ft