I’m thinking of doing some fencing for a friend, and the tought occurred to me: what do YOU normally do with soil from excavating small jobs? Like really small ones, like post holes and deck footings: the kind of thing you would dig by hand, so you don’t have an excavator and a dump truck.
A lot of properties have places to hide the soil; a lot of them don’t. Most of my experience is in rural areas where dumping the soil is a no brainer.
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Replies
You can usually just spread small quantities around the property and make it disappear.
If you have more than a couple yards an ad on craigs list (free clean fill) will usually make it go away. YMMV by where you live but clean fill is always wanted in SW Florida.
First off, most of it should go back in the hole. Pack it well, and mound up a bit around the post, to allow for subsidence and assure that water will drain away from the post.
Then walk your yard and find the low spots and sprinkle some soil into them. So long as you don't put down more than 1-2" at a time you don't need to remove the sod or reseed.
You could....
put it in your pants and when no one is looking drop it down the leg and scatter it around. Or you could flush it down the toilet one spoonfull at a time. Wait a minute, I guess I've been watching too many prison movies.
The Great Escape
"I guess I've been watching too many prison movies."
No such thing.
soil from excavating tiny jobs
If you are working in a winter ice and snow state location, ask the homeowner if s/he would like the excess dirt to be bagged and boxed up for winter use on slippery walks and driveways. Dirt on ice is "green", free, provides instant traction on ice, and will wash away with spring rains. In Northern States homeowners are liable if someone slips and falls on their sidewalks due to icy conditions that are not treated with traction products. Many folks in Wisconsin who drive light cars or trucks want to add weight to their back end by adding dirt, sand, or salt to assist rear end traction under slippery conditions, and to have the "grit" needed, on hand, to get a vehicle moving under slippery conditions. Some folks may want the dirt for container gardening..