7 excavation types made easier with a hydrovac

Excavation, the process of digging into a surface to create space for something new, is at the heart of all great architecture. It’s a vital part of landscaping, installing roads, and putting up new buildings, and the various forms of excavation all come with unique challenges. When the moment comes to start digging, the right equipment is key to a successful project.

There are many types of excavation, and they all have something important in common: in big and small ways, hydrovacs can help out. These commercial trucks can spray high-pressure water to break up soil and then suction up debris into their tanks, allowing them to serve multiple purposes on construction sites.

To learn more about the eight main types of excavation and the role hydrovacs play in each of them, keep reading below. 

1. Basement excavation

Basement excavation is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: digging out rock, soil, and other materials to make room for a basement. In many cases, it is one of the first steps when constructing a brand-new building.

Heavy machinery, like bulldozers and backhoes, is typically used for basement excavation. These tools are quite powerful, and they can also cause a fair bit of destruction. While these large pieces of equipment are excavating, there’s a chance they’ll damage surrounding areas, too.

Hydrovacs, on the other hand, have a reputation for sharp precision. Using pressurized water from a nozzle, hydrovacs can pinpoint specific areas to liquefy and loosen soil. If you’re working in a confined space and concerned with harming things in your vicinity, working with a hydrovac is your best bet.

Hydrovacs are especially valuable for basement excavations, which often take place in the limited space afforded by urban homes. Once hydrovacs are finished digging, they can use their powerful vacuums to clean up the mess and suction it into their tanks. This saves time on cleanup, optimizes project efficiency, and makes work days go by more smoothly. 

2. Trench excavation

If you’ve used running water or watched a show on cable lately, then you have trench excavation to thank. Trench excavation is the process of digging narrow holes in the dirt to create space where underground utilities like water pipes, electric lines, and television cables can be installed.

Trenches are deep but narrow, and they’re often created using shovels, spades, or even a type of machinery called a trencher. Luckily for everyone with trench digging in their future, we’re here to tell you about an even better tool for digging: hydrovacs.

Because trenches are tight and narrow, the surgical precision of hydrovacs comes in handy when digging them. Hydrovacs spray streams of highly pressurized water, which they can utilize to form clean trenches.

Another hydrovac benefit is that they can safely navigate around existing utility lines–even if a worker does hit a water main or electrical line, the result will be far less dangerous than when a metal shovel or spade does the same. 

3. Topsoil excavation

Not all projects require deep digging. Topsoil excavation allows tools to stick closer to the surface because it only involves excavating the very first layer of soil. During topsoil excavation, workers focus on getting rid of materials near the Earth’s surface. Namely dirt, vegetation, and roots. 

Topsoil excavation is necessary when carving out the ground to prepare it for building. In places with poor-quality soil, workers use backhoes and bulldozers to remove this layer and prepare the Earth for new construction. 

Hydrovacs can help with topsoil excavation while minimizing mess. These trucks are dual-purpose for topsoil excavation projects: they can dig quickly and then use their vacuums to clean up the area. 

4. Earth excavation

For Earth excavation, workers have to dig a little farther under the ground. Now it’s time to venture into the subsoil layer, the part of the dirt right below topsoil. Earth excavation is necessary to forge foundations for structures like bridges and drainage systems.

When you introduce a hydrovac onto an Earth excavation project, you increase safety, efficiency, and cleanliness. Not only do hydrovacs use jets of high-pressure water to loosen soil, but they also use powerful vacuums to suck up any dirt remaining when the job is done. This limits the amount of time and money that might otherwise be wasted bringing in a cleanup crew.

Hydrovacs allow even the coldest work days to go off without a hitch. When low temperatures cause the ground to harden, hydrovac trucks utilize their powerful streams of water to break the surface and continue digging.If you want a tool that delivers impressive results no matter the circumstances, consider investing in a hydrovac. 

5. Cut-and-fill excavation

Sometimes called stripping excavation, cut-and-fill excavation is used when leveling out large expanses of land prior to construction. Before workers can put up a building or start constructing a new road, they sometimes need to use cut-and-fill excavation to even out the area. By removing dirt and placing it elsewhere, excavators eliminate the need to haul in large amounts of new soil.

This excavation type is usually accomplished using bulldozers, excavators, dump trucks, and graders. While hydrovacs can’t completely replace these tools–they don’t spread out material like bulldozers do–they can still contribute to cut-and-fill excavation projects. When extra dirt is getting in the way or rainy conditions create sludge, hydrovacs can step in to suction up the mess and save the day. 

6. Muck excavation 

The next excavation type on our list might also be the least glamorous. Muck, a combination of dirt and soil, sometimes appears after rainy days or in particularly soggy areas. This texture doesn’t make a great foundation for building, so it must be removed to make way for construction.

Dredgers, the machine we mentioned above, are sometimes used for collecting muck, but hydrovacs are an even better option. Hydrovacs can spray muck with highly pressurized water, liquefying the material even more. Once the muck is suitably watered down, hydrovacs suck up the remnants and make the area look as good as new. 

7. Rock excavation 

Rock excavation is perhaps the toughest type. When rock becomes an obstacle in construction efforts, workers must bring in specialized machines to remove it. Dense, solid rock can make it difficult or impossible to create stable building foundations, so this inconvenient process is sometimes unavoidable.

Most of the time, rock excavation isn’t as simple as sucking up a stray pebble or two. This job requires unique machines called rockcrushers, which…well, crush rock. An alternate method, blasting, involves introducing explosives and essentially blowing up the offending rock.

Once a large boulder or sheet of bedrock shatters into more manageable pieces, the crew can bring in backhoes or excavators to extract it. While hydrovacs aren’t designed to carry extremely large or tough debris, they can help out with suctioning up any loose dirt or gravel left behind.

Dig Summit Truck Equipment’s selection of hydrovacs

From muck to topsoil to trenching, hydrovacs make excavation easier. If you’re interested in purchasing a hydrovac, view the high-quality hydrovac trucks available on our website or stop by one of our locations today for a better look.