Digging a trench.

[Riejufixing]

I need to dig a shallow trench, 8m long, by hand, in sloping ground.

The botom needs to be flat and level. I've got a level, a brick line, some pegs and other odds and ends.

How to mark out & dig?

[doggone]

When you are getting near by eye, tap pegs in at intervals and use a strong bit of wood or similar over them with spirit level.
If it's just for foundations you can leave the pegs in and level hardore or concrete too them.

[Ste]

A mattock will be good for the digging part of it, you'll get nice big lumps of earth / clay / ground which should be able to be lifted out by hand rather than needing to use a spade.

[Pete.]

What's the trench for?

Digging is about the most basic simple task a man can perform. Push the spade into the ground, lever, lift, tip and repeat.

If you're going to use a mattock be sure there are no services. A spade is bad enough but you can swing a mattock though a cable no problem at all even if it's armoured.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[WreckTangle]

[Polarbear]

[pepperami]

[JackButler]

Are you fasmiliar with manual labour? Only asking 'cos that's still quite a big trench, every muscle in your body will ache for weeks & lets not talk about the blisters . . .

Get a man in. Man + mini digger = £200 a day. My man would do that £100cash.
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I clean my guns with the tears of the snivelling, left wing scum.

[MCN]

[Riejufixing]

[pepperami]

[Tankie]

Get yourself a water level , effectively a length clear tubing filled with water
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Always learning, everyday is a school day

[JackButler]

[MCN]

[Pete.]

Clay is good for building on......so long as you're building a tent.
____________________
a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[-]

[MCN]

[MCN]

OP said it was a base.
You can easily build a tent on a concrete base.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[Polarbear]

[Riejufixing]

[Riejufixing]

[-]

[JackButler]

Forgive my technical expression, but footings it is.

You're wanting a slab, or a raft, made of concrete to place a structure on, or maybe just the apron is concrete?

If you're cutting into a slope then you need to think about how you're going to retain the wall you're exposing. Depending on the height & stability of what you're holding back this retaining wall will need a foundation.

The slab, or raft itself will also need a foundation, this again depends on the stability of the ground. Please bear in mind that an MOT type hardcore foundation needs to be a minimum of 100mm to have any strength at all, 200mm-300mm is common, but it can need to be as much as 600mm.

Given any thought about drainage yet?

If you consider the height which your base needs to be & work downwards from there, then even basic math will soon tell you that you're going to need to move quite a lot of muck, hardcore & concrete to get even a rudimentary base for even the lightest of wood structures.

How familiar are you with manual labour?
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I clean my guns with the tears of the snivelling, left wing scum.

[MCN]

[yen_powell]

I laid a slab for a metal shed for my motorbike years ago. Used a concrete mixer to fill the hole I dug. It was bloody hard work.

When I wanted to add a wooden shed a few months later I went for the girly soft option. I used concrete edgings slightly bedded in the ground with a full dry concrete haunch on the outside and a lower one inside.

When the concrete had gone off I filled it with compacted sharp sand, then screeded the sand and filled it with 100x200x65mm concrete blocks. Wacked them down, sanded them and the shed is still sitting on it 25 years later. I built the ground up a little around the shed to make a level entry into it and to hide the concrete haunching.
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Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits