Using a $40 Laser Level To Excavate a Building Pad
Hey guys Phil here at Woods Tree Farm Welcome back to the channel today we are Doing an excavation project for a new Building we've got coming in this is Going to be our kind of retail building For our Christmas tree lot and then Throughout the year we'll use it as kind Of a workshop and for storage and stuff As well but I need to get this project Moving for Christmas season because here We are kind of middle of October almost Late October and the building's going to Be here very soon and then we're going To have to go and get that building set Up for the season so I need to get this Project moving this excavation project Is what I want to talk to you about Today because usually if you're going to Try to Excavating area and get it good In level you need some surveying tools To do it right I've tried to do some of This kind of stuff in the past I had a Video where we um where we excavated for Our shed and I did that just with line Levels and it turned out I was way off And plus the lines from a line level Kind of get in the way when you're Trying to excavate so regular surveyors Transit or some of the laser levels that Are out out there are better tools for Excavating and trying to get an area Level that I'm standing on a slope this Whole area slopes down towards our pond Here so we can't just set the building
Down or if we did it would have to be Have a significant number of blocks Under one side of it so that's what I'm Trying to avoid and what I'm going to do Today instead of going out and buying a Four or five six hundred dollar Surveyors Transit is we're going to try Using this tool this box here well not The box but the tool that's in the box Which is the praxiso torpedo level with A laser pointer and I think this is Going to help me get a lot more accurate Than I would with a line level or then I Certainly than I would just by Eyeballing it so let me show you what I'm doing So our building that's coming in is Going to be 18 by 44 and I've marked off All my corners and I made sure this is Square and I started to bring in a whole Bunch of dirt because that's my lowest Point so I wanted to raise that up and Anyway this span here is just 14 feet I Could easily check that for a level I Just put down a Timber and a four foot Uh beam level and I could just you know Kind of get really close on getting These two points uh on the same plane And I've just about done that I'm within Maybe an inch and a half or so but what I recognize is that all the way down the Long span closer to the driveway that Point over there is considerably higher Than everything else but I couldn't
Really tell just by eyeballing it how Much and that's why I bought this 37 Level on Amazon so I've got the level Pretty close to level you can see There's still just a little bit off and I've got it propped up on a 2×4 there And then it has a laser beam on the Front of it that we can hit this button Here There's you can see the beam on my hand So then I'm going to grab this piece of Plywood and I'm going to follow that Beam across the way Okay I can see the beam on the plywood Now I'm just gonna walk all the way Across I don't really need the tape measure to See that I have a lot of ground to make Up here but that is 21 inches the level is actually shooting Off about three inches off the ground so I've got 18 inches here that I've got to Make up so that corner where we set the Level up needs to come down considerably And we could also raise this up some More probably going to do a combination Of those two things but I'm start Digging on that corner Foreign Foreign Foreign Foreign Foreign So 20 minutes or so of digging and we've
Got that down a bit I don't know how Much yet so I'm going to set the laser Up again check straight down that back Side see where what it's looking like There and then I'll check across uh Diagonally to the other corner I didn't Really add any height to that far Corner Everything I dug up I kind of spread out Down here on the slope because I will Have to kind of grade this out so the Approach to the shed will be walkable We're going to have a big double door on This downhill side and I expect a lot of People going in and out right there so This will need to be a good slope and if Needed I can bring in more dirt to grade This out even further but that's kind of Secondary to getting this level right Now I figure as I'm checking this out Probably make my life a little bit Easier to use this board as a little Gauge so I put some measurements on it And I'm just going to walk right down The side I'm going to check uh about you Know probably three times between here In the corner and see how my height is Across this whole stretch So basically we go from about here we're Three inches higher Uh 94 inches there And then Seven there and then 12 inches there so I need to drag More soil from here down to that corner
Is what that's telling me so I can get This lower or I can get that higher Uh but before I kind of do any of that I'm gonna double check across the way And then I'm also going to double check From this downhill corner So seven minus three four inches there Five inches there Eight inches there So after checking with the laser from All four corners we recognize that The Far Side still needed some more soil Added to it and there's a hump in the Middle so I work on Excavating some of That soil out of the middle placing it On the far end and then the front left Corner needs to get built up some as Well so I'm gonna bring some soil in and Place it around that side and then I'm Just going to try to smooth everything Out and we'll get the laser out again And check it again A bunch of time has gone by and I've Made some progress here it's still not Perfect you can see the ridges in it I Need to come back through and do kind of A final grade on this because I had the The scarifying blades down on the box Blade and that's what left all those Ridges so I need to lift those up come Back through and I'm still off about a Couple inches here on this front corner Uh and into about halfway down this side So I need to bring in some more soil but
I was Excavating soil from up here in my Driveway and this is why the sun is Now Setting and like I said many hours have Gone by because I ended up Excavating Soil from up here and this was kind of Part of the plan I wanted to kind of Straighten out my driveway here by the Gate and I needed to excavate some soil In order to do that and then of course I Tore the whole driveway up and then I Spent some time preparing it so I had Some gravel up here And now all of this has been graded and Fresh gravel has been added and it's on This bank right here where I was Harvesting some some soil from And now that that's all pulled back my Driveway is a lot straighter pulling up To the gate which is going to make it Easier for bigger trucks and what not to Get in here because it used to be pretty Good bend as you approach the gate and For some people that was a little bit Tough to navigate So the way this shed site is now Set that corner is still the highest Point And it goes down to about Six inches difference Over here on this side so that means the The Shad or the cabin if we want to call It that is going to be up on six inches Of blocks on this side to keep it level It's not exactly what I want so I think
I'm going to come back down and spend a Little bit more time getting this where I want I don't know exactly when the Cabin is going to come so we'll just Give this some time to kind of settle And dry out a little bit because there's A lot of you know really moist subsoil That I was using in here and then we'll Come back through and we'll try to get This a little bit better if the shed Showed up today and we needed to use This I think we totally could it is Close enough but with it being a six Inch height difference over on this side And we're gonna have a door on that side That means I'd have to build a set of Steps or something over there because it Would be a good distance off the ground So we'll have to see what happens and How good I can get it I might end up Still having to build Either a small deck or a set of steps or Something over on that side but we'll See stay tuned for a future video for That you guys this tool you guys forty Dollar tool less than forty dollar tool And there will be a link in the video's Description where you can get one of These it's on Amazon it's made out of Aluminum it seems to be well built in Bright daylight had no trouble shooting This red Little Dot laser uh you know 50-ish feet across this little plot here So did exactly what I needed it to do
And there is no way I would have been Able to get even remotely close on this Slope without a tool like this and yes I Know there are better tools out there But there are also a lot more expensive So this tool for 40 bucks got it done Today thanks for watching guys I hope You have a good one see on the next Video bye-bye
