Worked with my brother (he is a PE) on another one of his near impossible jobs.
The footings on this 30' high deck were failing because it is on a steep slope and the previous contractor did not go down to bedrock, which is 10' below the bottom of the steel post. We removed the existing 24" X 8' concrete pier on Monday with a TS 400 and a Hammer Drill (in jack hammer mode).
Can't get heavy equipment close, or it will all come tumbling down (the retaining wall and previous piers are all failing), so we did it all by hand, dough it out, drilled the bedrock (6 - 25" holes for the rebar) and transported all the 80lb bags of concrete from the front of the house, to the back, down a steep slope.
Yea, just a few scraps of plywood being held by some rebar (bending) and a chain is all that kept the earth from coming in on us.
Just 3 of us (a 24 year old) helped my brother 64 and I 66, we worked hard from 7:30 am till 5:00pm, but we got it done!
That is my brother's large Milwaukee Hammer Drill down in the hole in the last pic.
The 24 year old plays semi pro ball and is in great shape, but we are both older than his Dad, and he can't get over that we both can work with him all day long. He's a good kid, and it was great to have him on the job.
all better now.
