Apr10 Written by:Tom Farin
4/10/2008 6:41 PM
Building On the Cheap - Part 1
With two kids in college and obligations to my Ex, the NPC is being built on the cheap. That means among other things, no hired labor and no renting of expensive equipment.
So far I've removed at least 1,000 quare feet of sod. With a square end shovel, that is a back breaking time consuming frustrating job. That's how the first 300' or so got done. I thought, Tom, there has to be a better way.
So I did some research. There are gasoline powered machines for removing sod. Cost? Over $1,000. You can rent them if you can find a source. But here's the problem with that approach. When you remove sod, you have to act very quickly or weeds replace the grass. So if you rent a gas powered sod cutter and spend a day removing 5,000 square feet of sod (to get your money's worth out of the rental), you immediately create a major short-term project involving lots of landscape fabric and mulch. Then there's the time taken to pick up and drop the rental tool. That doesn't exactly lend itself to spontaneous use. And you can't use it at the coolest time of day, right after sunrise because of the noise.
But there is another alternative. It's called a kick sod cutter.
I bought one of these for $255 plus shipping. That's a lot of money for a hand tool. But I can remove at least 100 square feet of sod in about 30 minutes without killing myself. That's with a 61 year old out of shape body. And I can use it whenever I'm in the mood. No gas, no noise, and no setup time. Sod comes off in nice 1' wide strips.
It continues to be useful after the sod is off. When I built my patio, dirt needed to be cut from the high spots and filled in the low spots. The sod cutter takes off a 1-2 inch thick strip of dirt without digging. Slide a square end shovel under the strip of dirt and throw it where it is needed.
It is the best hand tool investment I've ever made. If you want to learn more, visit this Web site. They even have an AVI that shows the tool in action. The manufacturer is a little guy like a lot of us. I have no association with the manufacturer other than being a very satisfied customer.
http://quail-mfg.com/sodcutter.htm
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