Digging A Swim Pond With Cheap Equipment… how bad could it be?

Welcome back to our hole in the ground. We're building a natural swimming pool in our backyard, but it could fail before we even installed the liner. Last week, we started excavation and got very stuck. Ow. So, let's hope we can fix our natural swim pond. But first, we need to fix all that muddy mess from last week. An Earth pool is more than a place to swim. It's a carefully designed natural environment where crystal clear water is maintained through filtration, beneficial bacteria, and aquatic plants. Today, we are digging the deep end of our pond. And we are doing it with optimism because we're making another bridge out of logs to hold the weight of the excavator on top of the very soft earth. And it is the driest it's ever been because we had two backtoback dry days here. And the clay is turned to dust. Clay is either wet and mucky or dusty. So, it's pretty dry and I'm feeling good. Jazz is taking these logs and putting them in the pond. >> It's time to activate. So, >> we need to get from the logs all the way across and dig out this deep end. >> [music] >> I'd say we made it. >> So, cross your fingers. We're feeling optimistic. I think it's going to be good. We hope it's going to be good. If not, we're going to have to bring in a bigger excavator before we get into the deep end. We're just shaping all of this part that we just reached this wall from our bridge just like to the very inch we need. Really so difficult to do this last week because the entire wall just wanted to fall down. It was so wet. And now we're getting that perfect pond circle. Come on [screaming] [music] people, there's a feast going on. [music] [music] Got a first load of material here on the side of the pond. We're building up the outer burm or the ledge of the pool. And good thing is we've got our dump truck. We can just keep loading it with material and bringing it all in. Okay. So, this side is the side we started with. So, it's all at the height we need it to be. Right now, we got to work on this side. We have all of our piles of dirt here now. So, I'm going to take a bunch of readings all the way along and see how much we need to build it up. This needs to go down by 1.5 inches.9. This has to be really up. Well, an inch actually. We were doing pretty good actually for like eyesight and just our post that we did last week. We did a lot of measuring last week. If you didn't see episode one of the Earth pool build, we spent a lot of time in there. We let it dry for 5 days. So now we're just going to retake measurements and do you want to bucket it in on and I can just go around with this? >> Mhm. >> Then we'll compact with the machine. >> Mhm. [music] >> [music] [music] >> I don't even know if the camera can pick up all the work we just did, but we've been in there all day. It looks so good. You can really see the shape of the kidney bean in the deeper end. The walls are all chiseled out. That's what we kind of started with this morning. And obviously the bridge. Wow. And from that marker all the way around to basically that marker is 100% all the same level. That's amazing. That was the goal today and we succeeded. We're keeping this end open right here because there's going to be a lot more that we dig out within the deep end and probably the shallow. But also, we need a way in and out. So, no point to making this all nice because it's probably just going to get a little gross after. But wow, I also can't believe we did this all with our own soil. Look at this, everyone. I have to just show off your work. That's beautiful. >> Hi. Summer has joined us. It's officially a trillion degrees. That's Canada for you. Cold and rainy, hot as heck. Can't complain, but I would be a lot happier if I was in my pond. We are slowly removing logs from the deep end and working our way backwards. I'm really happy with our plan. Everything is drying out. Okay, time to measure the other side of the deep end. Okay, so from there, yeah, I enjoy this one. 6 ft. >> Nice. >> That's the deep end. >> All right. I'll try to dig that to the best of my ability. >> You can make it a bit bigger. It's fine. >> I'll just make it however my bucket does it. Dig a river. Perfect. Need a good old friend set up again to help us with the shallow end. She's on. So, we have this measurement, which is the one we want everything to be like. Crystal's going to go around with the pole, and then I'm going to be in the excavator, and we're going to make it all perfect down. [music] >> [music] >> Hi. Okay, the pool has been rigged. It has been leveled. It has >> Let me tell you, rigged by Crystal. It's been a day. # Christa. She raked the entire pool. >> The day is done. Like, it's it's almost over. It's so crazy how much work and effort we put into this today. But it is been nothing but progress. The deep end was dug, the logs were removed, the hole was raked, the slope is perfect, the brim is amazing. We've had our last loads. I'm ready for whatever's next. Also, these walls like everything. Now we have a mess to clean up. All of these logs aka the bridge needs to go to the field. Thank you to Bamboo Labs for sponsoring this week's video. I genuinely had no idea how useful a 3D printer was until I started using one. And now when I'm midway through a project or a rena and I have an idea or I need something specific, I can make anything my mind thinks of. Because when you're constantly working on things or tackling new projects, you're always running into these tiny problems where you think, I wish there was something for this or where could I buy something like this? But now you can just make the thing. We've been using the Bamboo Lab P2S with the AMS2. And the thing I love the most about 3D printing is it's not as complicated as it seems. You open your phone, you go to the app Bamboo Handy, and you scroll through Maker World, and you can print anything with the click of a button. I know it's hard to believe. You don't have to sit there and figure out a million settings. It's not hard. Click of a button, you can print something useful. We were chatting to Dererick and Derek had a great idea for our Earth pool. He was saying that to cover the pool skimmer caps, we could get a fake rock. And then we were thinking and we were like, we can print a rock. And so we did. This is the biggest thing I've ever printed. This is going to be perfect on top of it. It's like a natural rock but light. We printed a prop rock that is the perfect size to go on top of the pool skimmer lid. It's going to blend in seamlessly with the landscape and you'll never know it's there. So, this is the perfect example of printing something that would be so hard to find but is just so extremely useful. I love this rock so much. And then naturally, I started thinking about all the different things that I could print for the pool. In just a few weeks, we will have water and we'll be able to swim and there's going to be plants and lily pads. And lily pads don't always have blooms, but ours are always going to be flowering. So, I started printing these in pink and white. And obviously, floating custom drink holders because if we're going to spend hours floating away in this pond on sunny days, our beverages need somewhere to go. These machines are so impressive. I love 3D printing. I've made so many useful things and it's so approachable. If you've ever been interested in trying 3D printing, click on the link in our description, check out Bamboo Lab, and see what you can make. That's not good. It didn't even rain last night. The deep end is ready to be swam and it's full of water. So, for that reason, we are using our trenching bucket for the first ever time. We've been waiting to use this. We got it last year. and we are going to dig our very first trench out of this pond and we're going to install a sump pump system. So, we're going to handle the water situation, make sure it has somewhere to go and that is out of the pool far away from where we will be working and then everything's going to have a chance to dry up real nicely down here and we can move on to the next steps. Okay, so here's the plan. We're digging a trench from the deepest point to [music] the outside of the pool on a slight angle because water only flows down. bucket swap. >> Then we're going to build something like a French drain, okay? Which is then going to flow into a massive culvert that's vertical with a sump pump inside. Never done anything like this. So, let's see how it goes. [music] Bucket looks so new compared to the machine right now, especially after what it's been through lately. Will it reach >> [music] >> Yay! [music] This bucket is incredible. It's the perfect width. You're not messing up the earth anywhere else except exactly where you want to be excavating. It gives you a perfect trench. And you can see the water is already starting to flow down the trench. >> How nice is that? >> So nice. >> Cuz now we kind of have to make the trench perfect by hand. But I definitely need to clean it out a little bit more because obviously the trench has fallen in as I'm speaking and you kind of got to get that away or at least smooth it out, you know? >> Yep. The reason why it's so important to dig out this trench and put a below liner sump pump in and all of this piping is because if we don't do that, our pool will fail. Because you can't have water above Did it cave in? You can't have water above your pool and beneath it. Your trench cave in. Oh no. I think it's from you driving on it. >> So much for our trenching bucket. The walls keep caving in on our trench and it's because we've already disturbed the earth. We've created up these banks all the way around, especially on that side. They were very built up and so it's not strong earth, right? So, our trench is getting a lot bigger, but it's okay. STILL GOT A HAND. I THINK we both got so excited to use that little trenching bucket that we forgot about a lot of things. Most important thing was the deep end had to be dug another 8 in because the big O pipe's going to go in there and gravel into a textile and everything. That means our trench was flowing upwards because deep end had to go deeper. So, we're fixing it right now. If you can believe it, we had the nerve to bring that 12,000lb machine back in this Earth pool after it got stuck. You can literally see the indents. Boom. We dug the deep end down with the machine. And now we're starting the trench over again. And we're not using the trenching bucket anymore. We need more space to work in that trench. I think that little trenching bucket would be good if you were doing something a lot smaller, maybe with your ground that wasn't all disturbed. But here we are. Deep end. New trench. Never try to save money in building. You just do it right. Cuz you'll never save yourself money by cheaping out. Cuz if we didn't do this and it was ground water, guess what we'd have to do? Rip up the whole earth pool. Now we need to measure how big of a culvert we need. I'd go for 12. 10 would probably be fine, but get 15. Is that 25? That's it. >> So, >> somewhere between 25. >> Yeah, 50. Probably >> 30 probably. Fine. >> Okay. Great. And then that piece and that piece and that piece is all going to fall down and we're going to come back to a fully filledin pond. We have all the materials to get going on our below the liner sump pump. However, our trench has filled up with water from the rainclouds and from the groundwater. So, we're working on getting that out today and then we're going to get in there and install our system. It's very simple. I think you're all going to love it and it's going to give us lots of peace of mind as we move on to the next steps with the pool. All of this needs to go and so I'm not doing nothing. I'm going to work on making the deep end a bit bigger, but also driving around all the edges in the pool, compacting it all with this big 12,000lb machine. We got to get everything nice and hard. And to be honest, we're doing like five steps and then it rains and then we're doing the five steps again. So, let's all hope there's no rain this week. How's the snack crew break? >> Great. Okay, as you can see on the left hand side here in the deep end, we have a 3:1 slope. So, it's a little bit more steep. Right hand side, we're sitting at a two to one. And that's because we're making it like any other pool you've ever seen or been in before. You're coming in on the shallow end. It's a nice gradual slope to the deep end. Nice and safe, nice and fun for everyone. [laughter] And I have to say, a massive shout out to my high school math teachers. I highly doubt you're watching this. If you are, hello. But honestly, they worked hard with me. Real hard. because math was always very challenging for me and I have to say I went way back way back and started with the basics before I decided to take anything harder and I slowly worked my way up and it took a long time and a lot of effort but I can say now it was very worth it because we have been using all different kinds of math since we started working construction but more specifically on this pond. We started with triangle math when we were marking out this the pond. We're working with slopes right now. There's all kinds of things that have just come handy. So, math is good, kids. Really good. All right. Well, we're back filling our trench, and that's because we are going to only dig as far as we can reach because we are amateurs doing this. This is the hardest thing we've ever excavated before, and we have a smaller machine in terms of excavators. [laughter] So, we have spent many hours digging out this deep end and trying to get the perfect slope to get the water now out of the deep end. And our arm only reaches so far. So, we're getting crafty. We're back filling and redigging. I've excavated a lot, but this is by far probably the hardest thing I have excavated and the biggest thing only because everything needs to be like not 100% precise, but pretty precise. Do you know what I mean? And I feel like I'm dealing with a little baby machine. Even though I know it's a six ton, it's the biggest machine I've ever driven. I still feel like I could do with a 12 ton. And this is the problem with machines. You got one, then you want a bigger one, and then you want 20 attachments. Anyways, we figured it out. Just thought I should let you know. This is like pretty hard. You got a knife on you. Just can you fold the ends like a hot dog? Just got really hot. Fold. as far as you can go. I can dig there more. Good >> morning. I'm sure you can guess. Yep. Do the same thing again for the third time. This is exactly why we need that sump pump underneath the liner. So much water. Oh my god, I hate everything is stuck. Should have done this last night. It's stagnant >> until I started walking through it cuz you can't see the bottom of this trench cuz it's clay. I can't even pull my boot up unless I use my arm. No, my our legs are crossed. Oh no. Oh my god. Here we go. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Come on. I can't get out. Oh my god. >> [snorts] >> What? How you going to put it flat? Note to self, no matter how hungry or tired you are at 7:00 p.m., work until the trench is done cuz we just did everything again. Okay, so this is where we're at. We've dug the trench, laid the geoexile fabric, rock, and the pipe. And now for the fun part. This is a 20 foot 18inch HPDE polyethylene pipe that is typically used for fields, road drainage, construction site drainage. And normally you don't need caps because you want it open because you want the water to flow out. But we're putting this pipe vertically in the ground. And so wish us luck because it's not easy to put on. So we're lubricating it and we have obviously never done this before. So hopefully all our gaskets are on correctly cuz this information isn't readily available. No, no one used ends cap end caps. We had to special order them. So basically because our deep end French drain or big O pipe goes into culvert. Car culvert is standing up. Water will fill up in here. The sump pump will then remove it. And this is all under the liner. >> So, we'll go to here because it's 10 inches. Is this on? >> Very nice. Okay, it's on. Now is the hard part. >> It's already on. That's 10. >> But it's not actually on. >> It is cuz I just counted. It should hit this one. >> No. Oh, >> cuz if it can come off, it's not on. >> Okay. >> It's a watertight cap. >> I don't think I'm going to get it on ever. It doesn't feel like it's going anywhere. We need like three machines. One to hold it down there, the excavator bucket. One to prop it up, which would be the tractor forks, and then one to give it a whack. Hang on. Hang on. The tractor. I got to prop it up. This should work. There's no way you can push the tractor over. >> No, I don't get that. >> So, your key there, yeah, to make sure it's a plane end by cutting off that spigot. >> Gotcha. Thank you so much. That helps immensely. Thank you. >> Yeah, no worries. But, yeah, keep the green line away from the end of the pipe and that's the right direction. Then you should be good to go. For all of you that have done this before, that was probably very painful to watch. But guess what? Never make that mistake again. Now I can teach someone. So, makes a lot of sense. Going to cut right here. >> Okay. Who would have known? Not me. Not you. Okay. Now, we need a pry bar. Or just kidding. Empty. Oh my god. You don't just put your whole might in these things, dog. >> You know what would have been better to keep it on that. >> I agree. I know. >> And then flip it over. >> What? >> You keep it on the part we just cut. >> Yeah. And then use that to >> And then you pry it. >> No. Little bit. We need way more oil. That's my What? >> To do little bits at a time and then I need to I just pried too far over. >> Just try from the middle, please. >> Sure. >> You're right. I'm wrong. >> I love those words. [laughter] OKAY. >> YAY. Let's celebrate something little. We haven't been Our trench is also working. Always add more oil and soap and water or whatever the heck you're using. Just add it. Yeah, we weren't messing around. I think we're out of WD40, so I just went straight to the engine oil. Cross your fingers, folks. Wow. Another job well done, kids. The pipe chronicles. The excavator and tractor actually just like slid that on. >> How about the motor oil? >> Yeah, the motor oil too. And we'll be like cutting it. And maybe us too. >> And CLM always a part of the show. >> Yeah, we used the side of her tire cuz there's no way this is going to push the tractor over that way. That was really good actually. >> Yeah, it's on good. Like that's logs. >> That's a water tight end cap. And that matters cuz this is going in the ground where all the water and the mud and the chaos is. So now nothing can get in. Kind of put it in the bottom of the trench. Here we go. >> [music] >> Mission, get Culvert in the trench. Mission, get Jazz and Crystal out of the trench. >> Okay, well done. >> Good job. >> Why is it so big? >> We have a level. And that's how I would hold it with the bucket. You have to get this back more. I'm going to push it back. You just reversed a tiny bit. Okay, let's do this trench. >> I can tell you right now, this project is testing my limits. [music] >> It's going to be worth it. >> I know. [laughter] >> Okay, I got to be honest for a second. A second of time. I almost admit defeated for a second, but we're now changing the plan. We have been in this trench for too many days, but we're amateurs, so got to live with it. This big O, from my experience, doesn't do well in stressful situations. It needs the perfect conditions. It's not that strong. And we have very heavy clay material that we will be excavating back into this trench. And unfortunately, we're having a really hard time getting things good in here because the conditions are so wet, as you know. So, we're being very cautious with the excavator. We al also have this open trench with very tall walls. So, we don't want to have the machine down here. One, it won't even get down here. to we're just having a hard time getting material even in here like stone for example. So I'm making a base currently. Jasmine's going to get schedule 40. We're taking this bigo out and we are going to redo the trench entirely and I'm feeling much better about this decision because it was just so mucky and it was getting very hard to work with something like this. So, for our circumstances and our conditions, say goodbye to the big hole. Okay, I've officially taken the pipe out, redug the bottom. It's really muddy. Feeling much more optimistic. Just taking out and restarting. Jasmine's back with the pipe now. Perfect timing. Nice. [music] >> There you go. Okay. [music] The walls are just going in. So, we need to close it up. And then we have our full run that we're going to do, too. Obviously, the best course of action would be to do the entire trench with gravel, but clearly we don't have any time. >> We don't have time. >> HOLY it's done. >> That was resilient. >> That was crazy behavior. >> Come here. Give me a hug. You're sweaty and I'm sweaty and I have pants on. >> I love you, buddy. >> I love you, too. >> I'm proud of you. >> I'm proud of you, too. >> That was hard work. [music] We don't want that in there. >> [music] [music] >> We did it. Supervisor, do you need to inspect? No, you trust us. Okay. Thanks, supervisor. Yeah. [snorts] Yeah, Bella. I know. You know what's so funny about these type of jobs? Well, you never see it. All the hard work gets covered up. Feel like that's a running thing over here. We always love these type of jobs. And you might not see it, but you will enjoy the benefits of it. >> It's time. >> It is. It is. >> I will sleep soundly tonight. >> What? >> There is certainly water in there. That's water in our pipe. That's a job well done, ladies. That means we are doing it perfect and it's going in here. >> Oh my god, I'm eager. >> Oh, nice. >> Cool. >> Great muscles. Also, let me just add, you will not see this pipe out of the ground in this beautiful earth pool. Everyone, >> it's going to get cut to size. We're And then there's a fake rock that you put over top of it. So, let me just be clear. >> You're never going to see this or know it's even here. >> Well, you are cuz you watched the video, but don't tell your friends. >> Yeah, don't tell. Not in the pond. Okay, that worked out well. >> Not in the pond. >> Now you have to carry it out. They're heavy. How's the water? >> It's dripping. This is our half horsepower pump. This is kind of like what basements have. And also what we did down there is kind of what is at the bottom of the footer of your house. It's kind of cool. This is only 10 ft deep. So, >> we might have to cut this more, eh? >> What's a check valve? >> Not sure >> why. >> It says install a full flow swing type check valve sold separately either directly into the pump discharge or on the discharge pipe. >> When the sump pump turns on, the valve swings open and lets water flow out. When the pump turns off, gravity tries to pull the water in the discharge pipe back down. The valve swings close and it prevents that water from returning to the pit. I think we need it. >> We got our check valve. Check valve. Our check valve. We have our check valve. We're going to install it now. No, we don't. >> Beautiful. Most beautiful thing I've ever seen. >> Do you see how it has to go down like that much? Oh, no. >> I think it's fine. No, >> cuz you tighten this ring. >> Is that upside down? >> I just put it on the old markings. Okay. Now remember, we're going to turn this around. So you're actually going to come to me cuz this float is going to go this way. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There you go. Amazing. >> It's working. WOOHOO. That's crazy. We got the water out of our pond. That's it. It's official, everyone. We can move on to the next step of our pond. The water situation is managed. We have a below the liner subp pump installation complete. It's filling up again. Now, our Earth pool will not fail. Woo! I'm so proud. >> Same. >> Maker World has thousands and thousands of ready to print models. So, you don't need to learn 3D modeling from scratch. You just find what you want, choose your filament, and then print. With the AMS2, you can do multicolor printing. So, it just makes projects that much more fun. We've also made these little window cushions for the dogs because despite being 12 and 13, they still think they need to hang out the window, which makes me very happy that they do. but it also gives them a nice little place to rest their head while they're driving. Beyond useful. This is a rake and shovel holder organizer for the garage. We have about 1 million things that need a home. So, I'm going to be printing a ton more of these and putting them all up in the garage to hold everything on the wall. I did this with the tough filament, so it's extra strong and sturdy. Check this out. This is my 3D printed vase that I made with translucent filament. I've always wanted to use that. And the best part is it will never break. And the P2S is actually quiet enough that it can live in our space. It also has autoflow calibration, which helps take a lot of the guesswork out of getting smooth and consistent prints. It is true that Bamboo Lab makes everything as easy as can be. The instructions were the best I've ever seen. And when you introduce a new filament to your printer, it can automatically recognize what it is because it has an RFID, which is basically like a barcode. And so you spend less time worrying about settings and more time printing and enjoying