calls for a garden shed to be tucked partially into a hillside between a ground-level deck and a row of 100 year-old apple trees.
Digging out the hillside by hand was the first order of business, as an excavator would have been hard on the landscape, possibly disruptive to existing services buried in the area, and quite frankly kind of overkill. The cost to the customer was ultimately less, and the impact on the environment was far less: less impact to the soil, plants, and animal residents, no fossil fuels consumed to transport and run the machinery, no exhaust, and no excessive noise other than my grunting and muttering while tossing shovel-loads of soil.
The smaller scale of the project (roughly7' X 12') was certainly instrumental in the decision to excavate by hand. I doubt I'd have hesitated to rent machinery for a larger project, but it was nice to have the choice to opt for a bit of sweat and Advil over playing with over-sized Tonka toys.
As for the concrete, it's always a drag to have to use it given the environmental consequences. In short, every ton of concrete produced has a ton of CO2 emissions attached to it via the production process. That said, I'm keeping the use of concrete down a little by using concrete blocks for the stem walls of the shed rather than solid concrete; every little bit helps.
More later...
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