Would you bury it?

Last year, the mower threw a rusty wire into my thigh. Thanks to that, I lost a fair amount of muscle in that thigh, although it could have been worse (it could have hit bone, which it almost did).

The wire came from supposedly *inert* materials which were buried *supposedly* never to be seen again.

There are others on this forum who have suffered the identical injury, as well as other kinds of injuries from supposedly inert materials supposedly buried never to be seen again.

Rain, livestock, the simple processes of nature, whatever, will always eventually bring these materials to the surface.

not positive, but I think those air conditioners have some toxic goo--freon? if the land was cheap, you should assume a little cost for cleaning it up.

one scam to watch for: you pay someone to haul trash to the landfill--the amount you pay covers the landfill costs--the hauler takes the cash and your trash, drives around the corner and throws it in the woods.

i think it is best to get it to a landfill yourself, or hire someone reputable--why pay more in the long run with poisioned land or hospital bills?

Once upon a time I was working for a local dozer service, which basically consisted of a rancher who had a dozer but little else needed in the dirt work trade (like good sense!)... But he was paying cash, and I had just finished an out of town project.

ANYWAY... one of his buddy hired him to bury a bunch of junk. Tires, concrete, scrap lumber, various types of fencing... Anything one can think of laying around.

The boss gave me directions to the place, I hauled the dozer out there, quickly dug a pit deep enough to allow about four feet of cover over the trash, and started pushing the trash in, compacting it with the tracks as I went.

I had just finished the last lift of trash and was compacting it down when this white truck pulls up. A man gets out and motions for me to come over to him. I was almost finished, and in a hurry, so I motioned for him to wait while I finished compacting the trash. About five minutes or so later I walk the dozer out of the hole, park it beside the man, kill the dozer and say howdy. He replies,
"Well, you ready to go to jail?"
About that time he turns to the side and I can see both the badge and the pistol on his belt.

I said, "Not really."

The still nameless goverment offical grinned without humor, "That's what about to happen, with at least six of the violations I'm about to site you for."

"Well, before you haul me off, can I call my boss, he's expecting me to do another job today?" I flippantly replied, secretly getting worried.

"Yeah, you might better do that."

So, I called the boss on the cell phone explaining that he might better come on over, that there was a man there that was just dying to see him. As we were waiting for the boss to show up, the EPA guy explained that he knew I was just doing my job, but as the operator, I could still get a fine or arrested, boss' orders, landowners wishes or not.
Luckily we got off light by having to dig up the trash, haul it off and have the land owner fax landfill receipts to the EPA office.
Upon further research, here in Texas you cannnot "create a landfill" which just means digging a hole. You can however fill in voids in the land (natural low spaces, areas that were quarry in the past, etc) with concrete and the like, but construction waste not allowed (scrap lumber, tires, etc.)

So, even if it is your own land, I would be very careful about things like this, and if you do do it, be secretive I guess.

About the tires, i have put tires six feet in the ground, compacted the dirt above it and had the tires come to the surface after awhile, even in free free Texas.


Just my two cents,

Rowdy

(editied for some spelling, etc)

The AC is going to contain chemicals. Get rid of it, dont bury it.

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Gary in Central Ohio

I think your wife is a smart lady. I wouldn't bury any of that stuff. While there may be an upfront cost to removing it, consider the alternative. At some point in the future you find out that something toxic was leaking. I think the cleanup would be many times the upfront cost of removing it.

Rent a dumpster and do the demolition yourself if cost is an issue. You could even rent a front loader and do it real quick.

As usual, just my 2 cents.

Mike

There's no hole to be dug. No demolition to be done. We haven't begun cutting any trees. The entire 3 acres is a hill and I have to build up an area for a driveway turn around.

There are only two old rusted bedsprings. There are 16 old tires that had to be replaced out from under the old doublewide mobile home that was moved off the land 4 years ago. There are three small window air conditioner units. They're all pretty beat up and there's no freon left in them. My understanding is that freon is a liquid when under a certain pressure but a gas when that pressure is released. It's certainly been released. They're all busted up already.

In one brief moment, I thought that some of this stuff would be good to keep any fill dirt from washing down the hill until I can get some concrete poured over the top of it. I can't possibly see how any of it could work it's way to the surface, since the surface would be under 4 inches of concrete.

Anyhow, it's a moot point now. She says I can't do it. We'll be paying to have it hauled off

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really I would be quite about it.

Everyone remember back in the 70's when we had the "local dumps":haha: you could find great things there, my uncle found a Weather balloon shute, now you got to Dive into a Dumpster, eww.

BTW my Grandpa buried some old refrigerators, back when the EPA was cracking down on Illegal Dumps.(mind you that was back in the 70's, and we are still ALIVE today!)

...and my Uncle Blew up his Magnesium "pipe" bombs, since this war on terror, they find you with one of those, big time trouble.

Find a scrap yard and call them for the nearest recycler. Tin/wire and steel is a high price right now. Someone will come and get it but tell them they have to take everything or you may be left with the junk. If you are left with the junk get a huge dumpster and dispose of it. We are dealing with a place now that has been a farm for over 100 years and people buried everything at one point or another. We cannot dig a post hole with out finding something. And, God only knows what it was used for....

I must add, a landscaper uses old metal springs for leveling yards before sodding them.... :haha:

You're not quite getting the picture.

Tires are hollow. you put them down in the ground, and there is an airspace. One of 2 things will happen: The tire will flex & move as the ground settles, and work itself to the surface. Or, the tire will flex & be trapped under your concrete & create an air void - making for weak unsupported concrete.

Bed springs do not allow the ground to settle Right away. While they are heavy enough to stay put, they will trap air several feed deep. Again, your soil will settle in a couple years, and create problems with your concrete.

If you want to concrete over any fill, you need good stable fill, and compact it in layers. You do _not_ want any junk down under there like old trees, tires, springy metal. This will create a long-term, slow, settling problem with your dirt, and you won't get a good stable base for your concrete for a decade or more.

Any concrete poured on top of this mess will buckle & split & cave in. You do not want this. Just an inch of settling in uneven ways will make a total mess of your concrete.

If you just leave the surface dirt, then you will have the same settling issues, but it won't cause you the problems. You can relevel the dirt if you need to.

If you are serious about the concrete, you need to do a real good job with the fill. No junk allowed - at all.

Tires especially always come back to haunt you. Cannot burry them to get rid of them. they _will_ come back up. The other stuff will cause uneven settling, which is up to you if you leave the place dirt; but a really bad idea if you want to concrete over the top of it. You cannot ever get the land to settle down & be a good firm base for the concrete.

--->Paul

Surely there must be someone in your area that will pick it up for free to distribute it in salvage yards and such. I did up in Pennslyvania and Missouri. I would just advertise to clean out garages, store rooms, etc in exchange for the stuff. I would then sort it out selling motors from appliances to one salvage yard and scrap to the others. I made a bit of money this way and also helped the environment to boot.

Don't bury it. Your land is just too precious to treat it that way. It would be like stuffing yourself with spoiled food and risking getting sick to save money. It's not worth it in the long run.

Ernest

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Ok, ok, everyone please calm down. No more emails, please. We're not going to bury it. It was only a brief thought and your feedback allowed my wife to change my mind. It's not going to happen. We'll pay to have it hauled off and then pay to have fill dirt hauled in.

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