Our pool pump has been creating a large mud pit next to our side door whenever we need to drain the pool or backwash the filter. I decided to dig a 125 trench and put in a 4″ flexible drain pipe to send the water down to the bottom of our front yard.
My first inclination was to rent a 12″ compact excavator from Home Depot. It ran about $160 or $170 for the day. But two things came to mind:
- I had never really installed an trench drain before, so I didn’t want to underestimate the job and require the machine rental for more than one day.
- I don’t know what kind of damage those machines do to the rest of your landscape, yard or driveway.
The Wrong Shovel
Given my unfamiliarity with the excavator and everything that comes with it, I opted for the manual route: the shovel.
I had a $5 shovel in my garage that I used to dig about 30 feet of the drain trench. The ground was rocky, so I really had to put some weight on the shovel which, in most cases, involved jumping on it with both feet to get it to penetrate.
After an hour or so, not only were my middle of both of my feet sore, but I had slipped off of the shovel while jumping on it at one point and cut my leg on it.
The Right Shovel
I decided to head over to Home Depot and purchase the best shovel money could buy. I was surprised to find that the most expensive shovel was only $25. I was expecting at least a few shovels with gimmicky features, buttons, levers, etc. The selection was pretty basic, but one shovel really stood out.
The RazorBack Shovel had a much larger surface to put weight onto. Meaning that if you needed to jump on the shovel, you had a larger surface to distribute the weight of your body onto. This meant that it not only reduced the chance of missing the shovel when jump on it, but caused far less pain on the bottom of my foot at the end of the day.
The metal “tabs” that you put your foot on also had a few holes drilled or punch into them. This provides a little bit of grip to prevent your foot from sliding.
Conclusion
I’m not going to say that this shovel changed my life, but it was certainly worth the $25 I paid for it. It probably only saved me 10% time-wise, but it certainly did reduce the foot pain. I actually had no problem using it in tennis shoes, as opposed to work boots.
As a bonus, when I put the shovel in my shopping cart, a guy walked by and said “That’s a nice shovel”. No joke!
Where to Buy
As I mentioned, I found this shovel at Home Depot. But if you’re more the online shopping type, you might give Amazon a try. Although, I couldn’t find the exact Razorback round-tipped fiberglass shovel that I have. I only found the wooden handle version.