With the concrete removed, Miguel could begin cutting down the slope to the level needed for the new garage. Our plan calls for taking the floor of the garage down about 3 feet compared with existing grade. This of course produced a lot of dirt that had to go somewhere else. Miguel took the first load to El Corazon in Oceanside, but then he discovered a grading project on the next street over from us, on Daphne St. This project, called Beacon's, needed dirt so Miguel was able to get rid of our excess dirt only a block away. After a couple of days of digging with his Bobcat, and a certain amount of hand shoveling, we were down to the correct level.
Those round stakes with the pink bristles are called "guineas". The Urban Dictionary calls this the most vile racial slur that can be used against Italian-Americans. However, it is also a region of Africa and is used in reference to certain birds. So please don't harass me for using this word. It's just what they're called. The purpose of guineas is to indicate the desired level that the grading is intended to achieve.
Grading operations can put a lot of dirt and debris onto the street which can then make its way to a storm drain and out to the ocean. To prevent this we installed some erosion control and sediment trapping measures. These types of measures are called BMP's (best management practices). We already had a small pit in the front yard near the street for the gas line work, so we utilized that to catch runoff from the graded area. We also used plastic tarps and a straw wattle to further prevent any dirt from getting out into the street. At the end of each day of work I sweep the street to pick up dirt that was carried out there by the bobcat's tires.
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