Site Prep
We get a bare lot ready to build on, with the basement dug and the house pad graded. We also install sewer and water lines and dig ponds.
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Basement excavation opens the ground for a new home's foundation. Wolf Creek Dirt Works digs full basements and walkout basements around Sturgeon Lake. We also dig crawlspaces and frost footings for slab homes. The foundation contractor then forms and pours the footings and walls in that hole.
We work for landowners building on rural lots and acreage, and for the builders they hire. The dig is one step in site preparation, the work that gets a bare lot ready to build on. Call or text (218) 820-9653, and we put a free estimate in writing.
Tell us about the job and where the property is. We look at it and put your free estimate in writing.
Digging a basement starts with the builder's plan and the lot survey. The plan sets the size and depth of the hole, and the survey shows where the house sits. The hole runs wider than the walls, so the foundation contractor has room to set forms.
Before the dig, the utilities mark their buried lines. Minnesota law has the excavator notify Gopher State One Call at least 48 hours ahead. The day of notice, weekends and holidays do not count. The notice also has to go in no more than 14 calendar days before digging starts.
Next, the foundation contractor forms and pours the footings and walls. Once the walls are up, the hole around them gets backfilled. We grade the ground around the house so rain and snowmelt run away from the walls.
Minnesota Rules 1303.1600 set the minimum footing depth for frost at five feet in Zone I. Pine County, where Sturgeon Lake sits, is in Zone I, and so are Carlton, Kanabec, Aitkin and St. Louis Counties. That depth holds unless an engineer competent in soil mechanics determines otherwise. Mora's building permit checklist puts it plainly: five feet for this part of the state.
The soil under those footings changes across the area. Grayling sand, the main soil inside Sturgeon Lake city limits, formed on outwash plains and drains fast. Soil scientists rate it excessively drained. Toward Duluth, the city describes mostly clay soils that soak up little water, plus shallow bedrock and seeps.
Low, wet hollows can hold peat, and Rifle peat turns up in low spots around Sturgeon Lake. The NRCS puts its high water table between a foot above and a foot below the surface, November to June. Mora's new-home checklist also asks for a soil report if required, plus drainage patterns on the site sketch.
A walkout basement fits a sloped lot. The low side opens to the yard at ground level, and the high side sits deep in the slope. The footing on the low side still needs frost protection, and the builder's plan shows how deep it goes.
A crawlspace is a shallow dig under the house, with room to reach pipes and wires. A slab home often sits on frost footings, dug as a trench around the outside. The foundation contractor pours the footings and a short wall in that trench. Wolf Creek digs each of these for new homes around Sturgeon Lake.
Call or text for a written quote. We work about 50 miles around Sturgeon Lake across Pine, Carlton, Kanabec, Aitkin and St. Louis Counties.
(218) 820-9653From the first call or text to the finished work, here is how it goes.
Call or text (218) 820-9653 and tell us about the job. Let us know where the land is and what you plan to build.
We come out and look over the land and the work you want done. Wet ground and thick woods both change the plan, so we see them first.
We put a free estimate in writing for the work. You read it over and decide when you are ready.
Before any digging, a locate ticket goes in through Gopher State One Call (811). Septic work waits for the designer's plan and the permit.
We do the work with heavy equipment and clean up the debris at the end. Then the site is ready for the next trade, like the builder or the paving company.
Common questions about basements around Sturgeon Lake and the surrounding counties. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
We get a bare lot ready to build on, with the basement dug and the house pad graded. We also install sewer and water lines and dig ponds.
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We install new septic systems, mostly for new homes, to a septic designer's plan. The septic tank and the drainfield go in, and then an inspector checks the work.
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We take down old houses, cabins, barns and sheds, and the concrete foundation comes out with them. The debris gets hauled away, and the site is ready for the next build.
Learn MoreSite prep, land clearing, septic systems, demolition and driveways all come from us. You deal with one company for the dirt work.
We look at the land and the job before we price it. Then you get a free estimate in writing.
Our service area reaches about 50 miles around Sturgeon Lake. It covers Pine, Carlton, Kanabec, Aitkin and St. Louis Counties.
Tell us where the land is and what you want done on it. Call or text (218) 820-9653 or send the form, and we set up a time to look at the job.
Tell us about the job and where the property is. We look at it and put your free estimate in writing.
