Diggin Life handles excavation in Arlington, Vermont, on ground that changes inside a mile. Route 7A runs flat along the east side of town, past the village center. Head west on Route 313 and the land opens into Battenkill farm fields and the covered bridge at West Arlington. Turn uphill instead and the Taconic slopes take over. Arlington's low point sits near 525 feet, where the Battenkill crosses into New York. Grass Mountain tops out at 3,109 feet. A leach field up on that grade digs nothing like the same field on the valley floor.
Most work here starts with septic. Arlington has no municipal sewer, and the town plan calls one unlikely for the foreseeable future. Every house treats its own waste on its own lot. Outside the village water lines, the well is private too. We install and repair septic, grade sites, clear land, run forestry mulching, cut gravel driveways, and plow snow. Site work for builders and contractors runs off the same list. Timber frame structures and fiberglass pools go through builders we partner with locally. The machines come backed by decades of seat time in excavation and trucking. Call (802) 681-6842 and tell us what the lot needs.
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The valley bottoms in Arlington are glacial outwash, dropped by meltwater and reworked by the Battenkill ever since. That means sand, gravel, and cobble, usually with groundwater not far down. Outwash digs fast and drains well. That helps a leach field and hurts a trench wall, so we slope or shore anything deep. Bedrock down here is marble and dolostone, softer than the rock uphill. Along River Road and the Route 313 fields, the soil is rated prime farmland. We strip the topsoil, stockpile it, and put it back where it came from.
Uphill is a different animal. Above about 1,200 feet the Taconic slopes are glacial till sitting on phyllite and siltstone. Till is dense and stony, and the silt and clay in it hold water instead of shedding it. Ledge can sit close to the surface, so a four foot trench turns into a rock job with no warning. Grades on Red Mountain and toward Grass Mountain run past 20 percent. On ground like that we bench the cut and set the pad level. Water gets routed off the hill before it reaches the foundation.
Septic leads the list. With no town sewer, every new build and every failed system in Arlington runs through a private leach field. We install new septic systems and repair old ones, working from the state permit and the soil test. Many of the farmhouses here date to the years Norman Rockwell lived and painted in town, from 1939 to 1953. Their fields were sized for a smaller household. In East Arlington, room for a working field is tight enough that it has held back what owners can build.
Water is the other constant. Arlington gets about 47 inches of precipitation a year and roughly 75 inches of snow. Most of that snow falls November through March. Roughly 172 nights a year drop below freezing, and frost moves whatever is not set right. The town has 27 miles of Class 3 roads. Gravel driveways off them rut and wash by April, so we regrade and add material. French drains and curtain drains pull hillside seepage away from foundations. We also clear land and run forestry mulching for owners opening up a field or a house site.
Communities & areas we serve around Arlington: Arlington village, East Arlington, West Arlington, Historic Route 7A corridor, Route 313 corridor, River Road, Red Mountain Road, Warm Brook Road.
Arlington ZIP codes served: 05250, 05252.
Free, no-obligation estimates throughout Bennington County.
(802) 681-6842
We install new septic systems and full replacements across the tri-state corner. Tank, drain field, pipe and final grade, all built to the licensed design on your permit.
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Septic system repair for older rural systems around Bennington and the tri-state corner. We find why it backed up, then repair the tank, the line, or the field.
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We clear overgrown lots and acreage so the land can be used again. Brush, saplings, stumps, and old fence line come out. What is left is ready for a build site or pasture.
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Forestry mulching grinds standing brush and small trees into a layer of mulch. One machine does the cutting and the cleanup. The ground stays covered and the wood stays on your land.
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We handle grading and site preparation across the tri-state corner. That means building pads, foundation digs, driveway subgrade, and regrading a yard so water runs away from the house.
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French drains, curtain drains, yard drains and culverts that move snowmelt and storm runoff away from the house. We dig below frost depth and pitch every line so it keeps working.
View DetailsA few of the questions we hear most around Arlington. Yours not here? Call and ask us directly.
A septic system that needs to go in, a lot to clear, a wet yard, or a driveway that will not survive another spring? Call or send the form. We look at the site with you and price the job from what is actually in the ground.
Tell us about your project and we will get right back to you.
