How to Build a Trough for Moving Gravel

During home construction, you may need to make temporary equipment to lighten the load on your workers. One example of this is building a trough for moving gravel into the basement of a finished home through a window. A properly built trough allows one worker to dump a wheelbarrow of gravel from the outside while another worker catches the gravel with a wheelbarrow on the inside.

3/4-inch plywood
Measuring tape
2-by-4 lumber
3 1/2-inch wood screws
Circular hand saw
Cinder blocks

Instructions

- 1
  Measure the width of the basement window opening with a measuring tape. Transfer this width onto a piece of plywood and mark it in several locations along its 8-foot length. Lay a 2-by-4 along these markings and draw a line along the 2-by-4's edge with a pencil.
- 2
  Position the plywood on a workbench with the pencil line just over the edge. Cut along this line with a circular hand saw.
- 3
  Position two 8-foot 2-by-4s under the cut section of plywood. Align each of their outside edges with the outside edges of the plywood. The plywood and 2-by-4s should form a "U" shape. Secure the 2-by-4s to the plywood with a 3 1/2 inch-wood screw every 6 inches, through the plywood and into the 2-by-4.
- 4
  Push the trough through the basement window opening so that 1 to 2 feet of it extends out the window.
- 5
  Stack three to four cinder blocks on the basement floor under the trough, about 1 foot from its end. Position the inside end of the trough on top of the cinder blocks.

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