How to Move 1000 kg of Gravel Alone

Описание: I'm building the foundation for my workshop and decided to follow your advice — I bought one cubic meter of crushed granite gravel to make the concrete really strong. The gravel was delivered quickly, but unfortunately, it was unloaded in the worst possible spot: the pallet ended up exactly where I planned to lay the drainage pipe. Moving a ton of stones one meter to the side without machinery is no easy task.

On top of the gravel were twenty concrete curbs, each weighing about 20 kg. I had no choice but to carry them by hand. After that, I limped for two days — on both legs. I had almost no strength left, but I still had to move the pile itself.

I tried shifting the sack by hand — no chance. The stones felt like they were glued to the ground. I went through everything I had in the workshop — jacks, levers, ropes. Even tried an old winch. But it was too weak, and the rope stretched like a rubber band — I was just pulling the rope, not the load.

I gave up. Went to the hardware store. Mostly ceiling-mounted winches there — useless in my case. But then I found a simple hand winch with a pulley — exactly what I needed. Cost just €25. That's about the price of 2 kilos of salmon or 500 grams of decent instant coffee. I bought it without hesitation.

Later I thought I should have bought chains instead of straps — chains don’t stretch and are easy to adjust in length. But without the new winch, I wouldn’t have managed anything at all. My father told me: “If you had just shoveled the whole pile, you'd have finished three times faster — and for free.” Maybe he’s right. But I wanted to do it properly — with tools and mechanics. It was hard, but definitely more interesting.