Best material for a house pad

[DmansPadge]

Sooner or later... I'm gonna be ready to build. I want to raise up an area for my house and shop. Most of the people I've seen use a heavy 60/40. It will most likely have atleast 1 year to settle... maybe more. I plan on getting my pad down this spring. All stumps have been removed. Is there anything else I should do? Is heavy 60/40 the way to go? I'm located in SE TX.

Any info is appreciated.

 

[EddieWalker]

You didn't say how high you need to build up your pad or what type of soil you already have. No reason to spend good money on material if what you already have will work.

In my area of East Texas (Tyler) we use the local red clay. It compacts fine and doesn't settle much. If you build it in lifts based on what you have to compact it with, it works fine.

The best material you can use is sand. Regular corse construction sands works better than anything else. It's the only material to self compact, which means it wont settle over time. It never expands or contracts like clays do in droughts and freezes, and best of all, it's easy to work with.

Problem with sand is what will it cost to bring it in.

Eddie

 

[DmansPadge]

Thanks Eddie.

I don't need to build it up much... maybe a foot. With the heavy rains (and hurricanes /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif) we get on occassion I'd like to raise the house up some. My land in general is fairly high for the area. I guess I don't know exactly what I have... there is a lot of clay in it. It will be spread with a dozer. Do I need extra compaction? As I stated earlier it will have at least a year to settle.

Thanks.

 

[EddieWalker]

You can get a foot pretty easy with a dozer. Depending on how big the dozer should dictate how thick each lift should be. For example, if it's a small dozer, make your lifts just an inch or two at a time. A big dozer and you can get away with 4 to six inches.

Saying that, a dozer is actually not the best tool for compacting the ground. A vibratory roller or sheepsfoot is the best, after that what ever has the most weight per square foot. Dozer tracks spread their weight out over a large area and have a low ground preasure. My backhoe has allot more preasure per square foot over my dozer even though it weighs a third the weight.

The length of time you let it sit wont help at all. All your compaction will come from the tractor. Of course, the longer you let it sit, the greater the level of erosion you'll have, which means you will have to go back over it before building.

Personally, I'd wait until your ready to build unless you have the tractor available to bring it back twice.

Eddie

 

[DmansPadge]

Thanks again Eddie. You are quite the wealth of knowledge!

The dozer is a Case 450. I think it's around 10k lbs.

I always thought that letting it get rained on, drove on, etc. helped to settle it. That is why I'm asking guys like you.

Thanks.

 

[RobJ]

Before I caught Eddies reply I saw dmans location. Though red clay, cheap and plenty of it. If you get a dozer and the clay isn't at the top of the ground, use the dozer to clear off the topsoil and push up some clay. Top it off with some top soil and you will get the grass to grow. I pushed up clay around our weekend house in east texas. That stuff filled with iron ore (we call it that). Just keep it where the water will run off and you will have one of the hardest foundations around. In my case I took out part of a hill behind the house and had plenty, then more for the garage a couple years ago. Hehehe again did I tell you about the cost?

 

[CurlyDave]

The best material you can use is sand. Regular corse construction sands works better than anything else. It's the only material to self compact, which means it wont settle over time. It never expands or contracts like clays do in droughts and freezes, and best of all, it's easy to work with.

Problem with sand is what will it cost to bring it in.


In CA I used drain rock under my slab. About 6" of either 1" or 2" drain rock, with 20 mils of plastic (can be 1 20 mil layer, or two 10s) on top of that and then 2" of sand on top of the plastic before setting rebar and pouring the slab.

Just like the sand, drain rock goes in and self-compacts so there is no settling.

This completely eliminates the possibility of damp floors.

In an urban area, the rock cost about $20/yard. At 6" a yard covers over 50 sq ft. I expect the rock is lower cost in rural areas, so you should get away with less than $1000 for a reasonable size house.

 

[DmansPadge]

To Eddie and anyone else:

I was talking to the gentleman that has done my backhoe work in the past today. I was asking him about my "house pad." Let me say that he is a good friend and has worked for Temple Inland (lumber, paperboard, etc.) for 15 years and has been running heavy equipment and been doing land clearing work for longer. He suggested laying down the pad in advance and advised to raise my pad 12-14" with 60/40. (This is due to my area)

I mention this because I trust him. And although I do not know Eddie Walker personally... it is obvious that he knows what he is talking about... and Eddie said otherwise.

Eddie... I really appreciate your info and love to read your posts. I'd love to hear your opinions on my situation... along with anybody else who wants to chime in!

Thanks.

 

[DmansPadge]

I also meant to say that the main question is about spreading it in advance. I realize that sand is the best material and the techniques of laying it vary with the equipment.

Thanks again.

 

[EddieWalker]

DmansPadge,

First, it's conditions and methods always very from place to place. Your guy knows more about your area than I do, or anybody else not from your area.

Building up your pad a foot or more isn't that big a deal. It's all dependent on how it's compacted and the type of material used. Just be sure to consider drainage in your building. You don't have to just build up the pad, but also the slopes surrounding it.

I don't disagree with building the pad early. My concern is in how long it takes to get back to building on it after it's built. Rain will wash away your pad. The longer it sits, the more erosion you will have. I know some people will build up a pad and pour concrete months, or in some cases, years before they are ready to build.

The reason is in what it costs to bring a tractor back out to rebuild the pad. If its' going to be a long time until you build, than I think your wasting money to hire an operator to build up a pad that will erode in time, than have to hire him to come back to build your pad again when you're ready to build.

Just to eliminate any confusion. A pad is what you pour your foundation on. A lot is where you will build your pad. If he's clearing and leveling a pad, than that's different.

For me, I like to clear and level my lot, but wait until I'm ready to build to do the pad. I have two projects coming up in the next couple of months. One will be a house, the other will be a storage shed. I'm casually clearing the areas until I'm ready to build and level the pads. When I do that, I will start forming the frames for the concrete and digging for utilities within days.

Thanks for the kind words,
Eddie