Mud Mess Jobsite

[Streetcar]

not ready to say max on the six inch lift, do you think 2 inch makes that much of a difference? on culvert replacement on the highway we did 10 to 12 inch lift with sand and 8 to 10 inch lift with gravel but that was compacted with diesel plates and plenty of water, it passed compaction tests every time...

the fill for building will not be granular material, probably clay. Op has tractor to compact not a roller.
alan w what kind of engineer told you 8 inch lift

 

[Rockbadchild]

the fill for building will not be granular material, probably clay. Op has tractor to compact not a roller.
alan w what kind of engineer told you 8 inch lift

probably ?? so you don’t know ? you can rent a diesel plate.

from the original message

“This will be a gravel floor when it's done.”


from post #19

“Im wondering if I will need to bring in some 3-4" minus, compact and then add my 3/4" minus topcoat.”

thanks for nothing

 

[Alan W.]

the fill for building will not be granular material, probably clay. Op has tractor to compact not a roller.
alan w what kind of engineer told you 8 inch lift

Structural Engineer. Of course we had good clay to work with.
Had one builder mess up and dig a basement on a lot that the home was sold with a crawl space. We put it back in with that same skid steer I have now, everything else I had at the time was committed, and the compaction passed so they could put the footers in.
When putting roads in for a subdivision the lifts would be closer to a foot and we never failed a compaction test. Of course I had a very large compactor too. We had a Civil Engineering firm also who was a partner for the firm I worked for.

 

[chris the wrench]

Just to give everyone an update, Im sure you all were wondering. We got some cold and dry weather so I was able to blade out there area pretty close to smooth and level. Its since rain/snowed again and is again mud, but atleast relatively flatish mud. I borrowed a plate compactor.

My current plan is to wait for it to dry again, this weekend looks warm and dry so maybe early next week it will acceptable. Then I will compact the dirt. And fill/compact as need with dirt to really get level. I then have access to some free 3-6” rock, just costs my labor and a small bit of diesel. Im hoping to get enough to basically cover the area and then compact. I will then have some 3/4 minus crushed rock hauled in and i will compact that.

Whats the general consensus? The finished surface will be gravel. Im wondering about the larger rock, I’ve done alot of work with smaller gravel but I've never compacted larger rock so I'm not sure that will actually work as I’m envisioning.

 

[LouNY]

Just my opinion I'm not a soils engineer none a professional in building site preparation. I have been around for quite awhile and been involved in a lot of industrial construction as well as farm buildings and farm roadways.

I would not even consider 3-6 inch rock unless I was putting over a foot of it down, even then it would need some fines as it was put down and compacted. The only place I've seen large rock work is spots were they were dumped and packed in and driven over for many years. When we picked rocks every spring we either unloaded in the corners of the field or where we had a spot that we had to drive through, it would take 5-10 years of adding rock and packing them in before they stopped subsiding.

I believe that if you level and compact your existing dirt, then lay out actual highway fabric, NOT weed block or other lightweight garbage but the actual heavy highway fabric then lay out your crusher run or gravel on that you will have a decent "floor" in your building for parking on with out sinking or disappearing into the mud.

 

[chris the wrench]

I believe that if you level and compact your existing dirt, then lay out actual highway fabric, NOT weed block or other lightweight garbage but the actual heavy highway fabric then lay out your crusher run or gravel on that you will have a decent "floor" in your building for parking on with out sinking or disappearing into the mud.

That is alot less work for me...I like that.

 

[ponytug]

You can still use the rock, and I would, but do use highway fabric, and get the heaviest compactor you can. A plate compactor is only good for an inch to three depending on soil type. You might a look at this series to get an idea of the methods;

All the best,

Peter

 

[Rockbadchild]

it would depends, rocks are good if its still wet and muddy (if they sink in the ground) then yes they will offer a nice base but if it’s dry and won’t you would need a good amount so they lock in place …

 

[CliffordK]

I think the first step should be to finalize the building plans. I'm not a big fan of the concept of pole barns with wooden poles buried in the dirt. I'd rather have a solid concrete foundation, and probably a concrete retaining wall on the uphill side.