Advice on new barn construction needed

[LD1]

Yep, looks like your 57's are the same as what we have here. Need something bigger for base IMO, otherwise drive maintenance is gonna be never-ending in the lower muddier areas

 

[daugen]

Yep, looks like your 57's are the same as what we have here. Need something bigger for base IMO, otherwise drive maintenance is gonna be never-ending in the lower muddier areas

thanks, I agree. But what I don't know is whether to go with larger rock, which I'm told just disappears headed for China versus sand which packs down. This is over the wet clay muddy area only. Otherwise the 57's with a top layer of ABC should be fine.

sandy soil with patches of clay. No rocks, learned that stone is expensive here because it has to be hauled from almost an hour away at the minimum. No stone here on the coast, only sand pits. I just paid $547 for 16 tons of 57 stone delivered and dumped. Pricey for sure.
Interesting that rear tires on dump trucks up North would likely have not had a problem because of much more aggressive tread being used on rear tires due to snow.
Here the rear highway style tires didn't stand a chance when that slick clay filled up the grooves.

 

[LD1]

Never heard of using sand for a base. It seems sand only packs when its got nowhere to go, like in a bucket. But I'll see what others have to say.

If sand were indeed better for base, I think it would be alot more common, as it is far cheaper than stone I. Just about every part of the US

 

[aczlan]

I remember seeing them making roads of sand in Swamp Loggers, perhaps because it drains well? I don't know.

Aaron Z

 

[LD1]

If its got somewhere to drain to I guess.

I'm my area, things are mostly flat, and clay. My vision of using sand for a base would be something like trying to fill a pond with sand. If its in a "clay bowl" and it rains, you have quicksand

 

[wcampbell47]

Saw the pic of your mud hole which reminded me that once upon a time i put wood chips in a similar hole. The wood chips dried it up and packed down where the other stuff just disappeared. The local electric utility gladly donated the chips.

 

[daugen]

enjoyed two hours of tractor time before the rains came this morning. Moved the stone out of the field around the new building and leveled the gravel area before the temporary bridge. Thinking about it, guess I'd better build a real bridge there.
Got some stone down in the muddy area only temporary to push the precip about to come down over to the drainage ditch. If I drove a tractor on it I'd bury a tire.
But I could back the water roller over it. Not today for sure.

warm weather here is confusing the lawn; new grass planted to cover the water diversion ditches is bright green again. Nice change from dead brown.

 

[EddieWalker]

Back when I worked a little bit in construction in CA, they always used sand under the slab. I was told it was required because of earthquakes, and that it was the only material that they didn't have to compact before using. When I moved to TX, I was surprised that nobody used it here for anything.

As for putting rock on mud, I wouldn't do it. Iv'e found that it's a wast of time and material. If I have to deal with mud, I either wait for it to dry out, or dig it out until I get to firm soil, then fill and compact the hole up to grade or a little above grade. Dirt is cheap and very effective for a base. Leaving a wet low spot just means you will always have a wet low spot after filling it with rock. On big construction jobs they will use bigger rock because of time and having more money to spend. Ideally, you want to use clean fill dirt to build up your base before adding expensive rock to cover it.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Technically it's 19.2 inches for spacing if you want to be somewhere between 16 inches and 24 inches. I tend to call it 18 inches, but that's just a bad habit of mine. If you look at a decent steel tape you will see that they are marked at 19.2 inches, 38.4 inches, 57.6 inches, 76.8 inches and 96 inches. Most people don't even realize that when looking at a tape!!!

Learn something every day. I've used these Stanley tapes pretty much every day for decades, and never noticed those marks.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Drew, I'm not sure what to do with your sop hole? But my contractor got me some 12' wide landscape fabric. After scraping off the top green layer, I rolled it out and put the 2" to fines stuff he brought me on top of it. I did not have the mud mess like you before I started. Also, I built up any low areas with some sand and dirt. I would guess I only have about 3 or 4" of rock on top of the landscape fabric, which is over our clay soil. It has held up well for 11 years.