Excavating/grading question

[CDN Farm Boy]

I've been following this from the start and it sound like an interesting and large project. By large I'm comparing in relevance to your property size. Perhaps it is just me but your plans seem a bit convoluted and lacking focus.

Could you clarify what your main goals are and their priority? Culverts and retaining walls are secondary to the main goals. Are you looking to: make a flat driveway to the future shop? Get rid of the swale 'cause you don't like the dip in the side yard? Make a flat backyard? Something else?

 

[Jpcjguy]

I've been following this from the start and it sound like an interesting and large project. By large I'm comparing in relevance to your property size. Perhaps it is just me but your plans seem a bit convoluted and lacking focus.

Could you clarify what your main goals are and their priority? Culverts and retaining walls are secondary to the main goals. Are you looking to: make a flat driveway to the future shop? Get rid of the swale 'cause you don't like the dip in the side yard? Make a flat backyard? Something else?

You nailed pretty much all of it. It all starts with creating a "dip-less" driveway from the road to where the garage would be (shed in the pics). Based on that - I need fill dirt.
So looking around, I came up with the idea of doing some leveling of the backyard - it is less than ideal - not horrible though. Granted, the amount of dirt coming from the backyard would exceed the amount I need to just do a driveway. So it expanded into "filling the dip" across the property from the tree line. The added benefit of this is a more level surface ( not perfect but better) - which would be great for soccer, football, etc. I have identical 5yr old twin boys and a 20 month old daughter.
Yes - the project grew considerably, but I am looking at the property as a whole - doing things in stages means trucking dirt in and out, more time as a muddy mess, more $$ for getting heavy equipment multiple times.
Convoluted and overkill? possibly - won't argue that. However, if I can do it once and we (including the wife) are happy, I think we could save $$ over the long term (yes more $$ at first)
Sort of like the time and $$ I spent on upgrading my stock Jeep CJ7 axles, then upgrading to Dana 44s, and now I have one tons (Dana 60s). Should have bit the bullet and gone to them right out of the gate - would have saved time and $$.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Thanks for the clarification and I now got a chance to look at the pics on my computer rather than my phone so I can see the detail better.

Since the main goal is the 'flat' driveway, as someone else suggested, why not toss in a culvert and a few loads of stone and call it a day? Is the excavated material even suitable for base under the new driveway? I don't disagree that you need fill but do you need fill dirt or fill rock? You'll also presumably have a bunch of topsoil stripped off from when the drive goes in that will need to go somewhere. Unless you were just going to add stone on top of the existing grade in which case you'll need more dirt to grade up from the lawn to the new height of the stone. If filling and grading the dip were done at the same time as excavating the back yard, starting at the high point of the back, you could just cut as deep as you have room for fill and stop at that point.

What is the total depth of fill from existing grade in the bottom of the dip to the top of the proposed driveway?

Since the fill in the dip will have to taper out to nothing by the time you get to the trees, whatever is used for culvert will need to terminate somehow at the surface -- pretty tough to do with a 12" culvert. From what I can see, if it were me, I'd fill the dip as much as I could while keeping just enough surface slope that water will run off and over the drive and not use a culvert at all. As you say there is essentially never any water running there anyway so for the odd time it does, just let it run over the lane...it's not like it's a creek going to wash it away. OR use a 6" perforated tile with filter cloth for the entire 80' and let it terminate underground but there still need to be surface slope which brings me back to the previous option unless you want some sort of a sewer grate at the high end of the culvert

I'm guessing the new shop is for the Jeep/truck/trailer? I'm sure it can handle a dip in the road. :laughing: Remember, you don't need an Ultra4 buggy to run the local hydro lines (not that it wouldn't be fun though.....)

 

[paulharvey]

Excellent points. I am getting more quotes on the work also.
I am in agreement in with #2. It might make sense to have a dump truck rather than have the tractor go back and forth 1000 times.
I see that you are in Goochland - so am I! I am in Manakin Sabot about 13 minutes from Short Pump mall.

A pan or scrapper would be great if the rocks are bad. They do make 3 yard pan scrapers for tractors; but you need a man of a tractor to pull them; not a UT.

 

[paulharvey]

If Dave's numbers are correct and I'm sure they are, he's a smart guy, that puts your contractor quote of $15,000 at $40.54 a yard. WTH?

$6.00 per CY should be pretty close if your not looking for extensive fine (+/- a tenth of a foot) grading.

 

[GolfAddict]

I've always understood that it's a really bad thing to run back and forth over your drain field repeatedly, especially with anything very heavy. You mentioned your lines are really deep (deeper than I've ever heard of), but I would sure look into that more.

 

[Jpcjguy]

So I went by Sunbelt rentals yesterday and showed them a bunch of pics of what I wanted to do. Here is a list of equipment they recommended - taking into account max weight that I will be using my 10k trailer for pickup/drop off to save money.
4 yard tandem axle dump trailer
T650 bobcat with loader bucket and toothbar
Bobcat E32 mini excavator with 20" bucket
Harley power rack for skidsteer

All the above for 1 week rental (7 days) with taxes, rental protection plan, etc. is $3440.
I am also getting 2 more quotes - 1 today and 1 tomorrow.

 

[Egon]

Do you have other operators?

 

[Jpcjguy]

Do you have other operators?

I am sure getting some friends to help will not be an issu. or I will make my brother in law help me!

 

[Citydude]

So I went by Sunbelt rentals yesterday and showed them a bunch of pics of what I wanted to do. Here is a list of equipment they recommended - taking into account max weight that I will be using my 10k trailer for pickup/drop off to save money. 4 yard tandem axle dump trailer T650 bobcat with loader bucket and toothbar Bobcat E32 mini excavator with 20" bucket Harley power rack for skidsteer All the above for 1 week rental (7 days) with taxes, rental protection plan, etc. is $3440. I am also getting 2 more quotes - 1 today and 1 tomorrow.

That sounds like fun to me. I'd come help if you paid for airfare, hotel, meals and an occasional cocktail.....