filling in a hole and leveling..

   / filling in a hole and leveling.. #1  

RadarTech

Elite Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2008
Messages
2,751
Location
North Carolina
Tractor
2007 Kubota L3400, YANMAR YT359C
Today brought a special project...

At our new house the lot behind us was excavated about 3 years ago for a house with a basement..
Well, 3 years later the hole is there, the lot is still empty and the hole fills with a dangeours water puddle.. read that as at least 2 feet deep at times..

Now the interesting part here is the property has not changed hands, and I don't own it. I wish I did!

But another neighbor hates the 4 piles of dirt out there..

He even did some checks and the basement dig is not supposed to be left open if there is no building permit or guards etc..

here is where the tractor comes in..

When we first met the neighbor, he mentioned how he would like to fill that in and would like to buy the lot...

I offered to fill it in if we could get right away across it when he bought it.

To make a long story short, we have written approval to fill the hole in and level the lot out and plant grass..

My part in this is to do the leveling.

the lot sell is in the works, I don't know all the details yet..
BUT it looks like I have at least 15-20 hours of work ahead of me.

I should have some pics to post tomorrow.

now for some questions..
The hole is 20 feet wide and 50 feet long..
the depth from the side walls starts at nil and goes to 6 ft..

with pics still coming, and the dirt mounded on 2 sides, how should I attack this?


Thanks,
J
 
   / filling in a hole and leveling.. #2  
Can you drive into the hole at any point? If so and you don't want the dirt to settle into a depression later you need to layer and compact. If you can't drive in I suppose you'll just have to dump from the sides and fill it in mounding it up some to allow for future settling. At least that's my guess, I'm no dirt moving Pro;)
 
   / filling in a hole and leveling.. #3  
Compact the dirt as you fill in,if not fill in until you feel comfort driving on loose dirt than compact than finish filing in the hole...if time permits mother nature could help,fill hole half way before rain storm,once hole dry finish filling.
 
   / filling in a hole and leveling.. #4  
Push dirt and drive over it. As you do this it will naturally make a ramp to push more dirt down and over to where you want to level and pack it. When you get enough dirt at the edge of the hole, drive you front tires on it, while being ready to reverse when the tires sink too deep. Add more dirt, then drive over it again, and again, and again, and again.
hugs, Brandi
 
   / filling in a hole and leveling.. #5  
Side cut the pile to get buckets of material and then dump in the hole at one end. After getting a few?? loads of dirt dumped try and dig a ramp into the hole and then use that for access to the hole. after the hole is partially filled side cut[ramp] and shove all the edges of the hole into the hole so you have access from all sides. Ramping the sides make for a more consolidated compaction with no straight sides where settling can happen.:confused:

One way of doing it.
 
   / filling in a hole and leveling.. #7  
Driving over back filling will pack down some.If all the dirt is still there all will
not go back in the hole because of compaction problem.Pile it up rains will
pack down eventually.If you don't have time to wait use a heavy loader to back fill or sheep foot. to compact.Good luck. Framer
 
   / filling in a hole and leveling.. #8  
I would just ad don't fall into the hole over the edge!

Also if you can get behind the piles and push dirt into the hole it would be easier and faster than scoop by scoop, start to fill the deep end first 2' at a time then you can drive in from the low end to compact, drive in there with a full bucket to ad more weight.
 
   / filling in a hole and leveling.. #9  
The hole is 20 feet wide and 50 feet long..
the depth from the side walls starts at nil and goes to 6 ft..


It sounds to me like you can drive in to the part where the side walls are nil.

I would tackle this by pushing the dirt from the piles into the pit from the small end of the pile. when you have enough dirt in the pit, drive into the pit from the shallow end and even out the dirt by backdragging. Try to make a lift of about 6". Drive over the entire surface 2 or 3 times with your bucket full to compact it.

Once compacted, repeat this process going in 6" lifts. If you have any leftover dirt, pile it on the filled in excavation with the height of the pile approximately proportional to the depth of the fill below it.

I wouldn't start the filling in process until the sale had closed and your neighbor owned the property. The get your right-of-way documented. Then start filling. Who knows what kind of legal issues could arise if you worked on someone else's property without authorization.

P.S. If you have a source of water nearby, wetting the dirt will make it compact much better. Just damp, not enough to sink your wheels.
 
   / filling in a hole and leveling..
  • Thread Starter
#10  
The hole is 20 feet wide and 50 feet long..
the depth from the side walls starts at nil and goes to 6 ft..


It sounds to me like you can drive in to the part where the side walls are nil.

I would tackle this by pushing the dirt from the piles into the pit from the small end of the pile. when you have enough dirt in the pit, drive into the pit from the shallow end and even out the dirt by backdragging. Try to make a lift of about 6".

I wouldn't start the filling in process until the sale had closed and your neighbor owned the property. The get your right-of-way documented. Then start filling. Who knows what kind of legal issues could arise if you worked on someone else's property without authorization.

I am currently in a holding state waiting on the letter to authorize the work..
And with the weekend of rain, I won't even be able to start till next weekend anyway!

Attached is a small map of how it looks. and the layout..
The dirt piles are all on the sides where there is the steepest walls.

I think the 3 foot walls can be pushed down and in easily and worked all the way around..

With the way the current owner has acted, I want clear documentation!

And the way the other neighbor has acted, it is beyond a requirement. it's a dealer breaker!


another thing here- the neighbor that is securing all the permissions has even offered to pay for diesel now!!!



I'll post some pics when the weather changes.. today it was so foggy I could not even see the area!


Later,
J
 

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