grading my lot

[nimblemotors]

I'll be building a house on a 1/4 acre lot I acquired.
I went out and did an elevation survey on it, and there is a 40ft drop from one corner to the other.

I've done lots of things, but grading a lot isn't one of them. I acquired a backhoe loader and was expecting to use it to grade the lot.
But after some reading the archives, I'm wondering if its going to work for this job. It seems a bulldozer is the right tool. Can I use my backhoe?
The plan would be to dig up the high spots for the cut and then use the loader to move the dirt to the low for the fill, and use the loader to level out the fill.

While my time isn't a big issue, this seems a rather slow method.
I've seen a dozer blade added to a tractor, is this a better approach?
Does a little 4-cyl tractor have the power to work as a dozer?

I appreciate any suggestions on how to level my lot.

 

[Kyle241]

You can use your backhoe but a dozer would be better. A small dozer like a D3 would get the job done a lot faster and would level everything nicely.

 

[EagleTDL]

Ithere is a 40ft drop from one corner to the other.quote]

Nimble... Is the 40ft referenced above a typo?? If you have a 40ft drop over a 1/4 acre, that's right close to a 12/12 pitch. Yikes!

 

[viceprincipal]

Ithere is a 40ft drop from one corner to the other.quote]

Nimble... Is the 40ft referenced above a typo?? If you have a 40ft drop over a 1/4 acre, that's right close to a 12/12 pitch. Yikes!

1/4 acre, assuming a perfect square would be about 104 ft by 104 ft. He mentioned corner to corner, so that would be about 147 ft. 40 foot drop would be just a bit steeper than a 3/12 pitch. Not quite 12/12, but pretty sloped none the less.

Sorry - former math teacher.

 

[Fixemall]

I'm thinking double terrace and walkout basement should take care of 22' of the drop, now you need a dozer for the rest. Do Not doze or move a single bucketful of dirt till within the foundation area till you have a building permit in hand, most counties require a test bore and a certain compaction rating for buildings, no point in giving them an easy denial.

 

[EagleTDL]

1/4 acre, assuming a perfect square would be about 104 ft by 104 ft. He mentioned corner to corner, so that would be about 147 ft. 40 foot drop would be just a bit steeper than a 3/12 pitch. Not quite 12/12, but pretty sloped none the less.

Sorry - former math teacher.

No apologies needed, thanks for the correction! :thumbsup: I actually had to draw it out to get what you are saying... I took the 208 figure divided by 4 to come up with my solution. Mistakenly applied my thoughts to linear measurements as opposed to area dimensions. Just goes to show that a KY boy shouldn't do math in public!

 

[hizoot]

We built a home last year with very similiar plot parameters. Ours dropped 5 ft from front to back (130ft).The land was mostly sandy loam....not good for foundation support. So...we hired a dozer,compactor and dump trucking dirt crew .Let me tell you....there is alot of dirt work involved and you are going to need help. I didnt realize when I bought the place how much it was going to take,if I had I would've passed. They pushed back the sandy loam down to good clay,then hauled in "select fill" clay ,building the pad up and compacting with a huge vibrating roller every so often until they got it to elevation. It took 110 ,12 yard loads of dirt...at 100.0 per load was about 10,000.00 worth of dirt work. And that was with us cutting into the "hill" about 4 ft. But we know we will not have any foundation problems. Good luck

 

[GLyford]

I'll be building a house on a 1/4 acre lot I acquired.
I went out and did an elevation survey on it, and there is a 40ft drop from one corner to the other.

How much of the slope can you work with? Friends of mine built a prefab home on a sloped property which came with a garage. But the foundation was made so that the actual parking area went under the garage part of the prefab structure. The prefab guys were more than willing to stud in the garage doors and add a couple more windows; they ended up with a very nice hobby room over their garage.

Before you make it dead flat, figure out how much slope you can work with...and plan where the water will go, coming from above your property, around your house, and out the other side of your lot. Life is easier when you have a "low" side for the water to go, making it flat could cause big headaches.

 

[nimblemotors]

I figured it was going to be a LOT of grading to build on the lot.
One reason I got it so "dirt" cheap But also why I plan to do it myself, can't afford to hire someone to do all the work.
For right now I'm just going to create a small 20x30 area to park the backhoe and the F350 until all the plans and permits are ready, but if I'm going to require a dozer, I need to start looking to buy one or build one or make attachment for the backhoe.
The lot next door has already been leveled so I have that to work from.

My custom house design is very unique, and not originally suited for an unlevel lot, i.e. a stepped foundation won't work with my design.
The traditional way to get it would be to build a 20ft high retaining wall in back for the drop down to the pad and a 20ft wall in front.
I'm still working on a design that might avoid the upper wall and bury the house into the hillside.

Jack

We built a home last year with very similiar plot parameters. Ours dropped 5 ft from front to back (130ft).The land was mostly sandy loam....not good for foundation support. So...we hired a dozer,compactor and dump trucking dirt crew .Let me tell you....there is alot of dirt work involved and you are going to need help. I didnt realize when I bought the place how much it was going to take,if I had I would've passed. They pushed back the sandy loam down to good clay,then hauled in "select fill" clay ,building the pad up and compacting with a huge vibrating roller every so often until they got it to elevation. It took 110 ,12 yard loads of dirt...at 100.0 per load was about 10,000.00 worth of dirt work. And that was with us cutting into the "hill" about 4 ft. But we know we will not have any foundation problems. Good luck