More Pond, or How To Reduce Flooding

[OkeeDon]

I estimate about 50 hours in those 2 weeks, and about 25 hours to go. Why so long? Here's the mighty TC18, complete with about 1/2 yard in the 1/4 yard bucket! That's what has moved all of the dirt so far, plus done all of the initial grading.

 

[OkeeDon]

Again as a reminder, here's one of the areas I'm filling, after having moved about a foot of dirt in, but before the water dried up.

 

[OkeeDon]

This is approximately the same area, 2 weeks later.

 

[OkeeDon]

This is a peek at the "edge" of the fill, now that the water has dried up (we haven't had any rain for two weeks, so things are getting back to "normal"). There was already a natural high spot around the largest pine tree trunk; my finish grade will match that, then slope very gently in two directions, towards the paved road straight ahead in this picture, and towards the pond to the left in this picture. The lowest spots have been filled almost 2 feet; some areas only need a few inches.

For now, I'm rough grading by eye, and leaving it a bit high. When I get enough of it close to what I want, I'll break out my surveyor's level and use it to shoot grades, installing stakes with grade marks to get what I want. The grade will be so gradual when complete (approximately 4 inches over 100', about .3%), that it has to be almost perfect or it won't work. The simple reason for the very gradual slope is that we don't have much to work with when we start out flat! My property is almost 300' wide; one side will have to be about 1 foot higher than the other, and that will have to be fairly consistent over almost 800' of length of the property.

A couple of comments; yes, I am having fun; I tend to be detail-oriented and very persistent, so the repetition is soothing. The tiny TC18 is turning out to be almost the perfect tractor for many of the areas; the small size and 4' bucket fit perfectly in amongst the trees so they don't have to be removed to fill. I'm aware that filling so much around the trees could kill the trees; they're mostly young and healthy, and I'm hoping for the best. It seemed like a good idea to take a risk of hurting them and having at least some survive rather than knocking them all down, first. I'm NOT filling around the old growth oaks; they have a natural hummock built up around them.

 

[OkeeDon]

Once I finish moving the pile pictured above and this one, stockpiled next to Amy & Doug's house, we'll be ready to have the excavator back in and finish enlarging my pond. For this pile, we'll use my dump trailer and move about 5 yards at a time, because it has to be moved about 1,000 feet and that's too far for my little bucket.

We plan to have the excavator simply pile up the dirt alongside the enlarged pond, and I'll continue to move it a leetle bit at a time. I have the time, and it's a heck of a sight cheaper than having the contractor move it.

Probably no more progress reports until all this dirt is moved...

 

[buckle97]

Thanks for the update, Don. I'm really enjoying watching your progress.

Lawrence

 

[OkeeDon]

The pile is gone. Amazing what a little tractor and a lot of perserverance can do.

 

[OkeeDon]

This is part of the area I've filled. Some of the fill is up to 2' thick.

 

[OkeeDon]

I also filled and set grade on a small part of the next phase. The highest point is in the background and it all slopes towards me. It will slope either towards the pond itself, or on behind me towards the highway.

 

[OkeeDon]

We managed to go almost a month without significant rainfall, which really helped in spreading the fill. It started to rain again last night, however. This is alongside the area in the last picture.