Moving Dirt

[JayDavis]

Eddie, I live up north of you... A bit north of I-30 and Mt. Pleasant. We have fine white sand and then clay. The clay is red, grey, yellow all mixed up with iron ore gravel mixed in. I had to dig a hole to bury some stuff since we can't burn and I dug it 4ft deep at 12ft wide plus the ramp to get down since I had was a smooth edged FEL bucket and a 90hp tractor.

It is real dry here, and even down to 4ft the clay was rock hard. You had to go into it with an aggressive tilt to the blade and then once it bit, tilt shallow before you stalled out. I had solid clumps of clay a couple feet wide and 4" thick that stayed togethor and were too heavy to pick up by hand. That gravel is real neat if you have a chance to really look at it. It is all mostly round out there but it you break it open it has a hollow center. What causes that I have no clue.

Thing is, in some places you can dig forever and not hit rocks. I know cause as a kid out here, my idea of fun was a shovel. I would dig a hole till I hit the water table which could be 10ft or deeper. I even had to build ramps into the holes to load my wagon up with dirt to dump at the surface.

Just east of me though, there is a ledge of that iron ore rock that comes to the surface and it isn't very crumbly. Pretty hard stuff. Looks like half melted iron covered in rust. If you had hit that building your lake, I am sure you could have removed it, but it would have made the job a lot harder. Glad to see you didn't have any such difficulties. It is all coming together and looking real good.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Jay,

My brother is going to move here and we spent quite a few days in your area looking at properties. We both thought you guys get allot more rain than I do down here because of how much thicker and taller the pastures were.

I'm all mudied up here now and ther's allot of places I can't get a tractor or even work. The burn ban was lifted, so now I have a new project to work on.

My main vein of iron ore comes to the surface near my entrance and it's very nice for the road. Then it drops down and heads toward the lake. I did have some fears that it went that far, and what I'd do if I hit it, but luckily that never happened.

I also have a few small pockets of sand. It's just in certain areas and is more like what you find at a golf course. Go along on the green and all of a sudden there's this little area of sand. Same here. Just up the road a few miles and that's all they have. No clay at all, just sand. I hate sand. I've done some jobs in it and don't like it. Growning a pasture in it is the most dificult of all soils.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[Nat]

Eddie, did you get any of the rain I keep seeing on the weather chanel? We were wondering if the lake has started filling yet. The low place you are putting the dirt, is that from the end of the open feild down towards the lake, to the left of the start of the big berm that goes down beside the lake where you were talking about putting the gazebo? That is where it looks like from the pics. Kids looked like they were having a ball on the dirt pile, same as you and I, just cheaper toys. Later, Nat

 

[Willl]

We need a map of Eddie's place, I'm lost !

 

[JayDavis]

We need a map of Eddie's place, I'm lost !

Maybe Eddie can use google earth and give us a link. I noticed recently it has changed over to color imagery and the pics are from last year I beleive. Our property is in the middle of this link for instance. Everything inside of the block those 4 roads make. About 100 acres. You can see our cow pond todards the southern end.

Google Maps

Sand out here is bad. When it is dry it gets kicked up real easy, and it doesn't hold moisture. It drains out quick. There are areas out here with red clay dirt like Eddie has, but that is south of us. If you go north or west you run into the black land praire.

 

[hz293]

Just quick story about moving dirt and how to get paid for it. Unlike down in Texas and other places with sand, it's not so plentiful up here in parts of the northwest. The area is growng and concrete companies need sand.

My father in law had 40 acres outside Bellingham, WA that was hilly in some places. One day when he was having someone excavate an area for my bil's manufactured home, the guy running the excavator came over and asked if my fil knew what he had. It turns out that under a lot of the acreage was sand. A concrete company found out about it, built a road to the sandy area and paid my fil for every huge truck of sand that they took out. It turned out to be his retirement fund. The best part is that they flattened out the area so his land was more usable, put back the topsoil and gave him money to boot. Now that's the way to move dirt.

Harris

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Nat,

The dirt pile is off to the left of where the feeder is that we shoot all the wild hogs. It was pretty heavily wooded when you were here, so you might not recognize it. What I'm doing there is extending that pasture further in that direction. I've taken out all the trees in the middle and will grade it out so it will also catch all the rainwater and direct it to the lake.

The fill area is part of my entrance road. The exit road has gravel on it now, but the entrance road is on the other side of the front pasture and pond. If you had kept driving straight on that road, you would have come to this drainage area. It's key to my layout for the long term, monthly sites.

Jay,

Google Earth and Terra Server isn't frequent enough to keep up with my changes. In the last two months, my Dad and I have taken out well over a thousand trees. That might sound like allot to some people, but as you know, we get trees that are inches apart and rarely more than a foot apart from each other. Especially in the younger stands of oak, sweet gum and pines. In ten years time, they will turn a field into an impossible jungle.

To help clarify, the Lake Project is along my Southern boundry. The dirt pile is in the middle of my land, uphill from the lake and the low spot that I'm building up is towards the front of my land, but on the Northern boundry.

The pasture between them actually peaks, and at the low spot, rainwater will run the wrong way. It goes away from my lake!!! I've spent many, many hours changing this as much as possible, but there is a point that some rain water escapes my attempts to get it in the lake. hahahah

Eddie

 

[Willl]

Maybe Eddie can use google earth and give us a link.

Actually, I was thinking something on the back of a napkin with a crayon would suffice.

 

[flusher]

Hey Curt,

Compaction is always a concern for me when building up an area. Building pads are the most important, but roads need it too. This is a long term project and since I wont be paving over it any time soon, this is my plan.

I'm putting down the dirt over a wide area. Then I'll spread it out with the dozer. It weighs 40,000 pounds, but since it's on tracks, it's not very good at compaction. After I spread out the dirt and make it flat, I'll continue to build it up by driving the dump truck over it with a full load. My guess is that another hundred trips over the first layer with the tires always making new tracks will really help with compaction. But I also realize it wont get it all the way either.

Then I'll spread the next layer out with the dozer, and start building up the third layer. This should be the last layer. The lowest spot will need to come up about ten feet, give or take a foot, so there's a massive amoutn of dirt that I'll need. If it takes a fourth layer, than I'll just keep repeating the process.

This road is the entrance to my long term sites that I'm working on. It will be driven over constantly with all sorts of equipment. By the time I'm ready to pave it, I should be well past any compaction issues.

Eddie

IIRC, you need over 90% compaction under concrete slabs to meet building code. That's one of the reasons you'll see the water spray trucks running around the big jobsites around here. And sheeps foot rollers also.

I've also seen them spread and water in lime on the ground before pouring the concrete pads to increase compaction.

 

[EddieWalker]

Flusher,

That was one of the first construction jobs I had after the Marine Corps. Back in 1988, we had to get 98% compaction for anything, roads, parking lots and building pads.

This area I'm working on is a road on my land. It will eventually be paved, but not for awhile and it's in my own best interest to get it compacted to avoid having my roads crack right after I pave them. It's my land, no permits or regulations, so I can do as I please. I'm also stuck with any problems that develop from cutting corners.

Thanks,
Eddie