The trench vs the rain

[coldsteelva]

I don't know how much work (or cost) this would be, but would it be possible to grout/gunnite/shotcrete the trench (or a portion)? If the hillside is as steep as you say, now that you disturbed the soil it will ALWAYS be the path of least resistance for the rain and will erode forever.

If that won't work, could you perhaps fill the trench with gravel and dry cement to lock it up? The water would be able to flow/drain possibly without eroding.

 

[Deere Dude]

I don't know how much work (or cost) this would be, but would it be possible to grout/gunnite/shotcrete the trench (or a portion)? If the hillside is as steep as you say, now that you disturbed the soil it will ALWAYS be the path of least resistance for the rain and will erode forever.

If that won't work, could you perhaps fill the trench with gravel and dry cement to lock it up? The water would be able to flow/drain possibly without eroding.

That would be my advice also. But if the ditch is running on the bottom of a contour, maybe nothing will work. I really doubt there would be a problem if run on a ridge so much less water could inundate the ditch. Right now your ditch is probably getting deeper from erosion.

 

[Old Guy in Tenn]

Good ideas. Thank you all. I am lucky at least that the pipe is full of water and so has not floated up. The wacker looks good, but $2000 is a bit much for my budget. NE Tenn weather! Record rain, and it seems most of it fell on my place. I think that I will fill, hand thump and mound the trench, and add some serious water bars and ditches to keep some of the water away. Maybe add some sod at the top where it is relatively flat. I have a week to think on it. Keep the ideas coming.

 

[aczlan]

Good ideas. Thank you all. I am lucky at least that the pipe is full of water and so has not floated up. The wacker looks good, but $2000 is a bit much for my budget. NE Tenn weather! Record rain, and it seems most of it fell on my place. I think that I will fill, hand thump and mound the trench, and add some serious water bars and ditches to keep some of the water away. Maybe add some sod at the top where it is relatively flat. I have a week to think on it. Keep the ideas coming.

Call your local equipment rental places. They will probbaly have one that they rent out.

Aaron Z

 

[s219]

I have had heartbreak from rain washouts on a couple projects, but this sounds like a doozy. I wonder if you could get some sacks of bentonite for the trouble spots, and if it would be any better than the native clay. Another option, if you can get it partially filled, might be to drop a slotted drain tile pipe in there with gravel and septic paper, that way if water wants to get in there you won't fight it. Sounds like you have created the ultimate drain path for the terrain and nature is hard to fight against.

Is this for a water source from the spring? If so, I might double down on the bentonite idea, especially towards the bottom. Don't want flowing surface water to be focused on that spring and possibly contaminate the water source (same reason well pipes are grouted).

 

[EddieWalker]

No amount of compaction is going to solve this issue. The fill material will remain softer and looser then the undisturbed soil for all eternity. What you need to do is create a series of dams to stop the water from building up speed and eroding your fill dirt. This is the same thing that is done to fill in erosion ditches on land and drainage ditches along the roads. Eventually when grass grows over the area, that will stop all of the erosion from happening.

You have two choices in matrials. Rip Rap is basically broken up rocks, concrete, bricks, or cinder blocks, or anything that will not wash away. I even use broken tile. Use this to fill in the ditch in different places along the way. Considering how bad it is, you might need to do this every 20 feet, but that's really something that you will have to figure out on site. I've found that all I need to do is slow the water down in a bad spot and that will solve all my issues.

The other choice that woks well is a 40 or 50 pound sack of concrete. You just put the entire sack with the paper still on it into the ditch. The goal is the same, you want to stop the water from building up speed and washing out the soil.

Do not waste your time trying to get dirt to remain in the hole without something to stop it from washing out.

 

[Richard]

^^^ I agree with what Eddie said.

About 10 years ago, our neighbors bought 40 acres (which is when they became our neighbors). They were going to develop said land and started to put a couple culverts and a road in.

If it wasn't so sad & messy, it would have been funny..... but they had the requisite road building machinery there.... getting to work on it and it would torrentially downpour. The running water would cut trenches in the road base and wash out into the existing country road and would in part, wash into the lake (TVA's lake and they don't like that kind of stuff!!)

I don't recall exactly, but I want to say it literally took them something like 6-10 months to get the road finally paved as each & every time they'd get it graded just right in preparation for paving, we'd get a monsoon.

That road was a terrible mess and cost them a fortune, then of course, they get to give it to the county. Of course, right after the road got paved, we had pretty weather for 2-3 months with normal rains instead of the monsoons. It really seemed as though God was trying to tell them something.

 

[Old Guy in Tenn]

Great information. Thank you. I expect to arrive there Saturday evening, and get to look at the problem firsthand. With your help I should be able to make an impossible situation merely difficult. Thanks again.

Motrin. I gotta' remember the Motrin.