Trenched thru yard, when will it settle?

monteu · Mar 21, 2012

Just trenched thru front yard for electric to new pole barn. I want to plant this back to grass but dont want a sunk in valley thru my yard in a year. Anyone have some good ideas how to get this dirt that filled trench to settle? How long do I have to wait till I know it is good and settled?

smstonypoint · Mar 21, 2012

I would recommend filling the trench and then driving over the filled trench with your tractor/truck/auto a few times, filling any low spots as they appear. You can then reseed.

This procedure has worked for me, but the answer may depend on soil type -- my experience is based only on clay loam.

Steve

Western · Mar 21, 2012

Using a little water and packing it in "lifts" may help too. Getting as much air out as you can I think is the chore.

leonz · Mar 21, 2012

monteu said:
Just trenched thru front yard for electric to new pole barn. I want to plant this back to grass but dont want a sunk in valley thru my yard in a year. Anyone have some good ideas how to get this dirt that filled trench to settle? How long do I have to wait till I know it is good and settled?

About your trench,

You either have to rent
a pad tamper or fill the trench
completely with water to permit
settling of the finer particles
as you back fill it.

Renting the pad tamper and
adding a foot of backfill at a time
and tamping it will quickly resolve
the issue; BUT I would order a small
load of sand as you will have settling
to deal with the next year as the
frost heave will have to be dealt
with no matter what.

SandburRanch · Mar 21, 2012

After wetting and packing, it must dry one time before you'll know what has been accomplished then a second assessment can be made for further repair if necessary.

Sometimes good things take just a little longer.

BeezFun · Mar 21, 2012

monteu said:
Just trenched thru front yard for electric to new pole barn. I want to plant this back to grass but dont want a sunk in valley thru my yard in a year. Anyone have some good ideas how to get this dirt that filled trench to settle? How long do I have to wait till I know it is good and settled?

I mound up all the dirt that was dug out, so it looks like a giant mole went through your yard. Then throw grass seed on it. In a year or so it will be settled down to right where it started and the grass will be growing. Depending on what you buried and how deep it is, I wouldn't be inclined to drive on it to compact it. You might damage what you laid down.

Johnp33 · Mar 21, 2012

Lots of water and a little agitation and when the water dries up the ground is settled. when we built the footings for my shop it was a couple of days untill I could get the cement, I put the sprinklers in the trench for a day and a half, straight up spray and this was after using a tamper with water for hours before finishing the forms, I turned off the water, and the next day we had to build up quite a few areas and this in in ground that is mostly rock.

ericher69 · Mar 21, 2012

In the trench rescue world 25 yrs is what is considered undisturbed soil...

What I'm trying to say is pack it in lifts all you want you will still get settling over the years

How deep is the trench? Any gravel/sand added?

2458n · Mar 21, 2012

Pipeline for small projects. When a trencher was used a backhoe just pushed it back into the trench. Just pushed it back in like plowing snow. The front bucket was filled with dirt and the front wheel was rolled along the trench length. By "wheel rolling " in this manner we avoided a lot of call backs for yard repair from sinking. Always more dirt that comes out of hole than goes back in.

s219 · Mar 21, 2012

Fill trench half way, then soak it. Then fill with remaining dirt and soak again. I have done this for thousands of feet of sprinkler trenches, and never had any issues.

flusher · Mar 22, 2012

monteu said:
Just trenched thru front yard for electric to new pole barn. I want to plant this back to grass but dont want a sunk in valley thru my yard in a year. Anyone have some good ideas how to get this dirt that filled trench to settle? How long do I have to wait till I know it is good and settled?

Here's what my contractor did when he installed the leach line for my septic system

That was in late 2005. Never have had a hint of settling along that trench since then. Nothing like using a big, heavy CAT TLB to get compaction:thumbsup:

Good luck.

bigtiller · Mar 22, 2012

What I did many years ago was to screw my garden hose onto a 4 foot long piece of 1/2 inch galvanized water pipe. Then turn the water on full blast and jam about 14 inches of the pipe into the back filled trench every foot or so. It was easy to do until I hit an area where the trenching machine ran over the trench and compacted the soil in the trench.

After it dried I ran the tiller over it and seeded it. I never seen any settling after that.

Edit: Change that to 3/4 inch pipe. 1/2 is too small.

buckeye4life · Mar 22, 2012

I trenched a 4 foot wide 5 ft deep trench around the property for a geo-thermal line and after 2 years, the only trace that a trench was dug is the slightly different color of the grass their. This was due to all the clay content of the soil that was backfilled. Most of the rest of the property has 6-12 inches of dark rich soil. If I knew then what I know now, I would have layered a few inches of top soil on top of the trench before seeding. The trench had started to fill with water prior to back filling, so that probably helped with the settling as the prior post have indicated.

buckeyefarmer · Mar 22, 2012

Welcome Buckeye4life!!!

I trenched all over my yard last fall and am about to reseed. trenches filled and sat all winter with rain and are still settling, even after driving the tractor over them. It's amazing how much dirt I have left over.

rambler · Mar 23, 2012

It always takes 2 winters (deep freeze here in MN) for the clay soil here for a trench to settle out close to right. You think you got it to settle down the 1st year, but will drop more the 2nd. There are sometimed pockets thatdrop in a little 5 years later, if we get unusual rain or something.

Watering it hard or tamping it in 8 inch or so lifts will do a lot as others say, but more often than not will settle some for a year or 2 in spring....

--->Paul

bucktaker · Mar 23, 2012

I backfilled my septic and drain lines and left them heaped over the trench and allowed it to settle for a year on their own. Next year
i ran a little mantis tiller down the line to scratch the surface and planted seed. 17yrs later still no depression but you can tell where the leach lines are because the grass is always a little greener

buckeyefarmer · Mar 23, 2012

actually I don't mind a little dip where the trench was, because then I know where the pipe is. My well line has a little dip, the line from my septic to the diverter box has a slight dip, it's kind of nice knowing exactly where it is.

vtsnowedin · Mar 24, 2012

A couple of things:
Different soil types require different amounts of water to compact easily. the right amount is called the optimum moisture content and is determined by a Proctor test.
Using a water pipe ,called jetting ,works OK in sandy soils but will make a mess of a clay trench.
If you need it to be smooth this year back-fill your trench in layers no more than six inches thick and add water to the optimum content ( moist but not mud if you are doing it by eye) and compact each layer with a plate compactor or hand tamps down in the trench and with wheel traffic from your tractor on the top four lifts.
If crossing a paved driveway fill and patch ,temporarily and wait through one winter, then cut it back a foot on each side and repave in at least two lifts with emulsion sealer applied to the edges of each lift.
The deeper the trench the more settlement your going to get.
And most importantly if the trench is more then four feet deep no person should be allowed to go into the trench without a trench shoring box in place. Your project is not worth getting someone injured or killed.