Trenching a French Drain. how to stay afloat?

[Tony H]

I have a small stream on the North side of what will be my driveway..I have a Pond the South side.. My proposed driveway area is swamp-like .. I have a backhoe that I want to back up to the Pond and trench my way to the Stream. BUT it is major mushy. Would you think hay or large weeds that have been cut with a sickle bar mower keep me afloat if I lay them out in a tire path to the pond? Trying to do this on the cheap. I do not live on this property yet so I don't have much in the way of plywood and stuff. Just one trip down to the pond and I will backhoe the trench back up.

 

[jaotguy]

nope ... look at some trees / saplings maybe ... old 2x4's .. old tires....mattresses , doors , etc on the side of the road on garbage day ...

and bring a winch !

 

[tcreeley]

Have some stone or gravel brought in to spread and drive on, then trench it. Once you break through into the mud with your tires, good luck.

 

[Firemanbuck]

Have some stone or gravel brought in to spread and drive on, then trench it. Once you break through into the mud with your tires, good luck.

Put a layer of geofabric down first before you add the stone - it will keep the rock from sinking into the muck. Make sure you put down a thick layer of rock too if you will be putting the driveway over it. 12 inches isn't too much.

If you use brush or saplings or whatever, make sure you pull them all out before you put the driveway in. If you don't, your driveway will slowly fail as the wood rots away.

 

[dougtrr2]

BUT it is major mushy...... Just one trip down to the pond and I will backhoe the trench back up.

If it is major mushy how do you plan on keeping the trench open?? What is the purpose of the trench, draining the pond, drying the driveway or something else? Where does the pond get its water? I would be very leery of working in a mushy area. On false move and you could be majorly stuck. How about some more details like length of trench, depth, width, purpose etc.

Doug in SW IA

 

[davrow]

It sounds like you are trenching the wrong place. You need to find a way to drain the water causing the 'mush'. Digging in the mush won't do much good. MHO.

 

[Tony H]

The geofabric and #3 stone will be put down as a Base to make the driveway area. I didn't want to spend the money adding it to an area that runs perpendicular to the driveway and I wish to keep that area natural after the Trench/Swale is in place. Just want to cut a path from creek to pond to give the creek a dedicated path rather than it bleed through the soil as it is currently doing. A culvert will run under the driveway from the North creek to the pond. My driveway will run perpendicular to this trench/swale.
Trench will only be about 2-4 feet deep and about 30" wide. Probably 200' long.

 

[boggen]

pictures? can go a long ways in help explaining things.

with you putting in a french drain, i am going to assume you are working on the dam side of the lake. and at the bottom of the hill/dam, and it is a wet soggy mess down there.

if this is the case... i think this be one bad year to try and get into those areas. due to amount of rain. at least here has been a lot.

if you can wait say in "fall" or "winter" when things dry up some, you might be able to get in there better, if you can wait till more of a drought year, you will have much better luck.

a tracked unit, will more likely hold up better in soggy conditions within reason. example a "mini ex" mini excavator / track unit that you could rent (equipment rental in the old paper phone book) with excavator / track unit, you can build "old lumber rafts" per say. and use excavator to move them around. to act like large pieces of plywood to get you through the mess. ((see various youtube videos out there))

just glancing at google for "JCB MIDI CX" looks to be an industrial tractor, and going to assume R4 / industrial tires on it. your going to be in some pain. with the fat / wide tires, you will be slipping and sliding and being stuck. and working the FEL (front end loader) and the backhoe like an octopus to drag/push your way through things only making a mess. if ya had R1 / agirculture tires on machine 4x4 / MFWD i might be tempted to try, even if it resulted in making a big mess or getting stuck *that's just me though*

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with above if you can wait till more of a drought year, or portion of the year were everything is just more dry. you will most likely have a much better install and less complaining exception muscle aches don't count

 

[tcreeley]

You may need to slope your banks on your ditch. -Otherwise a hazard to whatever is passing through unsuspecting. I have had luck ditching by digging on one side and dumping the dirt in the path that I am driving over- raising the height. But in mud- doesn't work. I would be careful of trenching between the tires in soft stuff and expecting to drive back over it. If you get hung up with a trench between the tires- even harder to get out.

 

[/pine]

Pallets (no comments from the peanut gallery)...work well for pads with a tracked machine...they may work well for a rubber tire machine as well...