WHERE DO YOU KEEP YOUR DIRT ?

LBrown59 · Jul 28, 2005

( Speaking of dirt...does anyone have any creative ways to get free dirt? I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions.
)
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<< The state was cleaning out the road ditch.
They need a place to get rid of the dirt when they do this.
They dumped 20 of their highway dump truck loads in my back yard free.
Didn't cost me anything for the dirt or the hauling.

I was going to use the dirt to landscape around the house, but that didn't happen.
The 20 loads of dirt sat here right like they dumped it for 20 years.

In 1996 I built a 4 stall pole building right where all this dirt was setting.
Had to hire a guy with a BH and end loader to move all this dirt out of the way.

Before the dirt could be moved I had to cut down about 7 8'' to 12 '' 20 to 25 foot tall trees that had grown up in the pile over the 20 years it sat there.

I needed a place to get rid of this dirt - at the time my uncle was trying to fill in a large hollow at his place 2 miles from me so I hired a guy I knew with a dump truck to haul the dirt to my uncles.

My uncle got several truck loads of free dirt and with free hauling.

Watch for these kind of situations and you could luck out getting free dirt and free hauling.

If I had it to do over again I would never have hauled the dirt to my uncles but instead would have had the back hoe guy just pile it up some place else on my property.
I have about 120 feet of road ditch 3 deep and 2 foot wide to fill in plus a 22x 76 pole barn to level out the floor in. The grade in one end of this barn is 3 feet lower than the other end so it's going to take quite a bit of fill for that.

I sure could use those 20 dump trucks of dirt that I hauled off to my uncles hollow now!
Isn't it kind of an irony that I could use the very dirt that came out of the ditch 29 years ago to put back in that same ditch now??? >>

PS
Sure could have used my Kubota back then couldn't have I?

Another tip any time you see anyone doing excavation or grading stop and ask them what they are doing with the dirt especially if its the STATE COUNTY or CITY.
You may luck out and get some free dirt and hauling or at least at a significant reduction in the cost of the hauling.

PPS:
Just recently the city was replacing a large culvert in a run. They took out a bunch of truck loads of dirt from this project.
I stopped and asked what they were doing with the loads of dirt.
They were taking it to fill in a swimming pool they had just torn down.
Had it not been for that I may well have gotten 15 to 20 truck loads of free dirt and free hauling.

The moral of all this > Keep your eyes peeled as you never know what you might run into.

SnowRidge · Jul 28, 2005

Another "Free Dirt" story:

A friend of mine owns some low lying property. He is always willing to take free dirt. A nearby property owner was excavating and needed to get rid of about 20 truckloads of dirt, which he was going to have to pay to have hauled off to a distant dump site. He was ecstatic when he found out that my friend, who lived close by, was willing to take it, so arrangements were made to truck it there.

In the meantime, the neighbors of the guy doing the excavating, who were fully aware of the arrangement, started lining up to skim off the topsoil and other good stuff, but no rocks or roots or limbs that might be mixed in, thank you. My buddy marched over there and said, "I'll take all of it, or none of it, but I won't take some of it."

A lot of people were unhappy, but he got all the dirt. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

slowrev · Jul 28, 2005

So far no problem with excess dirt. Actually I could use about 50 cu yards right now.
Funny thing is, a couple of times guys showed up at my door wanting to buy dirt, apparently my FIL told them I had some to sell /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
If you have small piles of dirt I suppose draping landscape fabric over them might be the best way to meet you objectives of no weeds and erosion.

Ben

LBrown59 · Jul 28, 2005

Your friend and my uncle were doing basically the same thing.
Somebody once told my uncle that he would never get the hollow filled up in his life time.
My uncle replied but I will have a lot more of it done than if I had never started.
The guy was right but so was my uncle. My uncle died in 2000 and the hollow is still there.
It's a big deep hollow but it had a lot more dirt and fill in it than it did when my uncle started on it several decades before he died.

LBrown59 · Jul 28, 2005

( So far no problem with excess dirt. Actually I could use about 50 cu yards right now.
Funny thing is, a couple of times guys showed up at my door wanting to buy dirt, apparently my FIL told them I had some to sell /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
If you have small piles of dirt I suppose draping landscape fabric over them might be the best way to meet you objectives of no weeds and erosion.

Ben
)
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I've not had a problem with erosion or washing away of the piled dirt.
The biggie is when it gets wet and turns to mud or freezes solid in the winter if wet.
To me that's more of a headache than the weeds.

I did come to a temporary solution by tilling up some of the pile with my BOLENS tractor and tiller and using the BX23 FEL to haul and stack it in one stall of my 22x76 metal pole building.
Sure is nice to have nice dry fine dirt whenever I need it rain or shine.

RipTide · Jul 28, 2005

Thanks for all the ideas, even the SA ones. I had not thought about approaching the county or city where I live, but I'll just bet that will be a good source for me. I did talk to one of my customers who owns a trucking company, but he makes his living by selling "free dirt" he gets, so you can't really expect him to give up his trade secrets or sources. Here in Georgia about the minimum to pay someone to haul free dirt is about 95 bucks. Now that I've got great answers from you guys, where can I get a "free Bobcat"?

Mith · Jul 28, 2005

( where can I get a "free Bobcat"? )
Where ya' left it! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Guess whos on a roll of useless answers /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

SnowRidge · Jul 28, 2005

( Now that I've got great answers from you guys, where can I get a "free Bobcat"?) 

There is this in-law of mine...... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

LBrown59 · Jul 28, 2005

Did you get the dirt out of your eye yet?

Mith · Jul 28, 2005

Yea, see the thread.
Stopped being a stobborn old **** and went to the doc. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Guess it aint no secret where I keep my dirt eh? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

LBrown59 · Jul 28, 2005

( Yea, see the thread.
Stopped being a stobborn old **** and went to the doc. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
*Guess it aint no secret where I keep my dirt eh? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )
* U R on a roll ain't Ya !

One time dad was mixing cement in a round upright cone shaped mixer. Somehow a big gob of cement splashed out of the top of the mixer hitting me right square in the face.
He had to take me right straight to the DR. I could not stand to open my eyes or see a thing.Doc took 7 or 8 pieces of sand / cement from my right eye and 3 or 4 from the left one.

Jere · Jul 30, 2005

I do not know where you live, but in our area swimming pool companies often have dirt to give away. It comes 4 or 5 truck loads at a time. Check your pool companies you may be surprised. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

LBrown59 · Jul 30, 2005

( I do not know where you live, but in our area swimming pool companies often have dirt to give away. It comes 4 or 5 truck loads at a time. Check your pool companies you may be surprised. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif )
===== ===== ===== 
That's right I never thought of it but when they dig the hole for the pool they have to do something with the dirt.

LBrown59 · Sep 21, 2005

( Speaking of dirt...does anyone have any creative ways to get free dirt? I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions.
)
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About 6 weeks ago I put a sign in my front yrd.

WANTED FILL DIRT
Yesterday the owner of a landscaping Company stopped and asked me about the sign.
Seems he needed a place to dump the dirt from a project he was doing about 2 miles out the road from me.
They brought me 6 dump truck loads today at no charge.
The dirt and the hauling were both free.
There may be another 2 or 3 loads coming tomorrow.

Check with all the landscapers and lawn care outfits in your area.

LBrown59 · Sep 24, 2005

( Speaking of dirt...does anyone have any creative ways to get free dirt? I could use a lot of dirt to build up parts of my yard and pasture, but the amounts I will need are way more than I can afford to pay for. I have gotten several loads of "free fill dirt", but you have to pay someone to deliver it. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions.
)
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A couple of days ago I got 30 tons of free topsoil delivered free from A lawn care company.

The guy from the lawn care Co. stopped to ask about the Fill Dirt wanted sign in my front yard because he needed a place to dump dirt from a job he was doing 2 miles out the road from me.

After I got the dirt I got prices for 30 tons of delivered top soil from 2 landscape companies.
One wanted $1025 and the other one wanted $1258 for it.

Have you had any luck in getting free dirt yet?

LBrown59 · Sep 24, 2005

( How about a sign on your property:

WANTED
CLEAN FILL )

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Thanks for this suggestion.
As a result of taking your advice and putting up a sign I got 30 tons of free dirt and free delivery this week.
Would have cost me $1025 at one landscape place and $1258 from another one to buy it from them.

IslandTractor · Sep 26, 2005

My property is on an island where colonial farmers did such a poor job of soil conservation that a lot of topsoil just blew away. It now costs $750 per 15 cubic feet of topsoil to truck and ferry the topsoil back. Needless to say, we tolerate somewhat sandy soil conditions.

LBrown59 · Sep 26, 2005

( It now costs $750 per 15 cubic feet of topsoil to truck and ferry the topsoil back. )
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15 cubic feet is about 14.55 tons.
At $750.oo that works out to $51.55 per ton.
At that rate 60 tons would run you $3093.oo.

PBinWA · Sep 26, 2005

I starting digging up my crappy clay soil and mixing it with loads of free manure from my neighbors horses. I think I'm going to start making long trails of dirt and compost so I can just drive my tiller up and down them to mix them up every so often. I've got a bunch of tree branches to chip up soon and will add that to the mix. I figure I'll have some pretty good top soil for next spring and it helps to keep the tractor busy.

GaryM · Sep 27, 2005

( 15 cubic feet is about 14.55 tons.
At $750.oo that works out to $51.55 per ton.
At that rate 60 tons would run you $3093.oo.)

You must have really heavy dirt where you live! 15 Cu Ft. is just over 1/2 a Cu Yd. So you're saying that your dirt weighs around 25 ons per Cu Yd.

I think maybe you confused Cu Ft and Cu Yds. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif