New to the forum. I’m a novice to intermediate excavator operator. Most of my experience is digging. We are about to start a new project where we need to build a tall hill for aesthetic purposes and our equipment is a large backhoe, excavator, and skid steer if needed. This mound will be about 15’ tall but the radius of its base will be about 30-50 ft so the excavator can’t reach the peak from ground level. The dirt will be hauled in and dumped on site. How do we go about building this large mound? I don’t know the best way to construct a tall mound. The slope will be steeper than machinery can safely operate and do work (although it might be able to actually climb it if needed). Any help would be great and I can provide more details if needed.
Can you provide some pictures of where you intend to create mound showing possible entry and exit points for the excavator. You work off one or two shelfs you create but you only get one bite of the cherry if the mound has a peak. You will have to compress your material as best you can with the machine before your final fill. You better have a good feel for your machine as the machine will sink in all directions walking in a fresh pile of soil. What sort of ex are you using. There are know slope angles for heaping material but best you try with what you have. Is best to over fill as you will get alot of natural compaction afterwords and if the slope is steep you will be hand raking which will pull down material. Is your fill soil and how do you intend on stabilizing the mound, grass?? Very important to get some grass happening quick on that sized mound.
I will provide an aerial view as well as a topographic representation of the mound. It’s actually a series of mounds and hills (think miniature mountain range). We will have access around the entire thing with the excavator but the dump truck will only be able to get in 1 way and out the same way he came in (he will be reversing a good ways but he has seen the site and doesn’t mind). I am not clear on how to build shelving properly and use it. We only have a mini-ex so are renting a Kobelco 210. Yes are are planting it very heavily with grass but also using erosion netting for stabilization. My main ignorance lies in the method and techniques of building and working from shelves. I will upload that info tomorrow. Much appreciate the help!
I had to stockpile earth from a foundation hole. I called it Mount Crumpet. Start your ramp 100' away from the peak. Carry to the top, and dump it. Continue to build a ramp. Once you attain the height, and area desired, trim it to shape. A friend built a mound for a wealthy vacation home owner to entertain guests in view of a far away ski area. Several times, the owner decided he wanted to enlarge the area of the top. That proved challenging.
you just kind of feel it out shields or benches are really simple you just make a flat spot were you want to put a machine but put your machine halfway up your hill on a bench reach your dirt on the bottom and swing up it's really simple You can walk an excavator up really steep slopes by pulling yourself up if you have never done it you will probably get scared long before flipping it over And that's a 210 in the pic and that pile is 12 feet high
Ok thanks for the info that helps. I have attached 2 photos of the area the first is an aerial showing the entrance and exit for dump truck. They will have to back in beginning from the labeled ‘truck turnaround’. The mound is the area with harsh marks labeled ‘mound’. The next photo shows a zoomed in aerial and is a topographical representation of the different elevations. Any other hints and advice would go a long way.
Any help would be much appreciated
You have a relatively tiny area over 10'. No problem for an excavator. I'd think you could do a fair bit of it with the skid steer. That's a lot of dirt. Make sure the trucks can dump as much as possible exactly where it's needed. That means consulting the trucker so that the ramp is built in thin enough lifts and the traffic covers the whole ramp area where a truck will be driving, and especially dumping on fill. As you fill the last big lift that you won't have trucks drive over, use the excavator to add the final height where needed. If you're talking about a diameter of 60-100', you want the trucks to turn around on the mound for most of the filling, and back in only toward the end when you have to fill the turnaround.
your project seems fairly straight forward there is not much to say that has not been said above basically its a glorified pile of dirt just keep your trucks dumping where your working so you dont have to swing the dirt more than once do you have points or offsets to help you keep a handle on where the center of the mound is or is it not that critical.
Can you explain what you mean by “building the ramp in thin enough lifts” and “as I fill the last big lift”? And where would you estimate to build the lifts? Pardon my ignorance. The good news is that we have a more skilled and experienced operator but I will be operating at times as well. I’m just trying to learn.
Sorry I didn’t include the scale but the entire mound is about 100 ft by 200 ft wide at its widest points. And to make it more complicated the only trucks that will fit are standard 15 yd trucks due to the turnaround and entrance width. We calculated about 2500 yards of first
We have a GIS pro on staff that’ll keep us right. Good point though
If you want the truckers to drive up the ramp, then they need to know that it's solid enough they won't tip over. If you were to dump the loads as close to each other as possible, and get a layer that's four feet deep, if you drove a truck onto that it would sink and tip. If you get the truckers to spread the loads and then smooth all the loads in a thin enough layer before the next level, then it would be compacted as you go and solid enough to drive and dump on. You could build the whole first 6' that way, and then put the loads as close as you can get them on top of the compacted layer. OR, you could compact only the ramp and turn around in thin lifts and move the fill out to the rest with a dozer or excavator, so that your trucks aren't driving on the thicker lifts.
I don't see why it can't all be done with a dozer. Mike
I thought you would have suggested a conveyor...