Hey guys, I am fixing a pond dam for a guy that had someone before me cut through the middle of it to drain it out. He has plenty of dirt onsite to plug it. I think it would be best to take the hoe and cut a "keyway" into each side of the existing dam, back 15 feet or so, and then fill all of that back in at once. Does this sound like a good way to fix this? I dont want to just push dirt up into the gap. Thanks guys.
That's the best way to do it. jr
that is the only way, as long as the material is able to be compacted and can be put back in approx. 8-10" lifts, if not considerate mixing soil with betonite 50/50 and walking in with the same lifts
The way we used to do it back in the 955H days, was to clean up the edges of the cut through wide ehough for 1.5 to 2 machine width, and the start back with a bucket of good clean(rock free) clay in very small lifts. Every lift we would sctatch the trench side a little to get a good bond, lots of tracking back & forth to get compaction. Doing this until we got it closed in. Never had one fail or leak.
Just remember when cutting a keyway to keep side slopes 1.5:1 or flater because you cant get compaction on a vertical wall.
Determine the exact problem by allowing the water to drain out. When a leak is present in a pond dam, the water level tends to drop fairly quickly up until the point that it falls below the point of the leak. By monitoring the water levels, you'll be able to see when the water ceases to drain out rapidly and will therefore know the level of the leak in the dam. Fish Pond Liner repair | Backyard Fish Ponds Liner Repair-Pondpro2000.com