Question for the pro's... I'm working on a good sized gravel lot. (yard for local tank truck company). We were told it's about 7 acres, but looks closer to 5. Their shop/office sits about 3/4 of the way back, about in the middle left to right. Behind the shop, it's a simple matter of straight grading to the back to achieve the desirable fall for watershed. I did that part today. My problem is, the front 3/4 has a swale thru it for the drainage. Along the front fence, there is a concrete dolly pad that I need to work off of, then get water away from the shop building. The gate and drive don't come in from the actual front, but a gate on the side street on the right side, then the swale kind of meanders thru the yard into a creek. My question is, should I just cut the area up into pieces, leaving the swale as it is, or not really worry about the swale, grade everything to drain then cut a new swale? The gravel thickness shouldn't be a problem, I was told it's about 2' thick. As long as I get rid of the potholes, and it all drains, they don't care how I go about it. This is kind of new to me. 99 percent of my grading has been either existing gravel roads, or during the building of new roads. The big, open area grading is kinda new. Thanks.
I'm like you as my experience is on road building/maintenance etc. When I went out to Calgary a few years back, I had a chance to level and bring to grade a parking lot at the Calgary airport. It was kind of weird as they wanted it sloped a bit toward the back end ,then on the right it was to be sloped slightly to the left at about the 3/4 point towards the back. This would allow the water to run towards the back and veer to the left at the back end so it would go into the ditch. Of course all done by eyeball and my handy dandy slope meter. Asphalt was laid down when I was finished. I had to laugh as after I was done, to me I had it right on, the boss and his son looked it all over and decided I was a little high here, a little low there etc. Anyway I said okay, no problem I'll fix it right up. So I gave the whole parking lot a light grade, not changing a thing, and after I finished they looked it over again and said there you have it right on now Okay after saying all of that (sorry, I got on a roll) if it was me I would grade the whole thing, as I think it would be easier to achieve your proper grade etc. I would then cut out your swale, blending in any excess material. This would make the whole job look better, and simpler to do rather than trying to do it in pieces as you suggested. Just my 02 cents worth.
Re-grading gravel lot with swales: Lol... You hardly ever "say" anything, Grader4me... I wish you would, too, cause you've got a bunch of "know"... :thumbsup Not being a grader person myself, but knowing Grader4me is... sounds like good advice, handtpipeline. OCR
Gee..thanks OCR!! I really appreciate that...
Re-grading gravel lot with swales: My pleasure, sir.... OCR
Well, i would have started grading at the lowest points.(making som marks on the ground first.) Making a smal cut where its should be low. Then moving the material out to the highest spots/areas. I would say thats the easiest way to succed. Then do some fine work/polish it at the end.(working over the whole area.)
Hi there MKTEF! Nice to see you around again...safe and sound...
I'm to old to just go away you know. Came home from Africa real quick, but my wife has been chasing me around do a lot of work on the house. Last now was to change the porch door, double one, 2000 us dollars....
I hear ya! Wow, must be a nice door. I have a "to do list" as well, but my "to do" is getting lazy in my old age...lol
Same here. Door is real nice, and of course according to the latest insulation regulations. Rules over here is so hard a new houses have to got one feet of insulation on roofs, and 2/3 in the walls. Windows/doors has as strong demands, and the shops aren't allowed to sell you anything after the old regulations. There is no end on the wifes todo list, so just take it easy, life is bether that way! I'll run a grader course in a couple of weeks, i'll post some pics for you all
Look forward to it!
Thanks for the advice everyone. What I ended up doing, was starting at the building, getting my grade away from the building so it wouldn't flood, then approached the rest of the lot to drain into that valley and on into the creek. BUT... the thing is, we are just doing the grading for another contractor, who actually bid the job. And come to find out, they had tried to fix it themselves (with a 650 Case dozer and a Bobcat mini-excavator). When the just succeeded in making a bigger mess than it already was, they decided a grader was needed. That's when we entered the picture. The gravel was packed so hard, I had to rip it up with the scarrifier before I could do anything with it. That made about 4" of loose, powdery material. I asked if they had a water truck, they said they did, but had recently blown the motor in it, so we offered to bring a water truck in, but they said they didn't have enough money figured in for that. They were just going to roll it. They did... with a roller that I think I could actually haul on the back of a 1 ton flatbed truck... It looked good after they rolled it, and drained well... UNTIL the heavy rains started, and the trucks started wallowing it. At which time they brought a box-blade tractor in, and from what I've been told really made a mess of it now. I guess next week we get to go look at it and see what we can do to fix it again... I'd really love to know how I get in the middle of these type things.