Packing dirt.

[Egon]

If the area with the pits will be under a concrete slab will you be excavating all the organic material?

Will the holes be filled with inorganic material.

A whacker packer will work well for your situation. They should be redily available from rental shops.

Wacker Compaction Equipment,Tamper,Plate Compactor,Vibratory Roller

 

[dirt ditch]

Keep knocking an edge off into the hole with the loader untill you can drive down the ramp you made into the hole, go to the opposite edge and do the same thing. Do the other 2 edges the same way. Then you will be able pack the dirt in layers by driving over it. Do that and giving it a year to set, the ground will be ready for the building.

 

[schmism]

I fill a little at a time driveing over it with a full bucket of material. ground pressure under my small front tires with a full FEL bucket is HIGH.

 

[hr3]

Egon You have a back hoe.. Use that to poack it down... When I do stumps I use the hoe to fill the hole back in and tamp it down as I go..Untill I can drive over it,,,then little at a time driving over it several times,,,

 

[Egon]

Yes, I have a backhoe on my tractor but unfortunately I have yet not had the time to learn how to use one.

I've spent days watching them work but that did not transfer over into the hand skills required.

This summer the tractor can classify as a backyard sitter!

 

[Wis Bang]

With a year's time just over fill about 12" and leave it. The surface under the concrete doesn't matter as much as the top finish...

 

[Ken45101]

A lot depends on the soil type and condition. Very wet clay won't pack, neither will powder dry clay.

If you really want it good and solid because you are going to build on it, backfill the deeper portion with crushed limestone with fines in it. That will pack good and solid. Then (optional) pack in some solid clay soil on the top 6-12".

Ken

 

[wedge40]

I'm in Indiana, and I have mostly clay. This morning I was getting an area cleared to remove the last stump and dug up a small tree. Hole might have been 8"-12" deep.. I pushed the soil back and drover over it with the excavator and now you cant find where I even dug. The whole are I've been working looks like a war zone with craters and dirt everywhere.
One more big stump, fresh cut tree about 18"-20" in diameter. Came in to clear the bucket (did I mention that have clay ) then eat some lunch and finish the last stump. I found one more little project while I have it here. The end of my drive where it meets the road is always soft. I dug up some fence post yesterday and they have 2' long by 10" diameter cement holding them in. Figure I'll dig a trench at the edge of the road and put them in there.

Wedge

 

[JohnDeere4300]

All of my front yard is clay and if its wet i don't pack it until it drys up.
If the clay is dry then i fill in the hole and then drive over it to pack it in.

I dug a ditch 275ft. from the gutter down-spout of my home to the pond in my front yard...I laid 4in. pipe and covered it up over half the way and then drove down the ditch to pack it in..then covered more and kept packing it in, and it never did settle any more.

 

[gerard]

If you have a year it will settle with rain and gravity. As stated some running crush base will pack well and is a good base for a slab. A plate compactor or jumping jack will work well too but don't know if you have access to one. I WOULD make sure it's solid before you pour. You don't want it settling after the concrete's on top or you'll get voids which can lead to cracking. (Conretes strong in compression but lousy in tensile strength ie bridging gaps so you want it supported from underneath). To be really safe lay some geotextile fabric down before the crushed rock base goes in (about $300 for a 300 foot roll x 15 feet wide was price a few years ago)