Leveling ground for tractor shed

[swreeder]

I'm getting a 20X26 Metal shed with 8' walls and enclosed on three sides to store my tractor and some of my attachments. To get ready for the shed, I cleared the ground and had a load of road base stone delivered. Trying to figure out the best way to get it level. I've been pushing it around with the tractor, but cant figure out how to get it level. When the tractor gets off the pad area, my implements are no longer level with what I am trying to build.

Do I need to do this the old fashioned way with a garden rake and sweat? For the tractor I have a land plane, bucket and box blade if needed.

 

[Rebeldad1]

A hand landscape rake will get you off the tractor and give you a better prospective of what's level. If you are having it assembled by a contractor they (i've been told in my contract) you can be within 3" and they can work with that.

 

[swreeder]

Its been a frustrating project so far. Underneath the area that I am building the shed is solid rock. I was only able to drive one stake in the ground today to attempt to use a string level. I pushed and pulled more stones around with the tractor using the land plane, bucket and a york rake with little success. I spent a good hour working on an area with a garden rake and landscaping rake. At the rate I am going to hand level with a rake I might be done by next spring.

Is it really this hard to level a 30x30 pad?

 

[FastEddieR]

Just level the corners and edges. Use a transit level or a clear plastic tube full of water. Build your structure.

Don't worry about the middle until afterwards. The gravel is going to compact and settle over time and you will most likely have to add more later. Besides, the middle doesn't need to be perfect anyway since you are only going to park a tractor and implements.

 

[EddieWalker]

I use my front bucket to level an area. I back drag it and adjust the angle to dig deeper, or float, depending on what I want to do. My first attempt is to just get it close. Then I get my level and a straight 2x6 and see where I need more or less material. I usually start on one side and work my way across. I also use landscape or surveyor spray paint, and spray on the ground a plus or minus with the number of inches that I'm off. If I'm an inch low, I spray "+1" so I know to add an inch to that area. Then I back drag, or add more material where I need it and then use my level and 2x6 to check my work. Most of the time I can get it perfect in a couple of hours.

 

[Paystar]

Do you have position control on your tractor? Likely yes. I don't know LS's all that well but it should have it.

Level an area that all four wheels of your tractor can sit on, set you position control for your three point and start pulling the gravel. As long as the tractor is level it will stay level.

Or push backwards with your box blade.

 

[Halftrack]

If your "metal shed" is going to have prefab wooden trusses, I would consider using the trusses as your guide to level up the foor. I used a piece of half inch conduit with a hook at the top, to hook over the truss and a string with a weight at the bottom to determine my desired "level". Just waking around, I could determine the high and low spots and work from there.

 

[Egon]

Use the bucket going forward. Start with a level area and expand it slowly making sure it’s always level. Having excess gravel in the bucket helps. It takes practice.

Stakes pounded in with the top at level in a regular pattern will also be a big help.

Finish by back blading in float with the blade at a low angle. Use the curl for slight adjustments.

 

[swreeder]

Made a lot of progress here and learned a lot on this project.

Things I have learned so far:

• Have the stones dumped near where you are going to level and use the bucket to put them where you need them. Having them all dumped in the center and trying to push around with the tractor did not work.
• Leveling smaller areas with tractor is hard if ground around the area is uneven. As soon as my tractor wheels would drop off the gravel area, implements did not help.
• Having a transit is a huge help! To do it again, I would start with a transit, and slowly add stones from the bucket and rake them level where needed.
• Go slow, move little amounts at a time. I tried to go to fast and leverage the tractor, only making more work for myself.

 

[Tractorable]

Good job on the leveling.

You sure 8ft walls are going to be high enough for your future needs? Many tractor ROPS are over 8ft tall.

 

[swreeder]

Good job on the leveling.

You sure 8ft walls are going to be high enough for your future needs? Many tractor ROPS are over 8ft tall.

My tractor has a cab and it fits inside an 8' garage, its exactly 90" tall to the top of the cab. The shed I'm building is 8' side walls, its gabled trusses so the sides are the lowest spot.

 

[LD1]

As you have already found out, a tractor is not the best tool to level an area for reasons you have already figured out.

Little dingo mini type tracked skidloaders are really good at that.

You can make a tractor work as you have....you just have to adapt and improvise. Takes time. But a transit or rotary laser level is almost a must. Some people have a good "eye" for this type of work. But I have found that it can be quite deceiving and that most peoples "eye" just isnt very accurate

 

[bdhsfz6]

Good job with the leveling!

What type of metal shed are you putting up? How is it going to be anchored to the solid rock under the gravel?

I priced a similar project a few years ago. The price for the building looked good until I found out the contractor charged a lot extra for rock work. Since the proposed building was on ledge rock, the cost almost doubled and I was forced to make other plans.

 

[deezler]

Nicely done. Yes, having the gravel dumped in the middle of your intended area is a huge pain. Much easier to have it off to the side, and use the tractor loader to bring in one bucket at a time.

But it also helps to make the pad much larger than the building area, then your tractor stays on the level pad as you work the critical area to perfectly flat.

Are you going to run a plate compactor now? I would. Have a hose ready to add water as needed for ideal compaction.

 

[swreeder]

Good job with the leveling!

What type of metal shed are you putting up? How is it going to be anchored to the solid rock under the gravel?

I priced a similar project a few years ago. The price for the building looked good until I found out the contractor charged a lot extra for rock work. Since the proposed building was on ledge rock, the cost almost doubled and I was forced to make other plans.

I'm installing from a local contract that has been building these in the area for over 10 years. The brand is "quality outdoor products". The framing in constructed of 12 gauge steel and the roof trusses are prebuilt/welded. Since the area I live in is predominately rock (less than 2" of soil depth anywhere on my acreage), the installers are equipped to deal with it. They basically drill 2' deep holes into the rock with a bit that is slightly smaller than the anchor pins they drive in. The building and anchors are rated at 130MPH winds, so I hope it all works as they say.

 

[swreeder]

Nicely done. Yes, having the gravel dumped in the middle of your intended area is a huge pain. Much easier to have it off to the side, and use the tractor loader to bring in one bucket at a time.

But it also helps to make the pad much larger than the building area, then your tractor stays on the level pad as you work the critical area to perfectly flat.

Are you going to run a plate compactor now? I would. Have a hose ready to add water as needed for ideal compaction.

I was able to borrow a plate compactor and run it around the perimeter where the base plate will install. Fortunately (or unfortunately) things around here don't settle or shift since they area is layers of limestone. Below is a picture of the layers of rock they busted up and stacked up when we had our pool built. Each of of those slabs is at least 3'X3' and this is just a small pile of them

 

[deezler]

Yeah. I would still be plate compacting the entire interior space, too. Just makes things more stable and solid to walk and move machinery around on.

 

[swreeder]

Tractor Shed is complete. Four installers completed in less than 3 hours. It makes my tractor look small

 

[JDZ735M]

Looks real nice @swreeder!

 

[fitter1]

I used stone like you did and added stay mat or stone dust on top to lock everything together, otherwise it was like walking on marbles. A plate compacter as deezler said works great. Looks nice.