To fix a mud hole!

[HawkinsHollow]

This mud hole has existed for the entire 4 years I have owned this property. I have made half assed attempts to make it better by throwing bricks and cinderblock pieces in the tire tracks and when I am running through it once or twice a month with my tractor it hasn't been that much of an issue. Now that I have a SxS and run through it a lot more and I have done more damage to this area in the last month of SxS ownership than in the previous 4 years with my tractor. Time to fix the problem so it doesn't continue to get worse.

This is in a creek bottom area of my property that is swampy (obviously) and it floods 2-7 times a year depending on rainfall. So there is no real way to keep the water out of this area. Nor is it easy to drain as this is pretty much a low spot. Excess water does drain out one side of it and my goal it to help that process a long but there is only so much I can do there. The only real solution is to build it up. My plan is to use free concrete chunks to fill and raise the area so I am not driving through the mud hole. Luckily the mud isn't bottomless, it has a pretty hard bottom and the initial brick and cinder chunks help with that. Unfortunately, this is only an area that my tractor or SxS can get into. It would be a big ask to have a dump truck drive to back down there. So the majority of these concrete chunks will have to be placed by hand from the trailer I back down there.

My first course is rather large chunks of concrete lining the tire ruts. Next I will come back with smaller chucks to fill the voids and raise it up. And then finally I will use 3" chunks of crushed concrete as the final layer. I have a material yard next door to me that I get this stuff from for $20/ton and they don't charge me delivery. The 3" chunks I will have dumped at the top of the hill and will shuttle it down by the bucket with my tractor. I would LOVE to have a dump trailer to attach to my tractor but they are HIGH right now, not sure the budget can handle it. But it sure would make this project easier.

It is going to rain here for the next week so things will be on hold probably. In the meantime I would welcome and advice, questions, concerns, comments about this project that has been a long time coming.

 

[scootr]

If you can fill it with earth until it drains off you might consider rerouting the road to better ground

 

[LouNY]

It's abit late now but some heavy highway fabric would have helped.

 

[M59]

HawkinsHollow,

I'm agreeing with Scootr. Do you have option of re-routing the path/ road instead of trying to fill in a mud hole? That might be better use of your effort.

 

[ovrszd]

Until you dump enough material, of whatever type, in the ditch to elevate it to roadway height, it's going to remain a swamp.

This is obviously an old trail that has eroded and compacted down to it's swamp elevation. If you plan to continue the route you will have to elevate it.

An old road grader guy once told me, "a road without a ditch is a ditch". That applies here.

 

[3gunr]

It looks like the ground slopes away ro the right , can you gig a trench that will drain the water out . Also cutting some trees will allow sunlight in helping it to dry out. I have similar issues in spots on my farm and this has helped,

 

[oosik]

Fill it until it's higher than the surrounding ground. Then water will not pond there.

 

[Cougsfan]

I think your plan of using large stuff below and progressively larger stuff as you go up until, as Oosik and Overszd said, until you are above ground level is the best and easiest route. Any improvement to drainage will help.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

You need to install a bunch of big stuf until it bridges, and then smaller well drained material, (reject course concrete aggregate) until that bridges. I would probably consider lauing in some type of small culvert.

From you picture it looks like there is an intermittent stream bed, flowing from close left to teh right and away. Don’t know how big it might get, but your mud hole is becasue you have kept crossing there and pushed out fine aggregate, making a low spot full of water, and the problem has gotten progressively worse.

 

[etpm]

I put in a road, a driveway really, at my place and there was a big muddy spot similar to yours but not as long. I dumped about 4 yards of rocks of various sizes into the spot and then topped it off with at least a yard of gravel. Oh yeah, above the rocks and below the gravel I dumped broken concrete chunks about 4 inches in size. It is no longer muddy. It has been at least 8 years since I filled the spot. I was amazed when I was dumping the rocks into the spot that they just kept sinking into the ground. There is no stream or swamp in the area, just this one deep muddy spot in the woods. When the drive was done the muddy spot ended up being a few inches higher than the ground on either side of the drive. Though it has sunk some over the years it is not muddy or wet.
Eric

 

[kevin37b]

Amazing !

 

[airbiscuit]

Liked ...

An old road grader guy once told me, "a road without a ditch is a ditch"

 

[buckeyefarmer]

An old road grader guy once told me, "a road without a ditch is a ditch". That applies here.

I like that saying, very true.

 

[civilian]

Liked ...

An old road grader guy once told me, "a road without a ditch is a ditch"

Isn't ovrszd a road grader guy? Not sure on the old part, though. Ha Jon

 

[ovrszd]

Isn't ovrszd a road grader guy? Not sure on the old part, though. Ha Jon

Totally a grader guy. Totally an old guy.

 

[bcp]

You won't ever fix your mud hole until it is no longer a hole.

Fill it or "take the high road" around it.

Bruce

 

[HawkinsHollow]

From you picture it looks like there is an intermittent stream bed, flowing from close left to teh right and away. Don’t know how big it might get, but your mud hole is becasue you have kept crossing there and pushed out fine aggregate, making a low spot full of water, and the problem has gotten progressively worse.

Yes, there is water coming into this spot from the left. There is a little swampy area that fills during the wet season that once full flows into this area. I need to put a culvert across the road to keep this area drained and divert the water in another direction, which I plan to do. But that will not solve my issue, rain and flood waters will continue to fill my mud hole, keeping it a mud hole.

This is obviously an old trail that has eroded and compacted down to it's swamp elevation. If you plan to continue the route you will have to elevate it.

An old road grader guy once told me, "a road without a ditch is a ditch". That applies here.

That is the plan, fill it with progressively smaller concrete chunks. I might even sprinkle some gravelly dirt over the larger concrete to fill the voids and lock it in place before I put the smaller stuff on top. I plan on creating a ditch on the right side of the filled area to allow water to flow down and out that right side like it is doing now.

For the reroute vote, this is not a very viable option. I could drive around the puddle on the left, but that just seems lazy and silly. It would still be a muddy mess. I feel it is better to fix the issue rather than ignore it is there and drive around it.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

It's abit late now but some heavy highway fabric would have helped.

I am going to use cloth on the ends where they transition out of the mud hole. These spots will likely only have the 3" concrete chunks. This way it hopefully keeps the smaller chunks from disappearing.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

IMHO its more of a drainage issue than a fill issue.
I would concentrate on fixing the drainage with adding slope, adding ditches and this material can be used to raise the grade, and add some drainage tile to boot. Would be a cheap fix but labour intensive depending on what you have for equipment. This is where a backhoe or excavator becomes wickedly valuable.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

IMHO its more of a drainage issue than a fill issue.
I would concentrate on fixing the drainage with adding slope, adding ditches and this material can be used to raise the grade, and add some drainage tile to boot. Would be a cheap fix but labour intensive depending on what you have for equipment. This is where a backhoe or excavator becomes wickedly valuable.

Unfortunately there is no real way to fix the slope. It is a flat swampy area. I will eventually put a culvert back behind the camera location that should stop the small trickle of water constantly moving through the mud hole. But rain and flood water will still fill the mud hole. I MIGHT be able to eek out a little better flow out the side with that water, but it it pretty darn flat in there. But if I fill the majority of the area it should facilitate drainage as the water has nowhere else to go but out the side.