Filling trenches

[Anonymous Poster]

I have recently bought a small acreage. Part of the deal was to install rural water. Instead of trenching, they used a backhoe. The place had a realy nice lawn, now it has big trench through the center. How is the best way to get this ground back to normal without settling below the original ground? I am willing to just let it settle for a year, or should I try and pack it down. Do any of you have any experiance? Any information would be appreciated. Thanks, KLT

 

[dmccarty]

klt,

I think you are going to have to let it settle because of the water pipe.

When the power company contractor's put in the underground power lines
to my neighbor's house a year or so ago they left a big mess. They used
a backhoe with a big bucket to trench the lines. The bucket was only 12
inches wide but it looked like a 6 foot wide half circle. I think they could
dig down three feet in one scoop.

Anyway, they did a pretty poor job of filling in the trench. I fixed what
they should done but they had not compacted what they had filled. I
ended up driving my tractor along the trench to compact what they had
filled and then I added more fill. I drove the tractor REAL slow when I did
this. One portion of the trench that went through my neighbors driveway
I filled in three times and it still guttered out after rain. The neighbors
just had the driveway graveled and compacted so it will be interesting to
see if the trench does not show up again.

I think your biggest problem is the water pipe. I'm not sure I would
run my tractor down a trench with a water pipe. Unless its a 36 inch
pipe! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I think you might just have to add fill and let mother nature do the
settling.

That my two cents! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Dan McCarty