Land leveling for shed help

[HogJawHoller]

Hello. I need to level area for a shed and eventually a barn. I have a 50hp tractor with Loader and a 7' box blade. What is the best way to start? My soil is straight up red clay. Is it best to angle box blade and try to run along slope? Or keep it level and drag down the slope and feather it up? Or use front loader to just bite into hill then use box blade? I am new at this stuff. Thx for any help. I'll post pics later.

 

[radioman]

Actually - there are too many variables here such as steepness, rocks, end is the door going in. However one thing you might want to consider is do it in 2 inch lifts and pack it it down with your tires so it will not settle much where you fill in. I would just start with whatever makes you feel comfortable and just get er done. Personally, I would start from bottom if it steep and start digging in hill and fill in behind you. Once you get the rough grade done, I'd use the box blade and try to smooth things over.

 

[JohninCT]

How big is the area you are leveling? How much is the elevation difference between high and low? If it is a shallow slope I would run along the slope starting on the high side and push the dirt over the low side. Setting some stakes with marks at the right height along the low side helps you in judging your dirt placement to get it roughly level.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Figure out the height difference first. What appears minor may be a lot of material. 1' difference over 40-50' x 30' is a lot of material.
I carved out a 70' diameter space for a round pin. The high point was 2.5' above the low point - although it looked less when standing there observing it.
I started with box blade but ended up using the loader to cut into slope and move material. I used the box blade to level out material once I had the
suface area roughed in. All of the above posts give valued information.

 

[SPIKER]

Like others said it all depends on area you are working in. If you can roll around in circle it works best with the Box Blade but if you have a small area to work in and have to go back & forth then the FEL may be better.

I moved a LOT of dirt when I did my barn, it is 50x50 but to level the area you dont want a big cut a the top to work against or have water rolling down against the building. So you have to increase the size of the pad you are working on to get area level first then work in to have the pad flat.

The Top Soil also should be removed so there is good hard surface to start laying out on. Back filling with material that can be compacted is needed for long term or for surface that you will put concrete on top of. If it is a wood floor type shed then it may be easier to simply back fill the low side with gravel that can be compacted on top of the low side and simply try and compact the top side for simple shed on skids type building.

Some pics can be seen of my barn build on Photobucket.



I bet I moved 1000 yards or more dirt in all the working in this area that is maybe 500x500 feet with a deceiving elevation change on a side slope from start to finish starting at the pad to the berms and diversion swales.




Note I have 6" top soil, 2 feet of clay and then a foot of gravel/clay followed by hard gravel mix to shale at 15'. Ohio so frost heave is issue to 30~40" depending. I first roto-tilled to break up grass/sod and moved it out of pad area using FEL. I then box bladed to level area and compact back to somewhat solid base/pad. Then added gravel and compacted again using 4500lb tractor & yard type roller at same time. I added crusher run creek run gravel in many lifts compacting and leveling at is went. After barn was up a large area was roto-tilled and sop soil stripped back so clay could be moved. The top soil was put back in after the berms and swales were built up (uphill around and downhill of barn pad.) it took 200~300 hours of work over the years all done in stages to get them correct compaction and lay of land to get water moved away and create more level areas. I also put in 3 separate dry wells to help move & drain areas.


Mark

 

[Ken45101]

I did an area for a 60x64 barn. It was maybe a two foot elevation difference. I mostly used the box blade with ripper teeth, running in a circle, cutting/dragging the dirt from the high corner to the low corner.

Note, for a pole barn, the poles on the fill side have to be longer so that they have their usual in ground length down in solid ground, not fill.

A front end loader will not do much digging in heavy clay unless you have teeth on the bucket. I usually find it more efficient to just keep moving forward in a circle with the box blade than to do the back and forth required with a loader.

A few years later, I leveled another area for another barn, but that was more into a hillside, 5-8 feet high. I used a skid steer and a mini-excavator for that.

 

[newbury]

Definitely invest in either teeth or a Piranha. I'm contemplating a similar dig with a similar sized tractor and all recommendations here have emphasized that the LOADER is not meant for digging down, rather it's designed for lifting up.

 

[SPIKER]

Something from my post above I did not talk about was how much elevation change on my barn pad. From the 50x50 corner to corner was about 24" elevation change. I know the photos does not look like that much but it is there.

Those linked thumbnail pics above are taken from almost the same spot a few years apart.



In the pic above I added text on the area where water fall/run and berms are at. It is kind of hard to see in the pic the elevation change still. The pic was taken shows wheel marks how I drove in one direction around used Box Blade for 90% of the work. I did use FEL after roto-tilling sod up to scoop into the blue dump wagon and moved it out of the way. However the box blade was used to PILE up the dirt and then scooped into the trailer moved 100 yards out of area so clay could be moved. The pic above is what our top soil looks like when real dry it was about done at this point leveling and laying out for water flow away form barn. While I was dragging with box blade and moving leveling, my brother was right behind me on Garden Tractor pulling 900lb roller. The final step was using an old Fence/Gate to final level & seed.

For Ref, last week I moved maybe 10~15 yards of hard packed topsoil/clay 60 or so feet from the barn in pic is. I did it for the neighbor out front's swimming pool build. In the distance of a 24' round pool I had to take out over a foot of soil on the uphill side of the pool area. I could not drive in turn and drive out I had to use the FEL only. Drive in scoop and back out of the area, it was blocked by fence, trailer home and tool/garden type shed. I was blocked on 3 sides and only thing I could do is scoop. Luckily it was between rain storms so soil was damp but not soaked. It came out OK but the FEL is still a poor choice for moving dirt, sometimes its all you can use to do the job. The guys came in the next day and said I took out way too much dirt on the uphill side. Turns out I had it within 2" of level by eyeball other than the rough/bumpiness very little fill was needed to get the pool in. They wanted to know what kind of transit I used lol. I told them I eyeballed it & had a good giggle at them saying how bad it was going to be until they got their transit out. I had a better laugh that they screwed around till it started to rain and it poured for the next week while they worked in the mud trying to get e very thing done.

Mark

 

[HogJawHoller]

Thanks for the comments. I have a lot of info to gather. I am leaning towards a 24'x32' pole shed. I will get grade and elevation info soon. Thx all

 

[HogJawHoller]

Newbury,


Thx for the help. What is a piranha? Sorry. I'm clueless.