s219
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2011
- Messages
- 8,548
- Location
- Virginia USA
- Tractor
- Kubota L3200, Deere X380, Kubota RTV-X
I just finished putting an entrance culvert on our new property. I thought I'd walk through the process with some photos.
After determining the culvert location and layout, the first step was to strip all grass, weeds, and topsoil from the area and lay down a bed of compacted crusher run:
Next, the pipe was placed. I used a 15" ID / 18" OD dual wall polyethylene pipe, ADS N12 (cost $165). The bedding was 4" deep, and placed so that the inner wall of the pipe was about 1" below the ditch bottom.
The next day, I got more crusher run and placed it around the pipe to hold it in place before doing further work:
Once the pipe was in place, I excavated a larger area to complete the driveway entrance. I had to remove 8-12" of topsoil from this area, totaling about 8 yards. I used the front loader to dig out the uppermost soil, and then switched to my box blade with rippers once I got close to the clay base. I found that I could back up about a foot to let the rear cutting surface seat the box blade down into the soil, then go forward to scrape a layer off.
From there, I finished covering up the pipe with crusher run, and thoroughly compacted it. This would let me safely dump a bigger load of crusher run on top of the pipe.
Here's the first 10 ton load of crusher run spread over the whole area, and compacted:
And here's the second 10 ton load:
I compacted this second layer, and then used my box blade (without rippers) to shape it and add a crown. I estimated the depth of gravel over the pipe to be about 13", just above the 12" I was planning for (more is better -- the minimum according to code is 9").
This afternoon, I used some of the excavated soil to buid up a shoulder, which interleaved with the edge of the crusher run and got compacted, then I finished it off with some top soil.
Finally, I threw down some grass seed and covered it with straw, just in time for rain tomorrow.
The rain will finish tying everything together and help it all settle out. After giving the entrance some tractor and vehicle traffic for a few weeks, I will add more crusher run as needed to fine tune the surface shape.
This was a great project for a tractor. I did have to hand-excavate part of the initial pipe channel due to the tight space and slope of the ditch, but the tractor was used for almost everything else. Believe it or not, the most technical aspect of the work from the standpoint of tractor operation was knocking down each 10 ton pile of crusher run in place (I had the dump truck center the pile over the pipe each time). I ended up dragging material back down towards me to make a ramp, then drove up it and pushed the rear of the pile forward. Kept repeating until the pile was flattened, then spread and compacted the material.
After determining the culvert location and layout, the first step was to strip all grass, weeds, and topsoil from the area and lay down a bed of compacted crusher run:
Next, the pipe was placed. I used a 15" ID / 18" OD dual wall polyethylene pipe, ADS N12 (cost $165). The bedding was 4" deep, and placed so that the inner wall of the pipe was about 1" below the ditch bottom.
The next day, I got more crusher run and placed it around the pipe to hold it in place before doing further work:
Once the pipe was in place, I excavated a larger area to complete the driveway entrance. I had to remove 8-12" of topsoil from this area, totaling about 8 yards. I used the front loader to dig out the uppermost soil, and then switched to my box blade with rippers once I got close to the clay base. I found that I could back up about a foot to let the rear cutting surface seat the box blade down into the soil, then go forward to scrape a layer off.
From there, I finished covering up the pipe with crusher run, and thoroughly compacted it. This would let me safely dump a bigger load of crusher run on top of the pipe.
Here's the first 10 ton load of crusher run spread over the whole area, and compacted:
And here's the second 10 ton load:
I compacted this second layer, and then used my box blade (without rippers) to shape it and add a crown. I estimated the depth of gravel over the pipe to be about 13", just above the 12" I was planning for (more is better -- the minimum according to code is 9").
This afternoon, I used some of the excavated soil to buid up a shoulder, which interleaved with the edge of the crusher run and got compacted, then I finished it off with some top soil.
Finally, I threw down some grass seed and covered it with straw, just in time for rain tomorrow.
The rain will finish tying everything together and help it all settle out. After giving the entrance some tractor and vehicle traffic for a few weeks, I will add more crusher run as needed to fine tune the surface shape.
This was a great project for a tractor. I did have to hand-excavate part of the initial pipe channel due to the tight space and slope of the ditch, but the tractor was used for almost everything else. Believe it or not, the most technical aspect of the work from the standpoint of tractor operation was knocking down each 10 ton pile of crusher run in place (I had the dump truck center the pile over the pipe each time). I ended up dragging material back down towards me to make a ramp, then drove up it and pushed the rear of the pile forward. Kept repeating until the pile was flattened, then spread and compacted the material.
