I just got a skidsteer with smooth bucket for the weekend, and 20 tons of dirt delivered in front of my house. I am regrading my entire backyard to provide the desired slope away from the house rather than the current undesired slope towards the house.
I had never driven one of these before. I had pretty good luck scooping the dirt out of the road and piling in my side yard for the night. I’m at work now for the night and thinking about the project. Just looking for advice on how to do this right.
I already broke up the wrong-sloping concrete in the yard, and will be moving most of it out. Then I need to scrape about a foot of earth off that is in the way of where the water should drain. That dirt will be moved towards the house, and then the purchased dirt will get spread thinly over the whole area.
It just rained today, so I guess I can expect mud.
Is there any special technique to spreading dirt and compacting with a skidsteer? What slope away from the house is most desirable, and for how far? I’m in Northeast PA, it rains a fair amount, and snows a little. Freeze depth is 2 feet or so.
Thanks!
Replies
Bobcats are not always the best tool for what you're doing. Their advantage is the very tight turning radius but the drive wheels cut in ruts and don't do well in mud like something with larger tires or tracks.
Spreading the soil, use the bucket to back-drag with a smooth bucket (watch out for that house or fence behind you!). The steeper the angle of the bucket, the more dirt you'll pull or cut, flatten it out and it spreads more than pulls. If you have a bucket with teeth, change it.
If your soil is compacted where you need to lower the grade, you might have to use a tiller (an attachment??) to loosen the soil first. Bobcats are difficult to cut moving forward in a controlled motion. A toothed bucket will help cut.
Carry your loads as low as possible. You probably already know how tippy they are front and back but I've also seen them go over sideways.
I have a compact tractor with turf tires for this type of work. They don't turn as easy but are much smoother to grade with. They don't beat you up as much either!
Have fun.
Yea, I was aware that it's not the ideal tool, but the ability to work in tight spaces was a big consideration. I have several trees to work around. I figured that anything that I can get done with it will be better than doing it all by hand, which was my other plan. If I have a days worth of touch up by hand, it's no big deal. The kids just finished school yesterday, they are gonna need something to do anyway.
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/hvt035.asp
Rule 1, keep the family members & Pets away!
When were moving & grading we run with the bucket 3/4 full, the extra weight helps on spreading dirt and compacting !
If you can try to keep the dirt down 8" below the top of the foundation, we grade out about 10' out from the foundation. We try to get at least 5% slope ( which is not much). As I have said, on the fine grade we do well by filling the bucket 3/4 full & back-drag.
Have fun & be Safe!
Good advice, it's like a magnet for my kids. I had to keep stopping it to yell at them to go away. The pets on the otherhand I don't think I need to worry, we have cats and a bird. The bird is caged, and when he's out, he stays in the trees. The cats disappear for hours after running the vacuum cleaner or a power tool. I don't expect to see them all day.
Don't stop to yell at them- send them to a friends house, or securly tie them up in the basement!
An aquaintance ran over & killed his 3 year old son on one of those a couple of years ago.
In the area you're in the frost is 48" I believe. I live in NJ and south and east of rt 287 is 36". Above rt 287 it's 48". I believe Dingmans Ferry PA. is 48" so you probably are.
Headstong, I'll take on anyone!
I was gonna mention that. Not sure if it affects anything ...
but in Pittsburgh, southwest PA ... the frost line is at around 32" ... and we dig down to 36" to be covered.
so I'm guessing it's at least 36 in NE Pa ...
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
We have a Kubota L4310HST compact tractor with landscape rake to perform the transport and spreading. It worked really well on both the 8 acres of pasture and 1/2 acres of quasi-lawn (only weed-wipped in summer). Does the rental firm offer a landscape rake?
Try not to run over any areas that you have to remove earth from later on. The skid steer can compact it too much making it almost impossible to remove what you want.
I have a 773 and lots of experience...but they suck for graging unless you have the tilt bucket(side to side) I usually rent a small dozer for grading and use the 773 for moving large piles and placement.
Grade in reverse, bucket full and down..tilted forward. Cut in small increments(1-2") in forward.
HAVE FUN... cause it is for the most part. Keith
Yep, the grading isn't perfect, but I'm impressed with what I've done for a newbie. Very little handwork will be needed. It's taken twice as long as expected, but I didn't expect there to be a second slab of cement underneath the cement that I already broke up. I spent half the time digging under it and ripping it up. I really ended up removing a total of 2 feet of earth, and then putting it back. I also found some large and deep areas of cinders (coal ash). It is unstable and acts like playsand on it's own, so I dug that stuff up and mixed it up with the rest of the dirt. This has been lots of fun. This is one of the most noticable transformations to our home that can be done in a couple days. And ultimately it's cheap, for the amount of improvement. It's going to be less than $300 total for the skidsteer, with it's trailer for the whole weekend, and $200 for 20 tons of topsoil. My time... well I rarely fully account for that, especially if it's something that I enjoy.