Our jobsite is full of mud because of some ditching work that was done. It’s all backfilled now,but the soil has a lot of clay, and with the current rain, we are walking around on this slippery, sticky soil. It clings to your boots, gets tracked all over, and is just nasty to walk on.
I’m thinking of throwing some straw on it, but wonder what others do in this case, if anything?
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Replies
haven't done it
just a thought
some places give away pallets
make walk ways
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bobl Volo, non valeo
Straw then the pallet... Scrap OSB or ply on the pallets...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Straw doesn't sound bad to me. As long as it's readily available and fairly cheap.
There was a guy here on BT a while back that said he spread sand around his houses. Doesn't sound like a bad idea, other than it would be expensive. And it would be hard to spread once the ground was already soaked.
I don't like the idea of pallets. They have a lot of places to catch your toe on.
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. [Ronald Reagan]
I have spread sand in the past with a jobsite like yours. Straw sounds like it would work, what ever is economical.The only time sand did not work was when the clay soil was mucky over 6" deep. Nothing short of a dry spell worked here.
mike
bankrun gravel... makes a good base for your topsoil too...Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Just got my JLC yesterday. Guy there talked about how he was pleasantly surprised how jute landscaping fabric held up . . . and cheap to boot.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
What about using that black weedblock material?
i found a guy that cuts trees and has a chipper truck,works like a dump truck to unload. i have him bring in a load or two and it works great! plus it's free for me and saves him the cost of dump fees. for the price i haven't found anything better. i did once buy a bunch of pole barn metal siding that was damaged in shipping-16' lengths and layed them all around the house,worked great but you can't find it when you need it. larry
Planer shavings also work well. Anybody doing much planing will welcome the disposal.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Contact the tree trimmers. The wood chips will firm up the mud.
Another lead are the stump grinders that clear lots for construction. They are often very happy to unload on you. I had two 52' trailers with walking beam floors appear and off load about 120 CY of "hog fuel" for free. We were closer than the landfill and didn't charge. Happy all round.
BTW - it works magic on gun club backstops. Amazingly resistant to gravity.
Straw, or pine straw, for wide areas with light traffic. Duck boards, pallets work well, for frequently used paths. With high standing water, several inches, planks and cinder blocks can form bridges on frequently used paths.
I have even seen newspapers laid out instead of straw.
A few pairs of rubber boots sized to slip on easily at entrances, communal boots as it were, can help a lot. You have to watch for issues with sock feet and nails but the boots help greatly with tracked in mud.
From the LAND of clay mud...
If the property is flat, nothing beats straw.
Good thick layer everywhere. (One bennie is the grass in the spring.)
As Imerc said, pallets over that.
I live on a steep hill. Tried the straw, and I just get a free ride downhill. Usually on my arse...
Now I make a walkway, mostly with pallets. And I make steps where I go up and down the most.
Mostly I just keep my trips to a minimum during the winter. Not an option on a jobsite...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
I second or third or forth straw.
buy more than you think you'll need.
it's cheap.
you'll end up reapplying as it soaks things up.
Jeff
I'd be careful using too much wood chips. Had a customer use them years ago during construction to keep mud off the brick. They where eventually backfilled and acted as a fantastic termite attractant. Never seen a 5 year old house eaten that bad.
Of course if you have the house termite treated disregard everything I just wrote.
Doesn't straw plus mud equal adobe? Seems like the adobe house my great grandfather built is still standing and occupied. Don't know about straw on paths. Kind of avoid the stuff after my Dad said, "OK, that's the final straw" and then I'd get grounded or something. Tyr.
put the straw on the mud..
the pallets on the straw...
and the OSB or ply or planks on the pallets...
BTW who let you off of being grounded???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
If you, or someone you know has connections with a paper mill, discarded dryer felt is really the ticket.
I have quite a bit of the stuff, use it to cover parts of my garden in the winter, but save some for the situations you describe.
It comes in widths of about 20' and lengths much longer and it's pretty heavy so mine is cut down to 10' X 30' or so.
Wears like iron and lasts forever.
It costs mucho bucks when new for the mills, but they usually give it away.
I use osb sometimes with three studs under it.
If theres puddling water, I alwasy drop a few studs down first.
Around here, In winter, the backfills are poor and sometime get very chunky. You'd have to be a billy goat to walk on that. So, before I do anything, I create my walkways all the way around the house using 3/4 deck plywood. I then work in comfort as I install the sill plates and joists. When it comes time to sheet the deck, I simply pick up the plywood and lay it! If there's studs under it...I use them on the first wall.
For mud, I make rat runs...from every pile to the main osb path to the front door. The rat runs can be anything...as long as they don't have any mud on them. I get real cranky if anyone walks on the rat runs with muddy feet. I hate mud worse than I hate anything.
When you use OSB, don't leave it lay past its usuable point. Don't let it get ruined. I tend to switch it every two days or so....every day if it's wet.
I also keep a dry ramp all the way to the road...if the trucks are parked on the road.
Safety Tip...no one should be standing in the mud using electical tools!
blue
Warning! Be cautious when taking any advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, some of it is viewed as boogerin and not consistent with views of those who prefer to overbuild everything...including their own egos
Additionally, don't take any political advice from me. I'm just a parrot for the Republican talking points. I get all my news from Rush Limbaugh and Fox and Friends (they are funny...try them out)!
We just went thru this crap!
we (carps) kept askin to have som greavel brought in with the stone slinger.
So the crete truck could get close enough to the whole.
Office said there was no $ for it.
so we wheeled it
really cost effective!!!!
We got our window cut outs laying in the heavy traffic areas.
But I still go home looking like I lost the wrestling match with a pig!
Mr T
I can't afford to be affordable anymore
I used to rummage thru a carpet stores dumpster and take long narrow strips..that worked well.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
being a city boy ...
I learned the first time I went to buy straw ..
that there's a difference between straw ... and hay.
luckily my buddy clued me in ... or the feed store guy woulda just laughed at me.
for those in the un-know .... hay's food. Has sugar in it.
straw is ... uh ... straw ... bedding.
no sugar ... lasts a million times longer.
or words to that effect.
Jeff
Thanks for that head up Jeff.
Okay...now...how do you tell which is which?
blue
straw is sweet ..hay is heat?
Warning! Be cautious when taking any advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, some of it is viewed as boogerin and not consistent with views of those who prefer to overbuild everything...including their own egos
Additionally, don't take any political advice from me. I'm just a parrot for the Republican talking points. I get all my news from Rush Limbaugh and Fox and Friends (they are funny...try them out)!
I guess ya either taste it ...
or do like I do ...
find a feed store or landscape supply that stocks it ...
and walk in .. like ya know what the hell yer talking about ...
and say ... (ok.. now ya gotta remind yerself .. hay or straw ...) Uh ... I need some bales of "straw" ...
that's how I do it. Each time ... gotta remember what my buddy Joe said ...
ok .. yeah .. straw ... not hay. For some reason .. I always wanna ask for hay ...
But ... Joe ... living out in the country and having a coupla horses ... set me straight.
Said hay would work in a pinch ... but guess it disappears pretty quick.
plus ... hay brings in the vermin.
then ... ya gotta drive around back ... to what ya thought was a broken down old trailer ... that's where the straw is ....
last time I think a bale was $3.50?
Jeff
I don't feed horses...I'll just keep laying osb and rat races everywhere. 1x6 works good for stiff mud..otherwise I lay 2x10s
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, some of it is viewed as boogerin and not consistent with views of those who prefer to overbuild everything...including their own egos
Additionally, don't take any political advice from me. I'm just a parrot for the Republican talking points. I get all my news from Rush Limbaugh and Fox and Friends (they are funny...try them out)!
One benefit of hay (or a drawback...depending on the hay) is that it usually has some seed content which can be helpful by getting a bit of sod going to stabilize the soil.
On the other hand, if the hay is of low quality, one can end up with a patch of invasive weeds....
But then a thread could be started about the efficacy of various herbicides on the jobsite....
"how do you tell which is which?"
Hay is green or brown. It's made from alfalfa, grass, clover, and probably other things in other parts of the country.
Straw is yellow. The color of a ripe wheat field.
Any landscaping place is gonna stock straw instead of hay. Straw is generally pretty cheap, since it's a byproduct of wheat production. Hay is roughly twice as much, since it is a crop grown for feed. So they aren't gonna have hay unless they just can't get straw.When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary. [William Wrigley, Jr.]
Straw works somewhat depending how wet. It can be a binder too. I worked in conditions where a shovel was kept near the ladder, so the boots could be scraped prior to climbing....that site had straw. Lot's of fun.
One thing you never want to do is put a ladder on plywood especially wet plywood. On a job before I arrived at the site that day, a person put a ladder on plywood the ladder kicked and his hammer went in his back side. Then another genesis did a quick pull it out and the blood just sprayed out. Well, after all is said and done the guy was fine but it was a close call.
But I see it time and time again. I am always moving ladders off of plywood in wet conditions!!!!
Bhackford,
Invest in some better ladder boots. We put a rather nice rubber pair on all wood ladders. Our metal ones have cleats built it.
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, some of it is viewed as boogerin and not consistent with views of those who prefer to overbuild everything...including their own egos
Additionally, don't take any political advice from me. I'm just a parrot for the Republican talking points. I get all my news from Rush Limbaugh and Fox and Friends (they are funny...try them out)!
Ceck out the latest issue of JLC!
Article about using Jute lanscaping fabric for this.
Talk about timing!
Mr T
I can't afford to be affordable anymore