ground prep question

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sgcsalsero

sgcsalsero

Feeling the Heat
Mar 15, 2006
448
ClevelandRocks
Well, the rest of my wood is too wet so I have my first outdoor project, getting rid of scrub and brick-a-brack and replacing with 2-3 cords of neatly stacked wood. Before I do that, how should I 'prep the ground', there are some challenges as currently 15x20 area is uneven and one boggy area between garages.

My thought is to fill and grade with added dirt (a couple inches worth), then a few wheelbarrows of crushed gravel and then some sand (the whole idea being stability and max moisture runoff). I've had it with pallets, I twisted an ankle this past winter, and also I've had two stacks fallover. I never used a water level but I think this may call for it.

Any thoughts & suggestions -much- appreciated.
 

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Sounds like a good plan. You could lay down some 4x4's or old railroad ties to keep the wood off the ground as well.
 
Good idea. If you want to go with the least expense though and still have something work good, just go out and cut some small trees 4-6" diameter and lay them down. Lay two poles down and stack the wood on that. Works like a charm. Keeps the wood up off the ground and the only cost is cutting the poles and moving them to the wood pile area. If it is really wet, you might even go with larger poles because they will sink into the ground some.
 
I got sick of crashing threw pallets as well, behind my woodshed where I use to stack wood I excavated and put in washed stone and stacked my wood right on top of the stone. It was great on the feet and the water never collected at the wood.

If you put stones in that corner don't forget to lay out a couple of layers of vapor barrier material down so your stones don't disappear into the topsoil. Also if you go that way consider putting in some gutters to direct roof water away from that corner.

From the pics it looks like 6 yards of stone ought to do it.
 
I would use those pallets I see as my base for your first Holz Hausen and you will have solved your problems.
 
Thanks, I hadn't thought about the Holz-H, I know there are a bunch of posts on it so I'll research, if anything should
be a real conversation starter come bar-b-quein' season

10-4 on 6 yards of stone, not going to put any gutters in b/c the whole garage is getting rebuilt, thanks.
 
If you are goin to cover the ground forget the stone and sand just use road mix after it settles and rains it's just like concrete
 
First, I have to decide where I'm going to make my splitting area, stack my wood in the open, and build my woodsheds for storage.

Once I decide that, I'm going to prep for my stacking by digging down about four inches, and then dumping 4 inches of drainage gravel in to level it back up. I'll put pallets on top of the gravel to keep the wood off the ground. The gravel should help my pallets last longer.

I'll do the same thing inside of my woodsheds.

-SF
 
SlyFerret said:
First, I have to decide where I'm going to make my splitting area, stack my wood in the open, and build my woodsheds for storage.

Once I decide that, I'm going to prep for my stacking by digging down about four inches, and then dumping 4 inches of drainage gravel in to level it back up. I'll put pallets on top of the gravel to keep the wood off the ground. The gravel should help my pallets last longer.

I'll do the same thing inside of my woodsheds.

-SF
Click to expand...

.. never thought of burying the pallets but I like the idea of drainage gravel better. My wife really gave me grief over the pallets (and my twisted ankle) so I think $100 of gravel is in store.
 
I usually just waste the bottom course, stacking over it for a couple years, then take it for campfire fodder in the summer.
I like the idea of the parallel logs on the ground. I usually stack two courses side by side, 16 feet long by 5 feet high by 2 splits wide.
I think I'll try laying some long tree poles out ahead of time this year.
 
savageactor7 said:
If you put stones in that corner don't forget to lay out a couple of layers of vapor barrier material down so your stones don't disappear into the topsoil.
Click to expand...
Yes on the soil/stone seperation, but if you use geotextile cloth instead of vapor barrier, (usually poly these days), the area can infiltrate better. They will call it "weed-block" or something like that at the store.
 
On the fabric barrier, if you can find some one that actually has a brain working at the store, or if the package actually has material specs, the best thing you can use is a light to medium weight, NON-woven, needle punched geotextile fabric.

This is the cheaper of the fabrics, lets water through, and is plenty strong enough for what you are doing. It will last an extremely long time as well.

This is coming from a geotechnical civil engineer. Just my $.02 worth.
 
you have two roofs shedding water into that boggy area. That spot may be naturally boggy, but the drain water can't be helping. Any way to pipe that away?
 
billb3 said:
you have two roofs shedding water into that boggy area. That spot may be naturally boggy, but the drain water can't be helping. Any way to pipe that away?
Click to expand...

The back yard gradually slopes down so -eventually- it drains, once nice thing is that there are ferns popping up all over between the garages . .my garage is getting rebuilt or it will collapse on itself give or take 2 years, I'll definitely address drainage then especially since I'm planning on concrete footer
 
dj2cohen said:
On the fabric barrier, if you can find some one that actually has a brain working at the store, or if the package actually has material specs, the best thing you can use is a light to medium weight, NON-woven, needle punched geotextile fabric.

This is the cheaper of the fabrics, lets water through, and is plenty strong enough for what you are doing. It will last an extremely long time as well.

This is coming from a geotechnical civil engineer. Just my $.02 worth.
Click to expand...

Thanks DJ, weedblock is definitely in order, been battling lots of different weeds in my lawn for two+ years now
 
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