This project required me to level off and dress the ground for a round yard and improve the drainage of the area around it.
The first task was to strip the grass and top soil off the site to create a stable base for the fill to stand on. I pushed the overburden out and piled it for later use.
The laser level showed a fall of approximately 400mm across the site, requiring a large amount of fill to be placed to make the round yard level. There was material available on site to use as fill, so the next job was to excavate it and move the fill to the round yard and spread it.
I started with a mix of large and small rock to get the required depth quickly. Then brought in smaller material to fill the areas toward the top of the slope.
Excavating the fill on site was a big job, but much more cost effective than buying it and having it delivered.
I made some new friends along the way…
And made sure to protect the locals!
Most of the fill is in place and the floor of the round yard is getting close to level.
To create a good solid base for the round yard’s sand topping I am going to put down a 100mm layer of commercial road base (crushed rock and fines up to 20mm that compacts well and is resistant to erosion). That meant I could cut away some of the high side of the round yard and use that material to help fill and level off the larger crushed rock on the low side.
Before I started I did basic maintenance on the excavator topping off fuel, topping up the engine oil and greasing the pivot points. Once I got working I realised that the box blade would let me move the spoil much quicker, so I stopped and fitted it to the machine. It is proving a very effective implement, letting even my small machine move around quite large piles of spoil quickly.
The next step is to place a few truck loads of big rock around the outside of the yard to help retain the fill.
All of the retaining rock is in place and the fill has mostly been compacted. I have dropped a few more piles of fill in some low spots ready to be spread. The site is close to being level now and just about ready for a big load of road base to go on top to make it fully flat.
And that’s it! The base is now compacted and level within about 100mm. The fill that I have been excavating on site is a mix of large rock, to stones, to gravel, and clay, so it’s not possible to get it fully flat with this material.
In the end I estimate that I excavated about 60 cubic meters of rock and gravel from the pile below. It’s quite a big hole!
I had a surprising encounter in the form of not one, but two red bellied black snakes on the job site this morning!
It’s a timely reminder that snake season is upon us and if you are working outdoors – especially on an excavation project, that you might disturb a snake or two!
Not long after this visitor above the first delivery of road base arrived. So I got to work spreading it and then compacted it down ready for the next layer. It’s always best to build up fill in layers of about 50mm to ensure even and complete compaction.
I love the storm clouds that built up toward the end of the day in this video – it was really dramatic, but thankfully didn’t rain on the job.
The second delivery of road base arrived and was spread like the first. This one brought the level almost to where I wanted it and very close to flat. One more load and it will be done and ready for the side rails to be installed and the sand surface placed.
It was really satisfying getting the surface flat and level and I have to say, I think it’s looking great.
The good run of weather I’ve been having on this project finally came to an end, but I still got another load of road base down, spread and compacted. I will leave it to dry out fully before coming back to compact the edges and finish shaping the base. On the up side, we didn’t need to add any water to the road base to allow it to compact fully.
The rain and cloud made for quite a different atmosphere…
That’s the third layer of road base down. Just one more to go which will let me give the round yard a slight dome shape to improve the drainage.
Because the truck cannot get right out to the sides of the round yard I hired a plate compactor to compact the edge. I wouldn’t have wanted to try to do the whole round yard with the little machine that I hired, but it was ideal for the narrow strip that the truck couldn’t reach.
The extra rock that I dropped around the edges of the round yard does a good job of holding back the fill, but it needed to be tidied up and covered with soil to make it all more presentable. So I spent some time working around the outside doing just that.
After getting the final layer of road base down and compacted the sand was delivered and spread. The base boards need to be put in place next and then I can push the sand out to the edges fully.
The last major part of this project is placing a layer of course river sand on the base. This sand is excellent for round yards and arenas. It protects the horses hooves and it won’t compact over time, so it stays loose and free, just requiring a rake back into position occasionally.
And that’s how it looked after it was spread. I didn’t push the sand right out to the edges as the base boards are not back on yet, but after that’s done I will do so and the top will be complete.
One of the challenges of this project was the the posts for the round yard were already in the ground. As you can see above, that meant that when the site was levelled off the posts on the downhill side were left too short. They couldn’t be removed prior to building up the base, as it would have been almost impossible to bore holes through the large rock of the fill. So the solution was to leave the posts in place, build up around them, then lift them and re-concrete them back in place.
And here’s the last step! The customer concreted the posts in and has placed the first two rows of based boards on the yard so it was all ready for me to push the sand out and grade the top. Once I had the sand spread and levelled I spent some time cleaning up the boundary to make it look nice.
And that’s it. This project is complete!