Drying / compacting mud

[Gaspasser]

I have 100 feet to go to finish a road for water well driling access. I've already built a proper 170 foot compacted crushed stone driveway to the future house site which will be permanent. Expensive and time consuming. The driller wants the last 100 feet, which is currently dirt, leveled and compacted to be "stoned" as well. It consists of some clay and muddy soils which don't compact well with a plate compactor. This last 100 feet will be the actual house site which will be dug up and excavated for a foundation so any work /stone done will be removed/wasted. The well will be positioned at the end of this run with the house between the well and permanent driveway.

I really don't want to spend time and funds on a project that that will be dug up. Stone runs $1000-1500 for a 4 inch layer of the required area, and that may not be enough for the 80,000 lb load of the rig. Anyone else have any experience with "jumping jack" compactors or using quicklime or hydrated lime to harden the soil for rig access? Would dry sand or cement dust harden the soil sufficiently? Any other ideas? Please help me save my back and bucks.... thank you.....

 

[Motion]

Dry sand might be the most cost effective, you'll still need the stone, I'd suggest laying the sand and crowning the road before stoning. The drilling rig should be one in, and one out try not to start the ground pumping. Immediately after the well installation remove the stone from the house pad area and stash it for later use dressing the remaining road as it gets compacted. Again, keep it graded and crowned. Also, if there's a need for culverts, water, utility crossing, etc. install them now.

 

[Bee-Positive]

Not sure if you could rent them for less than your budget but have you looked into crane mats or rail road ties? Put them down - pick them up.

 

[Tughill Tom]

What Bee said rent some Swamp Mats as we call them. I think United Rental has them.

 

[Gaspasser]

What Bee said rent some Swamp Mats as we call them. I think United Rental has them.

Thanks guys. Great ideas. I am putting some sand down and will look into the swamp mats. Will have to compare costs/labor stone vs. mats. Need 11x40 pad for rig setup and then path to pad site from permanent stone drive. Will post on progress.

 

[Russell King]

Perhaps you should contact the person that is responsible for the house foundation design and ask them what they need in the area where the house will be placed. Then you can install that now for the well drilling and just leave it in place and build the foundation over it. Thus you are not buying material that will just be moved out after this. (I assume the house foundation only covers a portion of this drilling pad but the stability of the house foundation will be needed for several feet around the foundation perimeter.)

 

[Caden]

It consists of some clay

Perhaps mats would be a good temporary solution, as @Bee-Positive suggested.
IMHO there is no way to make a good driveway over clay. The clay needs to be scraped away first.
Even if you gravel over it, the clay will eventually ooze through and resurface.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Road cloth!
Especially where it's going to be a permanent drive, or parking.

 

[Bee-Positive]

IMHO there is no way to make a good driveway over clay. The clay needs to be scraped away first.
Even if you gravel over it, the clay will eventually ooze through and resurface.

Not true.

I built on a lot that's nothing but clay - little did I know when I bought the property - nice view though.
We dug down and put in road cloth as North Idaho Wolfman suggests, then laid layers of appropriately sized stone over that, hasn't moved in 18 years. Have even had multiple trucks deliver 20+ tons of top soil or stone at a time with no ill effects.

Now if you wonder 18-24" left of the driveway then you've got major problems! We have a natural spring off the hill that runs along the whole length of left side of the driveway, VERY SOFT!

 

[Gaspasser]

Thanks all. Did use geotextile on the 170 feet of the part that will be permanent to the eventual house site. This branches off from the original 900 foot driveway to the public road ( also geotextile and 1 foot deep gravel stone base. ) The house won't be started until 2027-28 and will require a below grade full basement foundation (NH winters). Hence the desire to not spend a fortune on stone that will be dug up. So here's what I did. Got bank run sand and coated over the wet clay spots. Plate compacted in 2 passes. Compacted further by repeatedly rolling my 1 ton dually mason dump truck fully loaded with stone ( 16,000 lbs gross weight). Did order one triaxle load of 3 inch dense grade to be drop spread ( about $550 for 22 tons) arriving today (Thursday). Will compact the approximately 4 inch deep layer The local United Rental has 12 4x8 "poly mats" which can tolerate 80k lbs pressure. Placing 2 side by side lengthwise along the tire path gives me 48 feet coverage which I can use over any remaining wet/muddy spots. 1 week rental of mats at $51 each = $612. So sand, stone, mats combo will cost about $1200. Already spent approx 3k on stone for the 170 foot extension not counting my labor. Here's hoping this all works and we get a decent gpm flow rate well for the effort. Thanks for all the helpful advice. Will update as events warrant.

 

[mikester]

If you have access to a lot of bush wood you could try a corduroy road. Works well in muck.

Corduroy road - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org