Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jun 21, 2011 8:01 am We are in a "funny" wheather period with lots of rain in Sydney recently. The soil is absolutely saturated, especially in low, flat and shaded areas. Do we need to wait for the ground to dry out quite a bit, or is it OK to proceed with ANY concreting while the ground is still wet? What did your concretor do?? (By ANY concreting I mean the main driveway, paths, and other concreted areas like rear door "driveway", patio, etc.) Thanks! My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: How dry (or wet) was your ground when you did the Drivew 3Jun 21, 2011 3:07 pm If the ground is saturated I would put off the concreting. Damp is OK saturated and soft isn't. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: How dry (or wet) was your ground when you did the Drivew 4Jun 21, 2011 4:04 pm For what it's worth, when the guy laid our driveway he accidentally excavated right through the valve of the water main out the front, and we had a whitewater creek running through our yard for a good 30 mins until the water company finally turned up to switch off supply to the street. After that, he only let it dry off for a couple days before laying the driveway, so presumably the ground was still pretty wet when it was laid. It seems fine so far - my understanding was that the wet would just make the concrete take a bit longer to set fully. Re: How dry (or wet) was your ground when you did the Drivew 5Jun 21, 2011 7:12 pm Thanks guys, much appreciated One concretor told me that we should wait for several weeks after all this rain in Syd (as a reminder, I'm talking the 40 year record for this time of year ) ... The other one wants to concrete ... so I don't know what to think! My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: How dry (or wet) was your ground when you did the Drivew 6Jun 21, 2011 9:33 pm After rain stops concretors working for a number of days they get very keen to get working. I would be getting the first guy to do it when he thinks its ready. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: How dry (or wet) was your ground when you did the Drivew 7Jun 21, 2011 10:12 pm The excavation should be down to a hard subsoil, so all loose material, topsoil should be dug down until the surface is reasonably hard. You see some concretors fill in some areas with loose dirt or lay on wet mud but when it starts drying out and shrinking, there could be chances of subsiding slightly. On new houses usually the driveway area is left untouched so the subsoil is still hard so you can get a good base. If wet, I would let it dry out a bit first to minimise shrinking and sinking, before putting in your crushed rock base, then the concrete. Most times the wet layer can be scraped off by bobcat or machine when the concretors are putting down the base Planned Landscape Constructions http://www.plannedlandscape.com.au Find us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= ... 9907611509 It's possible but a soak well is usually much larger. Your 'soak well' only holds 424 litres when full. What is your soil type? Soak wells need sandy soils. 10 8978 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Ditto 3M Claw, expensive but best thing I've used to date. I put two of the 11kg ones in for a 12kg mirror on the wall, and its been great for 4 years now. 4 1975 Hi everyone, Looking for some advise. We are about to build an above ground pool in our backyard. There is a private sewer line running under the pool at 1.6m… 0 11731 |