Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Dirt Moving Update 2




Over the past two months, we have been moving some serious dirt! It is so cool!

On the 10 acre portion of the site to the East, we have moved close to 30,000 cubic yards of fill material. Everything has gone very well.

If you are not familiar with the exciting process of fill dirt, then allow me to explain. The dirt must first be dry. Since we are digging it up and moving it directly to the site, it is pretty dry. Then a large dozer spreads the dirt out in a 6 to 12 inch "lift". After this, roller known as a "sheeps foot" compacts the dirt. That is what creates the little foot prints you see in the picture.

For the fill to be good, there can be no large rocks, debris or organic material in the fill. And, yes there is a big difference between top soil and fill dirt. Top soil is very bad fill.

The idea is to create a filled space which can be built upon. In order to build on it, it cannot compress or move. You can imagine what trouble that would create.

We are very close to having our construction plans approved so we can start on the really fun part: the road construction.