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A guy in Tulsa told me my backfilling technique was creating a future sinkhole.
He said I was just dumping and compacting in layers without checking the moisture content of the fill dirt first, so I bought a $40 soil tester and now I always add water or let it dry out before I run the compactor over it, which honestly feels like a basic thing I should have known years ago.
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elliot_roberts5mo ago
Wait, you were just guessing on the moisture this whole time? That's like the first thing they teach you about dirt work. How did you even get proper compaction before? You must have had some seriously soft spots. Good on that guy for speaking up, a sinkhole is no joke.
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wells.christopher5mo ago
Elliot_roberts is totally right about the basics. Guessing on moisture is how you end up with a road base that turns to soup after one good rain. I've seen guys just eyeball it and then wonder why their compacted lift is failing the test roll later. That new guy asking about the proctor test probably saved them a huge repair bill down the line.
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kevin3314mo ago
Blame it on the whole "fake it till you make it" culture we got everywhere now. @sarahp34 probably dealt with a guy who figured he could skip the textbook on something as basic as moisture and still get away with it. It's like people think dirt work is just piling rocks and hoping for the best, when really it's a science you gotta follow step by step. Seen too many finished jobs that looked good for a month then started sinking because someone cut corners on the simple stuff they thought didn't matter.
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sarahp345mo ago
My buddy's new patio cracked because his contractor totally skipped the moisture check.
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