Grading yard?

[Stubby]

There must be some decaying trees and brush at several points in my yard. This has resulted in gullies that feel terribly unsafe on my tractor/mower. So, I want to fill them in to level the lawn that will be planted over the fill.

Should I use sand or 1" gravel to fill the low spots? How much top soil should I put on top of that to grow the grass in? Will the new top soil wash into the fill requiring more soil? If I figure out how much fill is needed in cubic feet, how does that relate to tons of stone/sand? Some one told me fill is sold by the ton rather than by the yard.

[songbird]

do you know the history of the property well enough that it is truly buried trees/brush?

until you know what is under there it makes no sense to put fill over it. you may have to keep doing it again and again.

get the shovel out and do some digging and find out what you have down there.

if your area is prone to sink holes, underground caverns or streams, has abandoned coal mines, etc. proceed with caution or hire a professional.

songbird

[trader4]

You can use anything reasonable that is available and cheap. Gravel, sand, base material or earth removed from another site prior to building, etc.

4" when settled down should be sufficient

It won't wash in, but it will compact down. How much to allow for depends on how deep it will be and the exact material. I'd try to partially compact it a bit when putting everything down, starting with the fill.

Whoever is supplying the material will be able to tell you the approx conversion.

[Stubby]

Thanks for the response, songbird.

This property was woods and farm until the whole housing development was built in 1970. There are something like 1500 similar homes in the area. Neighbors have told me there was indeed a lot of trees and rocks that were simply burried to get rid of them. That practice is now against the local building code.

I'm not going to dig down to see what's there unless I can borrow a power excavator to do it with. And, if an application of gravel lasts another 25 years, that's OK with me. Further, it is unlikely that I will be around in 25 years to worry about it.