To solve a moisture issue involving soil saturation, a professional engineer is recommending regrading using high clay content soil. Where does one obtain high clay content soil? I'm located in NJ. Nobody seems to carry that type of soil.
Thanks,
J.
I'd ask the guy who made the recommendation first... :)
Clay soil forces the water to run off. If your engineer does not know where to locate the product. Get a new engineer or a solution that can be solved with the materials available locally.
You might also ask your local county extension office.
saturation, a professional engineer
soil. Where does one
NJ. Nobody seems to carry
My yard in south Jersey is full of it. Under about
8 inches of topsoil. There was a reason they named the next town "Marlton".
Sounds like must be new graduate or something, then...hard to have much faith in somebody who makes a recommendation w/ no practical way to implement it... :(
I guess if he doesn't have back up plan is to start talking to local dirt contractors to see if there is a local supply...
jay wrote To solve a moisture issue involving soil saturation, a professional engineer is recommending regrading using high clay content soil. Where does one obtain high clay content soil? I'm located in NJ. Nobody seems to carry that type of soil.
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Jay,
I a bit curious what sort of "professional engineer" is recommending high clay content soil. Most engineers are extreme specialists and many know very little outside of their specialty. I'm also a bit curious about an expert who would recommend high clay soil but have no idea how to acquire it.
Generally, high clay soil is something to be avoided in most landscapes. If I lived near you, I'd gladly trade my worthless high clay soil for just about any other soil type.
It is true that the initial infiltration rate of clay soils is much lower than for other soils such as sandy loam. This seems like an advantage, but it is important to realize that clay soils will eventually become saturated just as any other soil type, and, unlike good soils, they have very high water retention properties.
Most water problems are associated with clay soils and not with sandy soils. This would include soil compaction and swampy soil, both of which greatly inhibit grass and plant health. These problems also include high hydrostatic pressures, which can cause wet basements, cracked foundation walls, bowed basement walls, etc.
If you insist upon having high clay soils, then I'd suggest checking with your largest local sand, soil and aggregate sellers and tell them what you want. They may be able to direct you toward a source of "fines" which can be added to your existing soil in a effort to convert it into a clay soil. For reference, silt has a size of 0.002-0.050 mm, which is the approximate size of sesame seeds. Better would be true clays, which have a diameter less than 0.002 mm, which is the size of fine table salt or smaller. Examine the clay before purchasing.
You can also check with ceramic suppliers, but the price per ton is going to be very high - about $500 since you are buying a very high grade clay with high quality standards. More practical would be finding a source of crude river bank silt/clay, pit clay, etc. This is inexpensive, about $25-$50 per ton. If you find a source, ask if they will sell you or give you a small quantity such as the amount that fits in a 5 gallon bucket. Experiment with this and your existing soil to determine the correct ratio to create crappy high clay soil. Unless you are happy to just dump it on top of the existing soil. Then purchase accordingly.
You can also let us know what problem you are attempting to solve and some of us may have some more practical solutions. I've done a bit of studying on drainage control issues, subsoil drainage, golf course design, etc. I know that in many cases what you are being advised to do can be a major disaster. A perched water table is one such possibility.
This occurs when finer soils sit atop a base of more coarse soils or aggregates. While not intuitively obvious, this often creates a situation in which the upper layer of fines "refuses" to drain. The opposite type of perched water table is more intuitive and occurs when a highly permeable soil sits on top of a soil with very low permeability.
Once again, what are the details about the problem you are attempting to fix?
Gideon
Clay? Was this an electrical engineer?
When dry, clay is called "shale." When wet, clay is called "bog."
I'm in South Texas. Here we have to mix Gypsum with the alleged "soil" before the poor cat can even scratch a hole.
For some uses it is desirable when you want to direct water for example.
Used to live in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada where the clay is rock hard when dry or will sink a truck when wet and liquified. Mississauga used to be the home for several brick manufacturing plants, one still exists just a few miles north, and claims to be the largest brick making plant in North America.
When I first moved there, I tried growing potatoes. During the summer the soil cracks like a dried up swamp. When I dug the potatoes up, the few that managed to grow had followed the cracks and were long and flat. Onions grew above the soil, just their roots in the ground.
I can recall many years ago, a small hill was excavated for its clay, this was used to build berms around the fuel storage tanks at a local oil refinery. It was to contain any spill, leakage or tank rupture.
The problem is moisture seepage into a foundation wall made of cinderblocks. During the winter frost heaving is a problem, causing the wall to get pushed inward gradually. Otherwise it causes efflorescence and some mold/mildew in one section.
The Professional Engineer says this is due to soil saturation. He says that the grading needs to be improved by raking up the mulch outside the wall, and applying around 2 to 4 inches of high clay content soil and making sure this slopes away from the building at a rate of at least 1 inch per foot, extending out to the lawn area. The goal is to prevent the water from saturating the soil immediately next to the building. By the way he says that mulch could be added onto of this, but the mulch isn't considered to be part of the grading.
J.
He says that it could be acquired by a "bulk soil dealer" but did not give me any names of anyone who actually has the stuff.
J.
Alabama
it's everywhere here
My house - I'll trade for the sandy stuff you probably have any day.
If you currently don't have adequate grade, I'd wager simply doing that w/ topsoil will solve the problem just as well. If it drains, it won't fully saturate. Also make sure all eaves are guttered and functioning correctly and all downspouts are directed away from the house. It's also possible there's no drainage at the bottom of the backfill or what was initially provided is blocked--was that issue addressed?
What is the moisture/soil saturation issue? Puzzling solution.
Try looking for "bentonite".
In Manassas Virginia I bought it at Merrifield lawn and Garden. Sold as "shredded clay." I'm in Missouri now and have the same problem-its unobtanium here.
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