I may have to cover perhaps a 1/3 acre of builders rubble that a previous owner has used to infill a small valley (amazingly with planning permission it being greenbelt) with soil to return it to a semblance of normality. It will probably only be grassed over and possibly used as paddock
People are telling me that bricks will 'float' up from below through the soil - has anyone any experience of this phenomenon, and what is a reasonable depth of top soil to aim for?
AWEM
I've had rubble 1.3M deep, consisting mainly of full bricks, covered with 4 inches of soil and grassed for 4 years. None of the bricks have shown any signs of floating or moving in any way. What sort of time scale have you got in mind for this upsurge?
If you work the land all stone brick etc would seem to work their way up. If however you simply put topsoil on then seed it I don't see why it should.
I'd expect the topsoil to infill the cavities in the rubble, time dependant on the type of soil, and if it's only 4" to eventually disappear completely in a downward direction.
Not unlike myself, if I get my traditionalist leanings pandered to. Sorry for not mentioning the gravel.
When I said "Not unlike myself", I wasn't referring to the "only 4"" bit, by the way.
through
As far as I can tell without excavating it is up to 3 metres deep in places. It's my doom and gloom brother in law who is predicting the floating bricks, though in fairness he has been working in some sort of major works capacity for a local council for years so perhaps speaks from experience. Mind you his solution was to cover it in 'no fines' concrete ie cement and 20mm agregate without sand - then cover in soil. I don't fancy 1/3rd acre of concreting personally
AWEM
Whatever is in the ground stays in the, unless dug up.
Grass will grow over a demolished brick area in time and completely cover it in 20 years...summat to do with the wind carrying seedlings or grass particals. ;-)
Are you there for the long term? You'll be one of the few these days if you are. I know people talk about posterity and all that kind of stuff but as it looks like I'm leaving a poisonous blood soaked cinder to my progeny anyway, I really wouldn't want to draw too much attention to the superficial details. ;-)
They don't. I buried most of the foundations from my old house down the bottom of the garden. I put about 3" of topsoil over. Its fine.
If its a bit rough, it may be cheaper to lay some limestone and sand first...and ease up on the soil. Ive got limestone covered in no soil at all out the front where the cars keep pulling onto the verge..its greening up anyway.
Funnily enough this doesn't seem to happen - not at any great rate anyway.
A layer of sand first helps too.
In message , Andrew Mawson writes
The proper solution would be to lay a membrane before spreading the soil. Allows the water through but retains the soil.
I don't have a URL but they are commonly used for horse *menage* areas. We tend to find them used the other way i.e. to prevent hard surfacing disappearing into the soil.
I guess 1/3 acre worth would be costly:-(
Google on terram.
Grass will grow on a concrete yard in a few mm of soil but will be very drought prone. Assuming you are going to seed the end result, why not speak to a seed merchant and explain your problem. He may be able to recommend drought resistant varieties.
regards
Andrew Mawson presented the following explanation :
No particular experience of this, however....
Rather than the bricks flaoting up, the soil will fall through between the bricks to fill in the voids between. Only once those voids are full, will the soil stay on top. Might be better to grade the infill with course rubble layers, working down to the finer material, then finally soil.
Good interstitial filler. Ask Cormaic.
He could "blind" it... I don't fancy wackering 1/3 acre, though...
It could probably be rolled (highway construction type) for less the cost of laying membrane though.
I think a bigger problem will be finding/affording soil to put on top. The cheap solution of further tipping may not be available. Site licence, insurance, access, neighbour complaints, requirements of waste authority, etc.
Subsoils from development may be ideal but getting consents a major obstacle. A chat with local waste management officers might be informative.
regards
Its not bad with a whacker..
Or if Gordon Brown hasn't forced to to scrap it, drive a 4x4 over it for an hour or three.
Blind it with clay and puddle the clay with a flock of sheep was one suggestion! Fortunately the backfilling is all legal and above board, with the local planners happy for me to re-landscape with topsoil to loose an eyesore in a Greenbelt 'area of outstanding beauty'. I'm hoping to steal topsoil from the rest of the 7.5 acres having first done a few test pits to check depth. All a good excuse to buy a JCB !
AWEM
The message from "Andrew Mawson" contains these words:
Oh, well, if you're going to buy a JCB to do it you can run that back and forth for an afternoon to compact what's there.
Yup. Does a far better job than a whacker...especially on limestone.
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