Tamp or Roll??

[Kris K]

I’ve been working on my yard trying to get it finished before winter, and have finally gotten all the rocks out. Right now I’m taking screened dirt in to the back yard wheel barrel by wheel barrel. I have to fill about 1’ to 1 ½’ to get up to my back porch then slope it out to my fence where it will only be about 5" of dirt. The plan now is to get about 4-5” of dirt down then tamp it. Then another 4-5” then tamp again, and so on in tell I get the dirt filled up to where I need it. So my main question is should I use a hand tamper or a roller with water to compact the ground before putting another layer down??

I feel the hand tamper would compact better, but it would take longer. I have a hand tamper, but can get a roller from a co-worker.

Any help would be great.

 

[PolarXJ]

How big is the water roller? Either way I'd use the roller, you can make multiple passes with alot less effort. Can you get a car/vehicle back there? That would be even better, just slowly drive back and forth.

 

[Cody]

I used a water barrel from diamond rental to do mine. I think it was $20 per day.

I didn't do a very good job though, but I don't attribute that to the tool as much as the operator.

 

[Kris K]

How big is the water roller? Either way I'd use the roller, you can make multiple passes with alot less effort. Can you get a car/vehicle back there? That would be even better, just slowly drive back and forth.

Not sure on how big the roller is, but from the sound of it it's big enough. Can't get anything back there because of fences can't even get a bob-cat back there. So I have to move 4 12yrd dump truck loads back by wheel barrow.:-\

 

[Kris K]

I used a water barrel from diamond rental to do mine. I think it was $20 per day.

I didn't do a very good job though, but I don't attribute that to the tool as much as the operator.

Did it seem to pack the dirt well??

 

[PolarXJ]

Suck, Done that before. Luckily I was able to get some help from my inlaws. I'm assuming this is going to be for lawn and planting sections?

 

[Kris K]

Suck, Done that before. Luckily I was able to get some help from my inlaws. I'm assuming this is going to be for lawn and planting sections?

I'm lucky to have some family close also so that has helped, but I've still had to do most of the first load my self. Yep This will be for the lawn.

The back yard is almost like a amphitheater I need 1' 1 1/2' of dirt right next to the house, but only about 5" at the fence.

 

[PolarXJ]

I had a 3' terrace in the middle of the yard that I took out. I was lucky and had a friend that lived close with a bobcat. Made cutting the clay ALOT easier, even though a single pass in the bobcat would only cut a 1/2 to 1", I had really hard clay. He needed the cat when I brought in the top soil.
I would say the roller would be fine, you will get some settlement in some places. In the areas that you might be placing a shed or another building, I'd go thinner on the lifts.

 

[ID Bronco]

I’ve been working on my yard trying to get it finished before winter, and have finally gotten all the rocks out.

My advice is to hurry and do something. The rocks in Idaho reproduce at night, probably by masterbation. They just keep coming back.

 

[RockMonkey]

Can you tell me where you got the topsoil and what it cost? I need to do this as well, but I'm still working on getting the rocks out. I only need a few inches of topsoil, luckily.

 

[Cody]

Did it seem to pack the dirt well??

Ya, I thought so but again I'm no expert. Once you fill that thing up it weighs as much as Brett's mom. Maybe just have her come and walk around the back yard a bit? You could probably saddle her up and dangle a Krispy Kreme in front of her and you'd be trampled in no time.

My issues was that I didn't level it very well. I had an entire truck of dirt dumped in my backyard and I used a bobcat to spread it, but the area directly under where the pile was ended up getting really compacted and I never got it fully level with the rest of the yard. "Good enough" was not "good enough" once the sod was put down.

 

[Kris K]

Thanks for the info.

I got about 16 yrds hauled in to the back yard last night. Had alot of family, and neighbors show up to help.

The plan is to run a sprinkler on it then roll it with the water roller then repeat in tell it's settled.