How To Compact A Trench

How To Compact A Trench MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Earth Movers 27-1-26 Did you ever dig a ditch for a pipe or wire and find that by the next year the ground had settled, leaving a trench across your yard? After Lyle Dawson, Wheatley, Ontario, dug a 150-ft. long, 2 by 5-ft. ditch for a water drain, he totally eliminated the "year later trench problem" by using water to compact the soil immediately after the ditch was backfilled. His "soil compactor" consists of a 4-ft. long hollow metal tube with an elbow at one end fitted with a short length of metal tubing. A short piece of garden hose fits over the pipe. It hooks up to a garden hose. A metal rod welded to the pipe serves as a handle. Dawson starts at one end of the excavated area and slowly works his way along it, inserting the 4-ft. long pipe into the ground at 4 to 6 in. intervals. Water exiting from the end of the pipe saturates the soil, penetrating to the bottom of the trench. "The idea is to get the entire contents of the trench very wet and muddy. Once that happens there will be very little settling of the soil later, especially if I wait for the muddy soil to solidify and then further compact it before it has dried out by walking on it or by driving over it with a truck," says Dawson. "When the hose fitting is attached to the hose, the hose washer will compress and grip onto the pipe without leaking." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Lyle Dawson, Rt. 1, Wheatley, Ontario, Canada NOP 2P0 (ph 519 825-7339).

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