I think I was saved a bunch of work...

A while back I posted about my clay fill cracking and I'd probably need to dig a bunch of it out, add some sand and compact it better. Last Thursday we had a steady rain all night. I went out today to see how wet the property was and see what shape the pad was in. There were a few big puddles in low spots but the pad was dry except on the outside where it needs more fill. The wet area's are about 5' outside where the building would go and had no standing water. There had been pretty big winds and I expected the pad would have even larger cracks from the wind drying it so fast. That wasn't the case, there were no big cracks anymore and only very fine spider cracks. I think the rain and wind allowed finer material to fill the cracks and kind of level the pad off or caused it to compress some by itself. The skid steer tire marks almost weren't visible anymore. I drove the skid steer on it with a loaded bucket and it packed a little and left some loose fine material on top. I think just letting the rain, wind and time do its thing is saving me having to dig it up. There's a chance for more rain this week so I think the loose material on top will level off even more. Hopefully next weekend I can drive the loaded 5 ton dump truck on it to pack it as much as possible and then put a final lift on top and pack it. I'll add a bunch of sand to the final lift. I obviously have pretty good drainage but still want the floor elevated so there's the least chance of any water running in. Last weekend the pad was hard like concrete on top but today is was just like dusty dry clay. It did pack a little bit when driving on it and seems to have a little moisture underneath so I'm hoping it will pack nice with the truck before the final lift. The building is probably 4-6 weeks away so time might be all it needs. I want to push the topsoil I stripped back a little further so I think driving the track loader with backhoe will also help pack it fairly evenly. I know a Cat isn't usually the best for packing but with the hoe on the back and the front bucket full, it will let me know if there's any soft areas. I think the Cat with the hoe and loader bucket full weighs around 25,000lbs. so it has pretty good ground pressure on 14" pads. I don't think it's worth renting a heavy compactor yet since the post holes have to dug and then the floor leveled again.

I think I was saved a bunch of work...