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topsoil with wood chips in it -- a big deal
OUCH THAT DART IN THE FOREHEAD HURTS!
I manage a sand and gravel facility, 2 asphalt facilities and deliver a broad variety of materials.
All of our loads are scaled. If the scale is down in Homer the yardage method is used and our loader guys are good, those loads are always in the customers favor and spot checked once or twice a day at one of our other 6 scale locations. I have 3 65+' scales at the Polkville location and 1 in the Homer location. The main office and terminal also have one each.
Customers are always calling in asking us to compute their needs and when it comes out short they expect us to truck the rest for free. I always make some assumptions that their grade or finished grade might be off. I will not give a calculation I will give an estimate using 2" + or- on the grade. I've been out to lots of jobs and grades are not even close.
Why is it if you have a truck that carries 22 ton customers are unwilling to buy the 2 extra ton and have some extra. 2 ton of any type of material is lost in the size of the area that will take 20 tons. Many contractors are cheap trying to cut corners and blame someone else when it's short.
That said: we mostly deal with larger contractors that quote very close and figure in the overages on dirt work and when you deliver the 2360 tons of item 4 they know exactly where it will be used. They also have no problem ordering a extra 30 ton load even if they think they only need 20-23 tons.
My dumps weigh over 70,000+ carring 21-23 tons loaded our trailers are 107,000 carring 31-34 tons homeowners and many contractors have NO IDEA how much weight that is. Most people have no clue that a contractor with good help can move a ton of material in 8 wheelbarrows, some less. As far as heaping up over the sides that is a invation for the DOT boys to stop you. Most trucks are designed to maximize the load below the sides. Our gravel weights just over 1.68 tons per yard lime stone suppliers are a little less. Do the math. 17'L X 52"H X 76"W Thats our smallest dump.
Trucks are expensive, good drivers to drive them are expensive. When a driver tells you the ground looks soft it probably is, they are not backing in. When they ask 6 times about leach fields and old tanks to include old fuel tanks they are serious. When you try to put a tractor trailer in a drive way designed for cars and not tear up the road out front or crush a culvert it probably won't work. The worst case is the homeowner who has no idea of what is buried in the yard. Once I have seen a concrete truck sitting in a old septic tank almost on its side. Homeowners falt? Or stupid truckdriver? Homeowner or contractor is going to pay for towing and damage to truck.
But contractors and homeowners find it easiest to blame it on the supplier and trucking rather than their lack of knowledge.
I've had a homeowner accuse a driver of delivering part of the load to someone else in route to the job, because the pile looked small.
Concrete and asphalt are batched in state certified facilities. Our asphalt plants are rechecked every 90 days. There is no short loading or the computer driven delivery ticket would reflect it. It is usually a bad quote based on a bad grade or the inability of a homeowner or contractor to hold a fine finish grade on the project.
Bottom line I can not believe someone would continue to do business with a poor supplier that keeps poor help unless he is just out to do a job as cheap as possible to increase his profit.
BTW for your yard I would never recommend 6" of screened topsoil unless it was screened with lots of small stone and sand.
Moisture in the soil has to do with light and fluffly or heavy and clumpy it all depends on the season and moisture also raw material.
Always remember a ton of dirt and a ton of chicken feathers weighs the same.
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topsoil with wood chips in it -- a big deal
Harvey, you are a few miles away from me or I would use you for my next delivery. Thanks for re-instilling in me confidence that my next delivery would be a full and honest measure. I appreciate that.
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topsoil with wood chips in it -- a big deal
Out of curiousity, I called the topsoil company I plan to use and asked them about how they can guarantee that I'm getting what I paid for. They said that they use a 6 yard bucket to load the truck and thus just count the number of loads dumped into the truck. There are no scales, etc to check.
It all boils down to how much you trust them. The topsoil company I'm working with is the largest in the area (12 locations). I'm confident that the person counting the beans is not the same person who counts the 6yd buckets. I feel I can trust them.
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topsoil with wood chips in it -- a big deal
The biggest problem with wood chips or shavings in the soil is that they rob the soil of nitrogen while they rot. I learned this the hard way in my garden thinking oak shavings would help my sandy soil. Now after four years the soil is finally getting back to normal. If you use wood chip laced topsoil you should put extra nitrogen down to take the place of the microbe robbed nitrogen.
If you do a net search on wood chips and nitrogen you'll find plenty of information out there. Here's one quote:
"The mic ora that decomposes the wood particles takes up the nitrogen required for growth of plants. The result is that the plant becomes starved for nitrogen."
Dave
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topsoil with wood chips in it -- a big deal
I'm a hardscape landscaper. I would not recommend 6" of topsoil. First it's more than is needed and secondly, it will take 1 year to compact enough to get on it with any machine (unless you roll it in lifts and/or alot). 3-4" should be sufficient. You need to compensate for the wood fiber contnent now and over time. Decomp of the wood fiber (including leaves) will deplete the nitrogen in the soil.
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topsoil with wood chips in it -- a big deal
BX23fan
The type of wood chip would be my concern. If you want
to plant immediately you would not want balsam fir, red
pine, or black walnut chips in there. It eventually breaks
down, but could affect a lawn planting if the chips have
not been in the soil a few seasons. Balsam and red pine
if cut soon after coming out of the woods have alot of
sap. Black walnut chips would probably kill everything.
It has something in it that makes it tough to grow
anything. I would put it in and lime the heck out of it.
I would doubt you wood have any black walnut chips, but
balsam and red pine are quite common.
doc
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topsoil with wood chips in it -- a big deal
I'm not sure what wood is in the soil, but I'm in the Seattle area, so it's likely doug fir, cedar, and/or hemlock.
Update on my quest for good soil: I spoke with the topsoil company and expressed some concern about the amount of wood, claiming that about 30% of the mixture is wood. They said they would create me a special batch (I could even approve it before purchase) with as much or little wood as I like. And still for only $12.95/yd. I told the sales lady that I'll take another 20 yards (need to plan a 120' row of english boxwood tomorrow) with 'less wood' and see if they can bring something more to my liking. I PH tested the last batch (the one with all the wood) and got a reading somewhere between 6.0 and 6.5 (closer to 6.0). That seems within the range I need for a good lawn.
They seem very accomodating. I think I'll order the big load from them if this batch turns out well.
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