Feller Landscape Group

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Serving the Chicagoland counties of DuPage, Kane and Northern Cook.  Over 25 years of experience!

 

 

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...Where Imagination and Design Unite...

 

 

Compacted Soils

In Part One of Soil, we discovered how the soil got compacted and what we needed to do to the soil for planting purposes.  In this section, we will discuss soil compaction in the other direction.

Once we have made the decision to move into our newly constructed home, we prepared our lawns and planting beds to support plant material.  Now the soil is looser and plant roots have room to spread.

On the flip side, now comes the patio, walkways, driveways and retaining walls. 

A good landscape construction company will think twice about installing any stone work (or hardscapes) for the first twelve months after new home construction.  This is because the land around the home has not settled.  The soil layers are all mixed up (see Part one of Soil) - the top of the ground is not what settles, it's the soil below the surface that settles.  Because of this mixing, the soil varies in density and structure and, as a result, settles at different rates.

Any hardscape project installed on disturbed ground is susceptible to settlement.  For example, a 10 foot x 10 foot area of paver bricks (or 100 square feet) weighs over 400 pounds.  With or without added weight, some sites settle only a few inches, but others can sink more than 18 inches.  The biggest problem is not so much that the ground settles, but that the ground settles unevenly.

Weather conditions will also impact ground settling.  The warm/cold temperature changes with rain and/or snow will help move the soil.  Dry periods with no moisture keep the soil in hard lumps, therefore, any type of moisture is a benefit to soil settlement.

As much as we want that patio for family and friends to gather on, some things are better doing later than sooner!

 

Part Two of Soil