The Green Industry's Resource Center

Gravel Rat · #91 08-31-2010, 07:37 PM

Wow that dirt sure has a red colour to it, does it have a high concentration of iron do you guys get good perks in the native soil.

Dirtman2007 · #92 08-31-2010, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gravel Rat

Wow that dirt sure has a red colour to it, does it have a high concentration of iron do you guys get good perks in the native soil.

we have a lot of that clay around here too. Some of it perks and some of it is horrible, gets wet and never drys out. I've worked on some jobs where I took a leak before lunch, came back and it had still not soaked in the ground.

I kid you not I had a guy tell me that was one way he used to check to see if a site would perk.

Gravel Rat · #93 09-01-2010, 01:22 AM

I beleive you about clayish soils there are some areas where we have blue clay it is a slimy mucky crap. I walked a buiding lot that a contractor had cleared there was some perk holes dug one part of the property has blue clay the water is still in the hole. Move 100 feet the other direction no clay and the water is gone.

It is a septic installers nighmare when they dig a perk hole and see clay now they have explain to the homeowner their drainfield install has gotten a little more expensive.

Or you start digging the hole for the septic tank and things look good there is no rock to deal with but then the nightmare shows up a patch of clay right to the depth of the septic tank hole. It is a problem because the water ground water will float the tank out of the ground. Not a good thing when the homeowners sitting in their kitchen looking out the window seeing a septic tank levitating out of the ground

AWJ Services · #94 09-01-2010, 06:55 AM

Yes the red color is from iron.

Sand , Silt, and Clay are the different sized soil particles with Clay being the smallest Particle.

We actually do not have a pure clay soil it is a mix of the 3 particles combined with minerals such as quartz, mica, magnesium, Kaolin etc.

This system was actually in fractured rock which some people may call sandstone but it was a much denser state. The layers where in such a state that it promoted excellent permeability.

Here groundwater carries bacteria into the soil that leaves a tell tell marker of it's path through the soil by eating the iron out of the soil and changing the color of the soil from red to various stages of yellow eventually turning pure gray.

Soil is broken down into 3 horizons . A, B, C. that I deal with.

Our systems normally go in the B horizon. This system is in the C horizon which can be encompassed of impermeable layers of unweatherd rock but this rock is weathered which can allow it to be permeable.
Here this type of C layer is sometimes refereed to as Saprolite. Under the C layer there is normally Bedrock.

GR touched on a subject of how soil can be so dynamically different in very small areas( which is not uncommon here) affecting it's permeability.

Here we classify soils with a perk rate but we no longer do actual perk tests. Soil is classified with a visual inspection during borings or with pit excavation.

andyslawncare · #95 09-22-2010, 08:52 PM

Where you been Zane?
Don't you wanna be friends with me anymore??

Adv.Wastewater · #96 10-13-2010, 05:53 PM

I have got a system to put in at a church myself...... Permit calls for a 2,000 gallon 2 compartment tank and 900 linear feet (2,700 sq. ft.) of Infiltrator in a 36 inch trench........ longest they will normally let you go here is 100 feet per trench...

AWJ Services · #97 02-23-2011, 07:29 PM

Suprise Suprise.

My buddy who owns the pumping company called and asked if I would help them access a tank. They said it was under a tree and I thought they meant Partially.