Proper Soil Compaction in the hardscape world

While every outdoor contractor will be eager to begin work next week we need to discuss proper soil compaction.

Whether it be building a retaining wall, trench work, paver patio or artificial turf soil compaction is necessary.

First we must understand that soils are made of mineral particles, organic matter and pore space. The mineral fraction of a soil consists of sand, silt and clay size particles. These particles do not generally fit tightly together in their natural state. There are pore spaces between these particles and aggregates, which are important for air and water movement, root growth and water storage in the soil system.

Compaction is the process of the particles moving closer together such that the total volume they occupy is decreased and the pore volume is decreased

If one can take a handful of soil and make a ball that will not fall apart when gently poked, the soil is too wet for compaction

To help fix this one can move the soil around with a machine and lime to the affected areas.

https://extension.okstate.edu/.../managing-soil...

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