Pole barn pad preperation

[vortech91]

Tell me what you guys think of this pole barn pad.
Scrape off the top two inches of organic material. I am on clay.
my pad is 14" low from front to back, so I wanted to bring in fill. Some businesses are saying bring in sand and compact in 4" lifts. Other says bring in 4" minus gravel to 8" and then 3/4 minus the other 6" while making 4" lifts with compactor. What are the opinions here from all you guys who have built. I want a good solid base, What is the most common gravel or sand?

 

[larry_g]

This may be a local issue so your location is important. In the valley here I have not seen sand used as a filler, probably because it is not common to the area. Mine was done with crushed rock/gravel.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[IHI]

Me personally, I dont like sand as a filler, and around here it's used ALOT. Why dont I like sand as a filler when everybody else uses it? Well, from doing demo job prior to new builds, everything that had sand under it had sections washed out from rain over the years, thousands of capilaries of open water ways under slabs...basically the base they used to support the ever important slab was literally washed out or in the process of washing out from under it.

When i did the pad in front of my shed I dug down 12" and hauled out the dirt, dirt/sand mix. Hauled in 3/4" CLEAN rock and tamped it with a vibrating plate compactor every 4" until I reached the final grade before we poured the mud. Rock is'nt going to wash out and provides AMPLE drainage for water to seep through without incident. Best part, in doing so you also "help" thwart frost heave as well on outside the structure pours. I monitored my approach to my shed over the past two winters to see if my personal method would hold water so to speak...much to my pleasant suprise, the approach never lifted a bit/sank a bit over the past two yrs in relation to the slab of the shed which i have rebarred into the footings.