Thread: Wet sloppy base to concrete pier/pad footings

why dont you dig it out the morning your concrete arrives. You may get a bit of movement. One option could be to get a dry bag of concrete or even just cement nd ram it in to the base of the hole.

The trouble with clay is it is a very reactive soil.What you should do is just get a bob cat in with a 450 auger and dig the piers out until you have stable soil.He will be lucky to be there for an hour and should only charge you about $80.00.The extra concrete would be only about a half a cubic meter and is only about $100.00..So for $180.00 is a small price to pay when it comes to footings and piece of mind..

Thanks for both your advice. Tommy, good idea, but I will still have to get the slop out by hand, too sloppy for the auger. I cleaned out one hole, and found the clay is stiff enough 100 mm or so below the slop. I could auger forever looking for just right clay, the deeper you go, the clay just gets a little bit stiffer, but still not good and stiff. I think the best I can do is scrape out the bottom a bit, and then as buildingsurv suggested mix in half a bag cement or so. Will be pouring on monday, nice weather then, am open to suggestions until then. I'm going down to the 'junk' shop now to find a good old saucepan with a strong handle - I reckon that will be good for scrapping out the bottom.

Hi

If is really is THAT sloppy, what I would do is to get some 20mm bluemetal, mix the blue metal with dry cement and put his in the bottom of the hole.

Ram the bluemetal/cement mix INTO the clay/slop and use it as the "wet" portion of the "concrete" mix. Use a relatively small size ram eg 75mm square, or even use the shovel.

The nett result should be a brown but firm and rock hard when set, concrete base. This will provide a stable base on which to pour your footings.

BTW a 700mmx450mm lump of concrete is hard to move

Thanks mrfixit and others. The advice from the 3 of you helped me decide what to do. Today I emptied out any water but didn't remove any of the sloppy clay. Then i dry mixed about 1/2 bag cement with 1/3 barrow of a coarse gravel/crushed rock mix I've got lying around. Put most of that in the bottom of a hole and worked it in well with the sloppy clay. Then I got in the hole and worked it really well with my heels, all the time adding a bit more from barrow until it was not sticking to my boots and became very well compacted. It took about 15 minutes a hole, and I'm very happy with the result. Formed a very sound base that will set like concrete. Well maybe not quite that hard, but it would have be harder than the existing clay, even in summer. It also means I won't have to order as much concrete. A small minimixer will do it, which will be able to get in close to the holes, so no barrowing! Thanks again. http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.../2thumbsup.gif

Thanks mrfixit and others. The advice from the 3 of you helped me decide what to do. Yesterday I emptied out any water but didn't remove any of the sloppy clay. Then i dry mixed about 1/2 bag cement with 1/3 barrow of a coarse gravel/crushed rock mix I've got lying around. Put most of that in the bottom of a hole and worked it in well with the sloppy clay. Then I got in the hole and worked it really well with my heels, all the time adding a bit more from barrow until it was not sticking to my boots and became very well compacted. It took about 15 minutes a hole, and I'm very happy with the result. Formed a very sound base that will set like concrete. Well maybe not quite that hard, but it would have be harder than the existing clay, even in summer. It also means I won't have to order as much concrete. A small minimixer will do it, which will be able to get in close to the holes, so no barrowing! Thanks again. http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.../2thumbsup.gif

Thanks mrfixit and others. The advice from the 3 of you helped me decide what to do. Yesterday I emptied out any water but didn't remove any of the sloppy clay. Then i dry mixed about 1/2 bag cement with 1/3 barrow of a coarse gravel/crushed rock mix I've got laying around. Put most of that in the bottom of a hole and worked it in well with the sloppy clay. Then I got in the hole and worked it really well with my heels, all the time adding a bit more from the barrow until it was not sticking to my boots and became very well compacted. All up it took about 15 minutes a hole, and I'm very happy with the result. Formed a very sound base that will set like concrete. Well maybe not quite that hard, but it would have be harder than the existing clay, even in summer. It also means I won't have to order as much premix. A small mini mixer will do it, which will be able to get in close to the holes, so no more barrowing! Thanks again.