Dirt Pad Material

[blm4097]

I bought a few acres on sharkey soil. I am required to build a four foot high dirt pad for my mobile home. Digging a pond and using the dirt for the pad is a very cheap option. Before dishing out my money, is using sharkey soil a good idea for the dirt pad or should I scrap the pond idea and buy select fill dirt ?

[bobfather99]

I would contact an excavating company for the best advice, they do this kind of thing all the time. If you want to do the work yourself, I would get a soil test, and see if the material youre working with will handle the load of the home.

[blm4097]

I am getting core samples of the land tomorrow morning. The online profile for my land is :
0 to 5 inches: Clay
5 to 52 inches: Clay
52 to 70 inches: Clay

Well, in this part of town, it seems like people would say that it's doable just to make money. Just looking for second opinion on wether clay would make a good foundation for my home. I will, of course, scrape the vegetation before building this dirt pad.

[UmpJJ]

Looks like you've got clay. We moved our 16 X 80 singlewide onto a VERY flat piece of ground that is also clay, with more clay underneath. We ran our reinforced concrete runners side to side (instead of lengthwise) on 10' centers. That allows for settling under any part of the trailer without the runners cracking. We only elevated the ground under the trailer about a foot and a half, but we're not worried about any water settling because the ground is SO flat and it all runs off.
I don't think you need different fill material, but it wouldn't hurt to ask your excavator - it's an easy fix BEFORE you start any installation!

[bobfather99]

If youve got clay soil down to 70 inches, you should be in great shape.