Compact and 'Flat-Top' the Slope with Excavator

0:14

2:22

16.8K views

At 0:14 in

How to Prepare for Rain on your Construction Landscaping site.

Watch on YouTube

What happens here

Utilize a mini excavator, such as a Bobcat 325, to begin compacting the loose soil on the slope. The operator uses the machine's tracks and blade to press down and consolidate the earth. The process of 'flat-topping' is explained: instead of leaving a rough, porous surface where water can soak in and create mud, the goal is to create a densely packed, smooth surface. This compacted, 'flat-topped' surface will cause rainwater to hit, ricochet, and cascade down the slope rather than saturate the soil, preventing the formation of a muddy, unworkable site.

Goal: Consolidate soil and create a smooth, water-shedding surface

Tools and materials

Bobcat 325 Mini Excavator Bobcat — Compacting soil and shaping the slope

What they say

(987 characters)

Hide

instantly come back and get back to work right away. What you're going to see happening behind me is he's actually compacting this slope. That is a critical element. If for some reason you leave a slope with loose soil like this, what happens is that water as it comes down, it soaks into the ground. It create and the the soil itself captures the water and then it soaks it in creating a mud bath. What you want to do is you want to compact and smooth every surface as much as possible. So what we're doing is we're flat topping. That's what we're calling this. Imagine if you have a pile of soil and it's rough. What you do is you come in and you dome it, smooth it, and you flat top it. You pack that top. Then when the water falls down, it's going to hit, ricochet, and it's going to cascade down the side. If your site is rough, it's going to hit, it's going to get stuck in these ruts, and it's going to soak into your pile of dirt, saturating the entire site, making it unworkable

Auto-generated from the video audio.