Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Ask Aldeer, Pond Dam Edition

Hire someone to widen your dam. Pay now or pay later.

You are correct, Sir.

Still looking for a ball park number. I've got a call into a pond guy, but no answer yet.

Just had a pond dug/built. I would say the answer depends on how much clay has to be trucked in and how the dam was originally constructed. I would drive a freight train over my dam after watching how they built it. Are you saying the length of the road across the dam is 50 yards? If they can add clay and shape easily on top of it as is, I'd say you are looking at a day or two of dozer work plus the cost of dirt trucked in. If there are other structural issues where a large portion of the dam has to be reworked, obviously going to be a different story.

I'm no expert but I've been around a lot of concrete pours. NO WAY I would put a loaded truck across that dam and I wouldn't think a sober driver would either. 150yrds is about the max on a big inline pump I believe. Plus your slump is gonna suck to push it at that distance. You really don't have good options if you are set on that site. I'm not sure I would trust the dam widened with dirt alone. It would make me too nervous to even try. You may need to piggy back 2 pumps to keep a good slump. Set one up one the truck side and another one the house build sight. This would keep the pressure up on the pumps. Another feasible option might be to use and inline pump to get the mix across the dam to a backhoe bucket. This would be more efficient than using GA buggies. I have poured many hard to reach places with a backhoe. Just some ideas that I didn't see mentioned. Keep us posted if you start this project this will be interesting. Good luck

Suggestion, it is doable, Cost, no idea other than not-cheap. If you are going to build up the dam so you can get concrete to your spot, and you want your dam to last as long as the house. Build a concrete dam into your existing dam that is designed for building your structure, make it one invoice and one total project together.
My rational is that if you cannot keep the house for "whatever reason" you are not going to be keeping the pond and dam either. So it might as well be a total mortgage bill for the entire development. If you have to sell, you got a real big ticket item to sell.

Also, you mentioned property line behind the dam. Concrete dam will make your neighbors more comfortable.

How tall is the dam? Good dirt available on site? Tractor and pan could load itself, haul the dirt, and pack it as it goes. Widening the dam to a more acceptable width. 7 ft is too narrow anyway.

Not recommending him to help - but i got a buddy with a skid steer and other big equipment that will chop saplings and trees down to nothing - he has cleared me path thru bad thickets - could you not choose another route? Even if you have trees and cover in the way - clearing a path is not that expensive. Then you can pave it or do whatever

Is the dam the only option ?

Is there not a good house site on the opposite side of the lake? How long has the dam been there, has it been tested with several back to back super heavy rains ? Have you had a engineer look at it?
Your concern is redimix trucks but there will be other trucks just as heavy. A load of drywall, framing and a bunch of osb could weigh as much as a load of concrete. Then no one knows the future. Lota $ and risk

i would want a full size fire truck to be able to reach my house, and so likely would the homeowner insurance co.

Believe me guys, I've had all the same thoughts you are saying here. I am not trying to take any short cuts and want to ensure that what ever I did would stand the test of time and meet all the requirements I ever have and then some. The problem is I don't have unlimited funds and I need to be able to build a house too. If it is going to be that expensive, I'll have other options. This was merely one option if feasible.

Work on the unlimited funds problem and the rest will work itself out!!

Option 2 is better it seems. I still think you could get a bucket hopper and a 200 size hoe and track it to the site across the damn. 5 yards at a time. 2-3 trips and the truck is empty. I’ve tracked those a couple hundred yards when pouring duct banks.

Excellent point, Sir.