How do you level sand/road base/screenings in a shed?

[BroncoMo]

I brought in a bunch of angular “sand” over the weekend to build up the ground in a large loafing shed that is in some low ground. Over the years, I’ve taken out too much soil by cleaning up in the spring, coupled with wind erosion, the shed has gotten lower than the already semi-low dry lot.

So, I brought in a bunch of road base and leveled relatively well, and compacted it with a vibrating tamping plate. I had in my mind that since this is a (angular) sand of sorts, that the plate would disperse it in to small dips and such as it tamped. Well, that’s not how it works. It nicely tamped in to place every dip and mound that was still in the dirt after I “leveled” it.

Is there a way to level this stuff completely flat? Like in a manner that I could instal mats on top. I guess I could rent a laser leveler, but even then I don’t know how that works. I would think there’s still a big human component and having to rake it all in to the dips and swales. And damp sand/base/dirt is HEAVY to rake around a 60 foot long shed.

[kaya842]

Can you get a FEL in there? We used our bucket and box blade to level our driveway and paddock two weekends ago after adding screenings (prior to wetting then going over it with a vibrating compactor). Not sure if that will get you perfect enough for mats, but everyone seems to have different ideas/ tolerances for level.

[BroncoMo]

I can get a skid steer in there. I did my best to level it with the bucket before hand raking it. But even then, as soon as there’s enough material down that you have to drive on it to reach the part that needs to be leveled, it’s not fool proof and I tend to scrape it too low as I back off the pile.

[endlessclimb]

Old school, but how about some extras and then drag a board across it, then tamp the low areas by hand?

[SusanO]

Yes. That is how I leveled the screenings in the pony’s stall after I tamped them down with a Home Depot vibrator. I put mats on top and years later everything seems to be pretty level.

[BroncoMo]

What would I weight the board with? And I’m not sure how to drag it. It’s certainly not by hand. When I say this stuff is heavy, it’s legit HEAVY. And I’m not a weakling by any means.

[endlessclimb]

You’re not moving much material. You just need enough extras to fall into the low spots. Wiggle the board back and forth as you scoot it along the area. If too many extras build up, stop for a second and shovel it/rake it out of the way.

I do this in 12’ sections with wet sand. It will work!

[BroncoMo]

Oh ok I was envisioning dumping sand in the whole thing, then dragging a board across it. Not for fine detailing it haha.