I have some grids on hand I need to install but honestly am a bit stuck on the process. Did you dig down first? How far? What implement did you use? Did you do geotextile underneath?
Our plan is to build an all weather run off the barn using them. Dig down 6-8 inches, lay geotextile, grids, then fill with small gravel then screenings. If we have enough I may use some near the gates as well, same process but no screenings on top? Or would the geo Tex be fine without the grids? Issue here is our property is not flat anywhere.
I’ve installed a few different kinds of grids around my farm and put a bunch of photos on my blog, if you’d like to see how I installed them: http://thesmallhorsefarm.blogspot.com/2020/05/grid-systems-for-erosion-control.html. The grids should be at the surface, backfilled with stonedust/screenings or something else small that can fill them in.
I’ve also done stonedust without grids for mud prevention in flat gate areas: http://thesmallhorsefarm.blogspot.com/2021/05/stonedust-pad-for-gate-area.html. I dug down 6-8" with the tractor (not very evenly because apparently I’m not great at tractoring), backfilled with stonedust, compacted it by driving back and forth with the tractor, let it get rained on, then compacted it again. It has been great!!
The only place I used geo tex was under a gravel driveway in a wettish area, where I did not use grids. I wouldn’t count on geo tex alone for sloped areas. It helps to prevent the soil underneath from mixing with your footing, but not to keep the footing from eroding.
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We dug down just a little - maybe 3 inches? Mostly because we wanted to grade it slightly away from the barn for drainage than for any other reason. My contractors did it using a box blade on a small tractor-like thing (not sure what it’s called - had tank tracks rather than wheels). Then we did geotextile, put the grids down, and then filled with 3/8 minus. We have about 4 inches down right now, which still needs to be compacted, and then we’re going to add maybe another 4 inches on top.
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Thanks for the links! I definitely will look at those!
This may be a silly question - if you put them at “surface level” (not digging down at all) doesn’t / wouldn’t the fill wash away some? I know the grids hold it in to an extent but I am picturing the top layer washing away and the grids being partially exposed.
So you do want to dig down to some extent (to remove grass/top layer of mud or soil), but if you bury the grids under inches of footing everything above the level of the grids can still wash away. They can’t hold anything in place other than what’s actually inside them, and even that isn’t perfect. If you look at my pics you’ll see how the grids are slightly exposed in some places. I asked my excavator if that meant I should add footing and he said no, that amount of exposure is totally fine and just means they’re doing their job. The little lip of exposed grid acts to slow down the water as it drains across the surface. If I add stonedust on top it would just wash away in a few storms anyway.
I think there are applications in which the grid gets buried, like to stabilize subsoil for road construction, but not if your concern is surface-level erosion.
Disclaimer: I am not an engineer. But that’s my understanding of the grids, and how they have worked for me. I’ve had my not-quite-level dry lot for 5 years now and haven’t had to add any footing because they do such a great job preventing erosion.
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I anticipate that there will be some need to add to the footing over time.
But I think it depends really on your layout. I have (or will have) the grids in two places. One is in an in/out that will also double as a wash stall. It’s bounded by the barn on one side, a retaining wall on the opposite side, and open on the other two sides but closed in with fences. It is graded very slightly toward the retaining wall for drainage purposes. So I think if footing migrates, it will migrate downgrade but will be stopped by the retaining wall and I can just rake it back into place.
The other is my dry lot. It is mostly flat but like the in/out we are grading it slightly to one side where we have buried a drainage pipe. But it abuts a lane between two paddocks, and the lane will have gravel in it. So I think in the future we may end up putting down landscape timbers where the lane’s gravel meets the grass paddock next to it to keep all of the footing/gravel in place.
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Thank you both for such in depth and helpful information! I can’t wait to get our grids in now! And it is a much less daunting task after learning a bit more and seeing your photos @Libby2563.
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Yay, so happy I could help!!
On Thur I took a photo of a grid application to show you guys. The trail system behind my house had a horrific shoe-sucking mud pit, complete with buried roots close enough together to trap a foot if the horse stepped in just the wrong spot. I avoided that loop for a while and then was pleasantly surprised to discover it had been fixed! There’s a layer of geocloth and then grid filled with what looks like a fairly fine version of crusher run (definitely has some larger stones than the stonedust I used on my farm). I couldn’t say for sure whether they dug out the mud or just leveled it and put the grid down on top. I did not see a nearby pile of dirt or any stones peeking out from under the geocloth though. Curious to see how this holds up!
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Restaurants use all types of rubber floor mats including those with grids. It may be worth checking out. https://www.americanfloormats.com/worksafe-anti-fatigue-mat/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqbyNBhC2ARIsALDwAsAtRegfSAXZGjtM6gnWlEPhAUORL7xUyI9YfynLLnjTdMlGAivFSkwaAofrEALw_wcB
