Having cleared the small area of forest for my storage shed, I needed to create a concrete pad as support for the building.

I was advised that this pad should be 4-6 inches thick, and made of “dirty gravel” (CA6 gravel, recycled from old concrete and gravel). It needed to be wider than the building, with a margin of 5-10 feet. The purpose of this pad is to provide a solid support for the poured concrete floor of the building, and keep grass, bushes and trees from getting too close to the building. I decided a 50×50 foot pad would be the right size for my 24×32 foot shed.

For a pad of this size and thickness, the concrete supply company recommended 55 tons (4 truckloads) of gravel.

The day of the gravel delivery did not start out well.

The gravel truck got stuck in a low muddy area just inside the gate, requiring my bulldozer guy to pull him out. To prevent a similar occurrence with subsequent loads, I used some of the gravel to spread over the low, muddy spot. Problem solved, although now I was short a little of the gravel needed for the pad.

The bulldozer with a bucket on the front proved well-suited to spreading the gravel more or less evenly over the pad site. I had marked the edges of the pad with stakes and flags. It didn’t need to be perfect…just approximately right.

We leveled it visually, and then began compacting the gravel by driving over it with the bulldozer, and later my car and the Gator. Several heavy rains fell over the next few weeks, further compacting the gravel. When I returned, the gravel was nicely compacted, but sloping down and to the left. I needed more gravel.

Another 15 tons of dirty gravel and a phone call to my bulldozer guy, and we were at it again. This time, I explained the problem of the downward slope, so he would know to put more gravel on the down side, and less gravel on the up side. After re-compacting and another rain, the problem was solved.

My building contractor told me later that the laser measurements showed a lingering high to low slope of only 3 inches. Pretty good for visual estimates by the bulldozer.