The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Techniques and skills => Topic started by: jams on February 24, 2017, 03:20:07 pm
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Howdy,
I'm looking for advice on track maintenance/repair. I have a cottage situated on farmland, with about a quarter of a mile of dirt track to access it across the neighbouring farm's fields. Sections of that track are in a somewhat iffy condition. I can make it in my wee 4x4 but workmen are getting grumpy about it.
I'm a bit clueless about how to find materials to repair it (I'm assuming scalpings but I've no idea how much would be needed) and how to find someone I could hire to do the work of repairing it since I don't own any heavy machinery or have any experience with it so I'm not sure about hiring something.
Can anyone offer any advice on finding someone to help? For what it's worth I'm in the west of Berwickshire.
Many thanks,
Jams
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There will be a quarry somewhere near you, give them a call and they will deliver a 20ton load of material (part loads will end up costing more per ton and you will find 20 tons isn't actually that much!
The guy in the quarry should advise you on what is best (folk in the quarries near me are very helpful). Road planings are brilliant but like hens teeth. Type 1 is the standard material for roads, 50mm crusher run might be slightly cheaper (but don't get ungraded crusher run as it will have bigger rocks in it).
Don't know where you find someone to do it for you but ask about, there are a few farmers sons in my area that do that kind of thing.
If you are feeling strong, as it is only 1/4 mile you could fill the holes with a shovel and wheelbarrow but you will probably get fed up pretty quickly.
I would get a digger from the local plant hire place, £65 for a day (plus delivery) and borrow a tipping trailer from someone.
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In my experiences callings can be a problem a) if your track slopes and b) it gets a lot of fun off. The farm up from us repaired their tracks with scalpings, we then some time later had torrential rain- the entire lot washed down into the arch under the barn conversions by us and blocked our exit in 18" of gritty stuff.
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The "cheapest" option is to find a local digger driver/owner who has experience doing this sort of work and buy in the materials your self rather than spending time and effort and and not getting a I long lasting result, your back will thank you for it.
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Time was that any local big roadwork projects....you could get chippings/loads for free...but depends where you live
I have been having loads of hole filing loads for years.Difficult to try and do anything this time of year.too wet I ban the postman/bin lorries from coming down the lane....as they can do a lot of damage this time of year. Make other arrangements for these services.Thankfully farm machinery does not use the track.
The problem arises with water and getting the water off the track when it rains helps.
No quick fix.....your"ll have the problem this time of year
Only advantage is it puts off burglaries as they dont think anyone lives down the track
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my last delivery here in Shropshire was for 10 ton of MOT TYPE 1 which cost £228. I still have piles of it strategically placed along lane to fill holes in with wheelbarrow...it does not set hard whilst in a pile !!!This is important as you want something that can be easily spread if you intend to hold on to it.
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Much cheaper bought in 20 ton loads if you have some where to store it for periodic use.
Purchase of crusher run as mentioned above is what we do.
If you get a local farmer with tractor to cart the stone to location with a front loader you can shovel it off into the pot holes. Level off , then best compacted with a whacker plate. You only need a small one, easily hired.
Once on top of the job it would be Easy enough to wander along with a wheel barrow once every month or so addressing problem areas.
It is standing water on the track which creates the problem, if you can create a camber over time to ensure run off , your task will ease over time.
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random point - make sure of respnsibilities if its across a neighbours land... if its his with you merely having a right of access he may have opinions about what he wants used... he may also have a partial responsibility to maintain it if he uses it for agricultural access too
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That's a good point, if the farmer uses the track too, you might be able to strike a deal..eg. You pay for stone..he places it with his tractor...win win.
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If you don't have a Wacker use your 4wd.to compress and add more
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If its 'hard' underneath and just rutted rather than a quagmire - I have found that my driveway has been ok for about 5 years now just with pea gravel, emptied a few bags of cement on it sprayed it with a hose and whackerplated it for an hour of so (small areas)
Its useful if you can keep just the wheel tracks done and not the whole width
And yes - look after your runoff in the rain.
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Thanks for all of the info and suggestions, folks -- there's plenty to go on here. :thumbsup:
I've dug out a few nice drainage channels that seem to be holding up pretty well & so I think the track isn't going to deteriorate as badly, so now I just need to figure out how to get stone up to do it. Talking to the farmers to get them to help spread it is a good shout -- they've not been particularly helpful in the past, but that was when we'd only just moved in & I think we've built up a bit of trust now.
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The question of who owns the track, and who uses the track, and/or who has responsibility, for the track is a good one to get sorted out before you upset everyone by wading in there.
Do you know the answer to these questions ?
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Maintaining track is expensive - dont do it for the whime of a neighbour - if its your track do it properly and cheap as possible.
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if you got to lay track for some one else make sure they know that its going to cost
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You may also find it is a sensible thng to to do to check witht eh local planing dept.
I know it's a pain & might bring the spotlight on you .... I seem to recall reading of someone in a national paper who got a heavy fine for dumping registered waste on a field ( repairing his track ).
They also had to clear it all off, dispose of it correctly under licence & then apply for planning so that they could then lay down a woven membrane & put god only knows how many tonnes of 40 & 20 mm crushed clean stone down for the roadway .
TIP OFF.
I'm led to believe that many councils have signed up to Google earth to get weekly /monthly photographic reports of what new undertakings can be seen from satellites in their areas so that non consented construction etc .can be easily checked from an office desk .