Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? dirt removal

Hope everything is ok, after the rain.
Sounds like you did a lot of good bargining with the dirt people.

Good work.

If I could afford to hire a plane, was not scared to fly, had a camera and could take a picture, I would have taken an aerial photo of this site.
Otto

So, what's stopping you?

How do you feel about a human sling shot and a sketch pad Otto?

Thats a great project.When I dug my pond they were supposed to haul all the dirt off.6 years later and Im still trying to give it away.And its sandy-loam too.

Here is the update. They have removed all of the dirt that they needed and now a big cleanup is in store. Because they only wanted the clay, they scraped all of the topsoil into a big pile. The bare clay will not grow grass and so before they had begun I was told that they would put the topsoil back over the areas that were scraped bare for the roads and the sides of the pond. Well I was watching and all of a sudden they started pushing the huge pile of topsoil into the pond. I stopped them but now I am worried they are just going to try and get out without doing what they said they would do. They had also said they would put a pile of concrete in the bottom of the pond for structure but instead they buried it. I now have two very large dikes that need to be removed. The idea was to let water out of the pond into the area that was dug out and the main pond would drop about a foot. This was based on the area that had been dug out being eleven acre feet of water and the main pond being eleven acres. When I let the water into the dug out area it took about six days of draining water into it before it finally filled up. Problem the main pond had only dropped about six inches instead of the needed foot. Then it rained about an inch today and the entire pond rose about four inches. Now I need the pond to drop ten inches before the levies can be removed. Here is the really big problem for me! My wife thinks it looks TERRIBLE!

How about a pic?

This picture is from Tuesday I think when I first started letting water into the hole. The water is now about 17ft deep at the bottom and about four feet deep where the posts are.

This is the latest picture taken today after they have taken out the first levee. The other two levees are smaller

Here is a picture of the next levee to be removed.

Are you satisfied? It sure looks GREAT!

Ditto.

How do they take out a long levee like that?

It requires using a dozer and a track hoe. the dozer flattens and widens the levee until it is wide enough for the track hoe to get on top of it. the track hoe then can start dumping the levee into the hole that had been previously dug.

James, I think they need to at least double the number of boards on your walkway to the dock. (just in case your swiss gnome's buddies come to visit).

Looks good James. Think structure as you tell them what to do with the dirt from the levee. Dirt mounds are very good structure. Flat topped dirt mounds about 3 ft deep are great BG and LMB bedding areas.

Dang, what a deal!! And for FREE! It looks great!!

Beautiful!!Wish my pond looked like that. Its gonna be great.

Here are the latest pictures and I feel they have done a very good job. Notice how they put all of the topsoil back along the edges.Now I just need to plant grass and wait for the dirt in the water to settle. It's funny how the pond looks smaller now even though it is quite a bit larger.

It looks huge to me, James, and really nice, too.

Very nice... Gotta get some fescue growing on that dirt and you'll be set. Seems big to me! How many acres is it now?

thanks

That is beautiful!

Ya dun good, James....real good.

That is a beautiful pond...I mean lake. You were very fortunate to have the County come knocking on your door!