Using a loaded earthmover can when used in proper conditions can compact good quality clay soil. However very Important points are:
1. dampness of the clay material during construction; too dry of clay does not compact well.
2. thickness of the lifts that are placed on top of each other. Thicker the lifts less compaction between lift layers. Lifts compacted by earthmovers or bulldozers compact the layers as sheets of paper in a book. The layers are not well interconnected nor knitted together.
3. number of passes over each lift layer.
4. quality of the clay and dirt materials and amount of unexpected grainy sand veins can cause compaction problems IN BETWEEN and among the lift layers. Lift layer integrity is very important for sealing an entire pond basin.
These ALL four have to be in good condition for best clay compaction for building a minimal leakage pond.
When all the above items are optimum, then clay compaction is adequate using a wheeled earthmover. Those four unknowns are too much of a gamble for leakage IMO. When any one of the above four is/are present it or they can contribute to leakage pathways. Same goes for sheepsfoot rollers but leakage is less of a chance when the marginal conditions occur.
If it was my pond being built and the contractor was to use a Loaded Wheeled Earthmover, I would want a signed contract that if more than 12"-14" of water was below the overflow pipe during annual dry weather conditions, the contractor guarantees to return and find the leak and repair it no charge. The signed contract IMO emphasizes to the contractor to pay special close attention to clay compaction efforts. A neighbor's 0.3ac pond was built with a loaded wheeled earthmover. Pond receives house roof drainage. Clay was damp during construction, contractor was well experienced. Luckily clay was damp in spring and lift layers were spread thin when pond was built.
My contention is, if loaded wheeled earthmovers are adequate at clay compaction then why do specialized soil compacting sheepsfoot rollers and vibrating sheepsfoot rollers exist?
Remember the sheepsfoot roller KNITS, importance here is KNITS and interconnects the two clay lift layers together. Wheeled compactors just squeezes or presses the two clay layers together. Pressed together clay layers leaves a seam between the two layers and when soil/s are grainy or too dry, or too thick water can work its way more easily between the compressed layers. Subsoil has various soil type veins, textures and layers depending on how nature laid down the soil in Indiana during the periodic ice ages. Unknown subsoil layers can be a problem when building a dug pond.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 03/27/26 10:25 AM.
