Forum › Forums › General Chit Chat › Working in caliche?
- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 8 months ago by Bob Rooks.
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March 21, 2011 at 4:31 am #30221
This is an interesting read for anyone in the dirt business. Wish I'd run across it sooner, could have saved me some money and time not to mention customer relations.
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March 21, 2011 at 1:02 pm #31720
Bob, I did not knowabout caliche. But it sounds vaguely similar to the predominant rock in my part of the world, sedimentary limestone. It does make good building facing material, but its structural properties are nowhere close to that of, say, granite. So I am now a little wiser.
On the other hand, my previous life consisted of working in a muskeg swamp basin roughly 100-150 miles in diameter. The US Army used to do manoeuvres there. I do believe the Sherman tank ultimately got recovered….
Mike
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March 21, 2011 at 5:31 pm #31722
Prarie Dog wrote:
On the other hand, my previous life consisted of working in a muskeg swamp basin roughly 100-150 miles in diameter. The US Army used to do manoeuvres there. I do believe the Sherman tank ultimately got recovered….
Yeah, I hear those don't float very well.
I discovered that my cabin is built partially on caliche, so that accounts for the difference in settling. It also accounts for a quarter acre “bald spot” with no forest or trees, barely weeds.
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March 21, 2011 at 6:24 pm #31725
Growing up in the southwest I have had more up close and personal contact with caliche than I care to mention. It is just like a layer of concrete. Many times blasting was the only way to get through it.
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March 21, 2011 at 7:20 pm #31726
You got that right! When I had the sign shop in Phoenix I dreaded having to install signs for new subdivisions – they were always in areas that were solid caliche. The stuff was everywhere. Most times I subcontracted the holes to a guy with a powerful auger machine. Well worth the money! Digging a post hole with a bar and clamshell could take all day for one hole. In 120 degree heat that was a killer, to say nothing of what it did to the profit margin.
We have lots of caliche down here in the islands, too. They build houses with it. When I bought land last year I made sure I was up high enough that there wouldn't be any damn caliche. I hate that stuff!
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March 21, 2011 at 9:39 pm #31729
My understanding from the document is that a retaining wall wouldn't be necessary to meet certain codes. Sweet! The only problem would be jack-hammering out a nice wall surface. I can tell in my strata when it rains hard, that the rainwater flows on top of the caliche, underneath the soil layers. This is also known as very hardpan.
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