Compacting type 1 sub-base

[grizzle]

Hello,

Just wondering - is driving a small digger back and forth over some type 1 an acceptable alternative to using a wacker plate? I imagine it's pretty heavy, so should do a decent job of packing it down.

Any advice please?

Thanks!

 

[r896neo]

Not really it isn't terribly effective.

Of course its heavy and will compact it but if the type 1 is uncompacted you'll end up sinking into it and churning mud up and mixing it all into a horrible mess.

If your already on a compacted sub base and just adding more it might work.

It seems like extra money but you'll save time and money in extra mot by just doing it with rakes and a vibrating plate.

 

[b3taman]

I did this fairly recently - I assume you're talking about a tracked mini digger? It depends on what you've already laid down - I had about 100mm depth of 40 mm stone ('rejects' or 'land base') laid on top of membrane, then about 75mm of Type 1 laid on top of that. (This was all on top of heavy clay)
The digger was 2.5 ton which then did a fair job of compacting it. You're not going to get the same finish as a vibrating plate, but you should certainly be able to drive a vehicle on it afterwards without any problems. If you were thinking of not using a membrane (geotextile) I think it's more likely you might run into slight problems, especially if the ground was very wet.
Geo textile is not very expensive and you'll save on the amount of ballast you'll need.
Hope this helps.

 

[r896neo]

A geotextile does not reduce the amount of sub base needed.

 

[scbk]

How big an area are we talking, is anything going on top of the type 1, and what will the area be used for?