If rain is coming...

[Mbella]

Do you dig anyway?

Let's say you are scheduled to excavate for a residential patio tomorrow and the weather forecast is calling for rain starting around noon, tomorrow. The forecast calls for rain starting at noon and continuing into the evening with total rainfall estimated at 1/4 of an inch.

Do you dig anyway?

[kris]

I probably would. If possible dig, prepare base and possibly tarp. Sometimes you can also dig temporary drainage trenches. Im not one for waiting around for what the weather man says is going to happen.... Sometimes it is very obvious that it is going to happen so you take appropriate precautions. example: hold off on a delivery that might sit on the street, clean up as you go a little more than you usually do,etc, etc.

[CaptainsLS]

We dig in the rain, but I'm not a fan of installing base with rain. My exception for that would be a cut wall. I'll wait for that to dry out.

[mckeeland]

we will dig if i can excavate, tamp, and get first lift of stone in, even if we don't tamp it. usually that shouldn't be problem.

one thing good to do when leaving materials in the street. bring some 4" pvc and lay it against the curb before you dump. that way the water can get through your piles and into the drains and not saturate your materials.

[GreenMonster]

i'd probably put it off for a day. why dig and let it get all sloppy for half a day's work?

[mrusk]

All depends on the size. If it was a average 600-800 sq ft patio i see no proablem with it. Dig it out in a hour. Tamp sub base. Install fabric. Then install base material in the rain!

[Grn Mtn]

do you need a permit to put materials in the street?

[mckeeland]

we have never needed one. we have been told that we cannot leave anything in the street overnight

[lawnkid]

We dug a couple jobs this year in the rain. No big deal. We just tarp the hole as we dig. If the hole is a little moist, throw some portland in there. Now if the rain becaomes a monsoon we'd probably quit. This is a little off topic but we've actually seeded some of the best lawns and planted some of the nicest beds in the rain. And more or less these days you have to react to the weather conditions. With all this advanced equipment, it only seems the meteorologists have gotten worse at predicting the weather.

[kris]

i'd probably put it off for a day. why dig and let it get all sloppy for half a day's work?


I believe Mike said "calling for rain" ... 50%( Im guessing at that %) weather man is wrong.

[zedosix]

we will dig if i can excavate, tamp, and get first lift of stone in, even if we don't tamp it. usually that shouldn't be problem.

one thing good to do when leaving materials in the street. bring some 4" pvc and lay it against the curb before you dump. that way the water can get through your piles and into the drains and not saturate your materials.

Very good suggestion. I will try to remember that one.

[mckeeland]

Very good suggestion. I will try to remember that one.

Thats the hardest part of that, remembering the darn pipes. lol

[kris]

Thats the hardest part of that, remembering the darn pipes. lol

ya we do that too but like you said,next thing is forgetting the pipe. In one of our standards it says that if you have to leave a pile on the street overnight, well barricaded and a 30cm wide trough along the curb for water to drain ...piece of pipe works instead.