Paving stones over sand & aggregate (gravel) base. Question!

[StageLeft]

Building a walkway. Wet clay soil. I excavated and have at least 4" thickness of "Step 1" paver base, which I compacted with a hand tamper about every 1 inch. I'm about to put on the sand and then subsequently the stones, but this base just does not feel very stable. When I bounce up and down on it it feels spongy. I have compacted what I could and this soil is particularly ill suited for stabilization (but many houses on the street do have paving walkways, so it can clearly be done), but should it feel like a sponge when I bounce up and down? This morning I finished excavation and the mud was removed, but the soil was still quite damp, as it is want to be in this region of the US and probably will not dry out, oh for about 3 months.

Thanks for any ideas or reassurances about the sponginess!

 

[squirrel dog]

Do it.Be sure to sweep in plenty of sand, and when it gets bone dry, then even it out, if needed. Thing is to have a good sandy base. That sponginess you speak of is soil saturation. Concrete guys hose down, or add water to all their jobs.

 

[dartworth]

Did you dig it out properly, by "skimming" the dirt. You really should use a plate compactor to tamp the aggregate down.

 

[StageLeft]

Thanks,squirrel.

Originally posted by: dartworth
Did you dig it out properly, by "skimming" the dirt. You really should use a plate compactor to tamp the aggregate down.

I simply dug it out. Any clearly loose soil I did remove. I then tamped before putting aggregate down. I read that a plate compactor is perhaps overkill for this application. It's only about a 60 square foot path.

 

[drnickriviera]

I always add a couple of bags of portland cement to the soil, till it in and compact it. Then add aggregate. Or i'll just completely skip the aggregate and got straight to sand.

Ones I did this way were strong enough to drive 8000lbs across it

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: drnickriviera
I always add a couple of bags of portland cement to the soil, till it in and compact it. Then add aggregate. Or i'll just completely skip the aggregate and got straight to sand.

Ones I did this way were strong enough to drive 8000lbs across it

Not a bad idea! in the future, though...as is I have over a ton of aggregate already replaced, so I'll need to keep such ideas in mind in the future

 

[GoingUp]

This thread is worthless without pics of Mrs. Skoorb

 

[StageLeft]