silt clay and rain

[PSUscaper]

Well,

frustration has set in.

Started a pool job almost 3 weeks ago. Pool is located behind house/at bottom of hill.

Since the start of the project, it has done nothing but RAIN. What a mess. Started the project with a wall/steps coming off the drive and then another set of 12 steps coming off of that up to the pool.

So far I got the wall and steps at the drive done, and 4 steps going up to the pool.

I dug down for the steps, and well,,,,,havn't stopped. almost at 4 feet now and still nothing but mush!!!!!!!!!

Due to the design, I have no alternative but to start at the bottom of the hill and work my way up........and as it turns out, the water likes to fill everthing up as I work my way up.

Soil is some of the worst I have ever seen....a sandy clay that is backfill from when the pool was installed. I fear that the soil, when they used it to backfill around the pool, is soaking in the water and not allowing it to drain.......I'm glad I'm not putting pavers around this one, but am concerned about how we are going to put concrete around it.

I finally decided to shut the job down today till better weather. Gonna be a LOOOOOOOONG time for this one to dry out.

I'm wondering what is the longest time any of you shut down a job due to weather conditions. I'm thinking about packing up for a couple of weeks on this one.

If this rain continues in the NE, I'm not sure what will happen to hardscaping.


steve

[Stonehenge]

I never shut one down for a really long time, but I did hold off on one for a couple months. Too wet, too dangerous to drive our equipment down the slippery slope.

Many years ago an old boss took me by a pool job they did - either there was a spring under the pool, or the pool leaked and froze. In any case, after less than a year, he took me to see the job - the pool was sitting 12" higher than it was at install time, and the pavers from 3' around the pool were now 3-7' underground. It was amazing. ..