dirt settiling

[Inthehollow]

Just wondering how long it will take for the dirt to settle around a new house construction wanted to wait till next spring before any land scapeing is done bushes excatera. thanks Bret

[WaveWacker]

Assuming house is built and rough graded last year this upcoming spring should be just fine for landscaping.

[Charley]

I agree with Wavewacker. some heavy snow would too.

[FISHINGFARMER]

Inthehollow:

Depends on how deep the back fill dirt was, when construction was finished. If it was around a basement or anything deeper than 3ft. in total grade it could take up to 6 months to finish.

Just went thru the same in putting in a couple of barns last year.Cat pulled out in early November and took till around August to finally settle completely. Did all my seeding the end of August and grass was established pretty good before we had a killing frost the next fall.

Farmer

[Inthehollow]

Thanks for the info there are spots it is close to 10 feet of fill others four feet built on a slope so I will wait till fall to do any seeding thanks Bret

[echo2010]

my house was built in 2000 and I bought it in 2006. i noticed the back fill had sunken a bit sloping twords the house, I pulled out the rocks and added some dirt sloping away from the house.

The guy that built it said it should have been fine right away, but I would give it a whole wet season and freezing season to be sure

[hondarider550]

I built a new barn about 2 years ago and after a heavy rain last year yet I still had some settling going on. Definitely give it a wet season and freezing season...

[Tom7227]

I suspect that it depends a lot on what the backfill was like when it was put in place. Was it dry and loose or clay and clumps? Did the contractor do anything to compact it while putting it in? Is it a full 8+ feet or less?

I had a new septic tank put in a few years ago in October. By the time the job was done it got pretty cold and the backfill was pretty clumpy. It settled a lot over the winter but I didn't think it was done. I put a hose out a couple of times to wash it down and a log more soil went into the cracks.

If you don't know how things were done then I would putoff doing any costly work close to the house for another year. You may have to add material close to the house for drainage and it would be a bummer to have to deal with plantings that ended up in the way.