Laying sub base on wet soil / rain - Question re bad weather and patio job

[yanskii]

Hi

I have already dug out the 6 inch hole in which I intend to lay a sub base.

However, it has rained heavily for the last 24 hours and the bottom soil is very wet now.

Is there any harm on laying the sub base on this wet soil? My thoughts are that it will not be solid enough?

I have already hired out the Whacker Plate but if I cant use it this weekend (the forecast is bad again) I am going to have to put the whole job on hold and pay for it again.

Also, how about the rest of the job? It is a slab patio with sub base level and a sharp sand / cement bed.

I have a tarpaulin now so I will be trying to avoid getting my work wet should it rain again.

Thanks for any advice.

[seanandruby]

Hi

I have already dug out the 6 inch hole in which I intend to lay a sub base.

However, it has rained heavily for the last 24 hours and the bottom soil is very wet now.

Is there any harm on laying the sub base on this wet soil? My thoughts are that it will not be solid enough?

I have already hired out the Whacker Plate but if I cant use it this weekend (the forecast is bad again) I am going to have to put the whole job on hold and pay for it again.

Also, how about the rest of the job? It is a slab patio with sub base level and a sharp sand / cement bed.

I have a tarpaulin now so I will be trying to avoid getting my work wet should it rain again.

Thanks for any advice.

are there any bad soft spots? if you dont sink more than a couple of ml you will be ok. maybe scrap off the surcharge if its to bad.
in an ideal world we would wait for it to dry out. but we would never get anything done, or make money :;):

[Tony McC]

Soil? There should not be any soil present; you need a proper sub-grade.

[Dave_L]

It'd be OK to lay the sub-base but I wouldn't whack it - you'll only bring the water to the surface of the subbase and make it like a soup! If you're really lucky the whacker will start to sink away!

I'd leave it well alone, not much point in tarp'ing it tbh. Wait for a few days of dry weather, it'll soon dry out and firm up.

Is your hire shop an undertsanding one? Might they waive the hire charge if you said you had to abandon the job?

[yanskii]

Hi Dave

Thanks for the advice. Luckily after Thursday nights deluge the rain subsided and Friday afternoon and Saturday was fine and as its a south faciong garden I think it dried out near enough ok. I was panicking a bit though!

The patio is down now and I must say I'm very pleased with it. Had a lot help from my Dad and also someone who knows a lot more about diy etc than me. If it wasnt for them I'd still be doing it today but now I can have a nice relaxing Sunday!