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Eddy G
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2015 09:38am - Edited by: Eddy G
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General question.
There is an area (a path of sort) that has a wet gap...
Picture a walking path if you will...at one point there is a 2' maybe as much as 3' drop / gap in the path that spans roughly 30'....
I was thinking of taking some of the downed trees or binging a few down and spanning that gap with the trees and then covering them with some gravel or even gravel then the trees and some more gravel to walk on....
I know the trees will break down and compost over time but will it work and for how long before more gravel or fill would be needed?
The gap is wet..It's not officially "wet lands" or part of the pond but close to the edge of the pond and its always wet.
I think I'd get a good 10 to 20 years out of it. Just as a convenience to walk down the path with out crawling up and out of the gap and mud.
What say you?
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FishHog
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2015 10:45am
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depends on what kind of trees you use. Rot resistant will last longer. If they are going to be wet all the time, they might not last very long at all.
If you could drain the area to keep it dryer it will last longer. Dig a trench to a low spot then fill. But it certainly won't be a long term fix.
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AK Seabee
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2015 11:57am
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I do the same on the trail into our property. Its basically a corded road. Its not structural and will eventually fail. Use what is available and do periodic maintenance, Its not perfect but beats the alternative (no access).
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hueyjazz
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2015 12:18pm
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As a Boy Scout it was a pretty common practice for us on trail maintenance to take down trees and corduroy portion of the trail with 3"-5" diameter logs maybe 4'-5' wide. This was done only for wet segment of the trail.
It help limit erosion and made the trail passable.
Plus it gave cheap manpower something to do
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old243
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2015 12:59pm
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Should work , I would recommend a small drain pipe at a low point, as well to let any flow of water escape. If it rots out add more. I have seen a hollow log used as a culvert old 243
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2015 01:42pm
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There is a portion of the city of San Francisco, called the Marina District, that is built on fill largely made from the carcasses of wooden ships abandoned in the 1849 gold rush. The sailors jumped ship to go to the gold fields and they couldn't sail the ships out. Now houses cover the area. It's not a problem until there is an earthquake, then it turns to jello and the houses crumble.
On the Saint Lawrence river some years ago they pulled a tree trunk out of the river bank that was 10,000 years old and had not rotted. If wood stays wet and has no exposure to air it will not rot. On the Great Lakes they are pulling up logs that sank decades ago during logging operations when they floated logs along the lake. They are good as new and excellent old growth timber.
There was a severe forest fire in my neck of the woods a few years ago where they had some collapsed roads in the forest. When the road was built decades ago they bulldozed over stumps and logs and left them covered under the surface. During the fire some caught fire, burned out, and left a void that the fire trucks crunched into.
All of which points to toward your plans working well, IMO, particularly if you use a species less inclined to rot and they stay saturated.
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FishHog
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2015 02:10pm
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bldginsp is right, if you can keep them 100% submerged, they will out last us all. Its the wet/dry cycle that will ruin them. 100%Dry or 100% wet is good. That sounds like it might be difficult to achieve in your situation. If so, keeping them as dry as possible will be better than damp most of the time.
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Kudzu
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2015 04:37pm
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I did exactly like you described doing and have had great success, I did this on my 4-wheeler trails.
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