Is There Any Simple Way To Excavate Adobe?
I have a field of natural abobe that is proving very diffcult to excavate. Is there a compound available that would break down the structure to allow easier excavation.
Tags: Adobe, Excavate, Simple, There
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November 8th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Timing is highly important when dealing with adobe soil. The best time to work it is yesterday and tomorrow.
The chemical approach for breaking up adobe is to mix it with gypsum. However, the initial mixing implies breaking the soil, so it isn’t much of a solution if excavation is your only goal.
And, there are a few dissenters regarding gypsum’s ability, but they form a small percentage of the online advice.
The approach I use is to wet the adobe (1/2 to 1 inch of water) and then wait 24 hours. Too dry and it is too hard. Too wet and it will stick to your excavation tools. To go deep, multiple applications may be required.
If trenching, I stretch out a soaker hose, apply about 1 gallon per foot, then wait roughly 16 hours or more before digging.
The other method is to use major power equipment, such as a powerful backhoe. Small ones won’t cut it.