Fill Dirt for Georgia Regrades, Pads and Backfill

The decision in front of most people ordering this is not how much, it is which of two loads they want. Fill dirt and top soil look alike on a photo and sit next to each other on the order form, and they do opposite jobs: one builds shape, the other grows things. Anyone raising the soggy corner of a back yard in Marietta or bringing a pad up out of a low spot wants the first, because it is screened of rocks, roots and debris and carries very little organic matter. That lack of organic matter is a feature. Nothing in it is going to rot down over three years and leave a hollow where the grade used to be.

The weeks when red clay is dry enough to move

Earthwork here is not limited by frost. Freezes are light across most of the state, the residential code sets a 12 inch minimum footing depth, and the mountain counties in the north are the only places that lose a real run of winter days. What stops a fill job is water.

Saturated red clay will not compact. Run a plate over it and it moves in waves; drive a loaded truck onto it and you have ruts that become the next problem. After a long wet spell, or the remains of a tropical storm coming up from the Gulf, the ground needs a stretch of dry days before anything useful can be done with it.

That puts the workable windows in the drier runs of late spring and early autumn, with the caveat that a Georgia summer can hand you a thunderstorm most afternoons in July. Watch the forecast for a clear run rather than a clear day, because fill placed and left bare before a downpour ends up in the street.

Shaping the low corner before ten yards lands on it

Preparation is mostly about what you take away first. Strip the turf and any soft organic layer from the area being raised, so the new fill sits on firm ground rather than on a spongy layer that will compress later. Grub out roots.

Work out where the water is meant to go when the job is finished, and mark it. Raising a low spot without deciding on the new fall just moves the puddle to whichever side you did not think about, which on clay that sheds water is usually the side with the house on it.

Then plan the lifts. Fill goes down in shallow layers, each one compacted before the next, rather than one deep dump that looks finished and settles for two years. Have the plate compactor or roller on site before the dirt, not after.

Raising a lawn grade, a hot tub corner and a side-yard dog run

A front lawn that dips is the most common version. Fill brings the contour up and sets the fall away from the house, and then it gets capped, because grass will not make a living in it.

A hot tub corner is where fill does half the job. If the spot is low, fill raises it to working level in compacted lifts. The pad itself then goes on top as a proper base of Crusher Run or GAB (Graded Aggregate Base). A tub full of water is a serious point load and it does not belong on dirt alone.

A side-yard dog run is the job where fill is doing almost all the work, because the strip between the house and the fence is usually the wettest ground on the property and the least likely to drain on its own. Raise it, shape a fall toward an outlet, compact it, and then decide on the surface: gravel over the top for drainage, or soil and seed if you are optimistic about the dog.

Fill dirt, top soil and garden soil on the same order form

Three products, three jobs, and ordering the wrong one costs a whole load.

Fill dirt is structure. It builds elevation and holds a shape, and nothing grows well in it.

Top Soil is the cap. Screened soil spread over finished fill to give grass or planting a rooting layer. Every regrade that ends in lawn needs both, ordered together, with the fill underneath and the topsoil over it.

Garden Soil is the blend for raised beds and planting areas, richer again. It is a bed material, not a grading material, and it is an expensive way to raise a corner of a yard.

Yards and tons for a 45 by 28 regrade and an 8 by 34 dog run

Hypothetical examples with the arithmetic shown. This site's calculator pages put dry fill dirt at roughly 2,400 lb per cubic yard, about 1.20 tons per yard, and note that wet fill can reach 3,000 lb per yard, around 1.50 tons. Georgia dirt after a wet week is nearer the second figure than the first.

A front lawn regrade 45 feet by 28 feet at an average 4 inches: 45 x 28 = 1,260 square feet. Then 1,260 x (4 / 12) = 420 cubic feet, and 420 / 27 = 15.56 cubic yards. Dry, that is about 18.7 tons; delivered wet it could be closer to 23 tons for the same volume.

A side-yard dog run 8 feet by 34 feet at 6 inches: 8 x 34 = 272 square feet. Then 272 x (6 / 12) = 136 cubic feet, and 136 / 27 = 5.04 cubic yards, roughly 6 tons dry. Call it 5 yards.

A hot tub corner 12 feet by 12 feet needing 8 inches of build-up: 144 x (8 / 12) = 96 cubic feet, and 96 / 27 = 3.56 cubic yards, about 4.3 tons dry.

Those are finished volumes. Compacted fill occupies less space than the loose material delivered, so add a margin to each figure rather than ordering to the exact number. Check them against the Dirt Calculator.

Holding bare fill through the next round of thunderstorms

Fresh fill with nothing on it is the most erodible surface on a Georgia property. Bare clay on a slope washes in a single storm, and the sediment ends up in the ditch, the street or a neighbor's yard.

Cover it as soon as the shape is right. Topsoil and seed with straw over the top is the usual answer on a lawn; on a steeper face, a mat or a heavier mulch until roots take. Where the fill meets an existing slope, feather the join rather than leaving a step, because a step is where water will start cutting.

Expect some settlement over the first year even with good compaction, most of it after the first sustained wet spell. A shallow top-up in the second spring is normal rather than a sign something went wrong.

Booking a load you can spread before the next storm

Fill dirt is ordered by the yard and moved by machine on anything but the smallest jobs. Decide where a pile can sit without blocking the drive, since ten yards takes up more room than most people picture and a tarp under it saves the lawn underneath.

Pick a quantity and a delivery date on this page, aiming at the start of a dry run rather than the end of one. Delivery is arranged at checkout by ZIP code, described on the delivery page, and the truck needs firm access to the tipping spot. If the only route to the back of the property crosses soft ground, say so through Contact before choosing the date.