Next question. How to level frozen ground to build block arch

[lisound]

so I tried today and the ground was solid. I cleared the area of snow earlier this week. smart move on my part.
I was thinking some sand, which i have on hand. should be easy to clean up in the spring and even the ground out.
I'm building on the flattest ground i could access and want to avoid the driveway. the land does slope about 1 inch to the back and right.
do you think that's a good idea?
I will have to build this tomorrow afternoon or fight the weather saturday.

[vtwoody]

yup, great idea

[lisound]

May noT have been my brightest move. After I laid some out, I think it may wash away this weekend with the rain. Crushed gravel would have been better I think. We'll see.

[Zamkev]

Another idea is to go to your local steel shop (or fabrication shop) and get some off-cuts. Steel sheet off-cuts are great for leveling. They come in various thicknesses and lengths and are, in my experience, very inexpensive (like a few bucks for a good few heavy armfuls).

[SeanD]

Gravel would have been better, but sand is what you had and it's the next, best thing. I had to use sand and I threw a tarp over the whole area (after everything was cold) and that kept most of it from washing away. Nevertheless, sand does wick moisture up from the ground, so even with the tarp it erodes a bit. You'll have to shim the pans here and there by the end of the season, but you'll be fine.

Good luck!
Sean

[kiteflyingeek]

I just put bricks around my leveling sand -- as kind of a mini retaining wall. I've had some decent rains and haven't noticed any major erosion. But my assistants are finding that they trip on them :-(. So, I'm probably going to place a thin layer of dirt on top to keep the sand in place. The straw on top of that to keep the mud down -- or, I'll find some grass growing in concrete cracks and use that!