gravel

[kaialoha]

WHAT you put down is not nearly as important as what you put it down ON to. Subgrade preparation is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to establish a surface onto which you place your gravel/cinder/limestone or whatever. If it's muddy it will be in your best interest to have a grading contractor come in and remove and replace down to 'competent' soils the area and 3-10 feet OUTSIDE of that area so that any 'base' course you place will actually stay and NOT get lost in the mud and BELIEVE me it WILL get lost. There are PLENTY of grading contractors in the Puna area that can accomplish this for you. Generally, if 'competent' soils can NOT be reached (ie, deeper than 3 feet) a 3 foot remove and recompact zone (or 'blanket') will provide enough 'bridging' so that muddy soils won't 'pump' which is another way of saying your base course won't disappear into the ground. Since Hawai'i is volcanic in most areas, competent soils are just below the mud and OF COURSE this entire discussion is relative to the differing soils in the Puna area ~ ~ ~ Pomaika'i ~ ~ ~

Punanny