On Apr 9, 12:21 pm, Dan Espen
wrote:
"N8N" writes:
On Apr 9, 10:06 am, Dan Espen
wrote:
"JoeSpareBedroom" writes:
"N8N" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,

I've started to clean off my driveway - the previous owners of my
house were kind of eco-nuts, and didn't use it. They apparently put
down wood chips on the driveway and let them decompose, which makes
great topsoil, but there's already 12" or more of good topsoil over
the whole property so I don't need any more. I've already given away
quite a bit, but there's a lot more left to go until the whole
driveway is uncovered.

My problem is this; I think I've already gotten through all the "easy
pickins" - the one large pile that remains seems to have a lot of
gravel and rock mixed in with it, like at some point there was a
gravel mulched flowerbed that got covered over. I'd like to somehow
separate the topsoil from the gravel so I could use the gravel and
rocks rather than having to give the whole mess away as "fill dirt."
I'm envisioning some kind of coarse screening - window screen is too
fine - is there something readily available that would let me sift
this quickly? Maybe even something that I could rent for a couple of
days? What would I ask for?

thanks,

nate

(uncovered almost eight feet more of driveway this weekend, only
another 16 or so to go!)

There a misnamed product called hardware cloth which is not cloth at all,
but metal mesh with 1/4" square holes, perfect for sifting soil. Call some
real hardware or farm supply stores. You'll have to build a frame out of
wood and staple or screw the cloth to it. Your imagination should tell you
the details.

I've done something similar to get the dirt out of a lot of
3/8 inch marble chips.

Made the box myself, it's not hard.

My advice, throw the stuff out, it's not worth the effort.

There's too much to throw out, is the problem! The girlie advertised
"free topsoil" on Craigslist and the response was incredible, but I
still have several truckloads already hand-sorted stacked up beside/
behind the garage, and still more driveway to clean off. The previous
owner was a composting machine, apparently. It'd take several months,
two trash cans a week, to even make a noticeable dent in this stuff.

The good thing is, I'm apparently making several gardening enthusiasts
very happy, as everyone who's come by to take some has raved about how
dark and rich the stuff is.

If you call someone in to pave the driveway, they will scoop it up
and haul it to the dump or somewhere it can be used as fill.

That probably would work, but the driveway does not need to be
paved... there's existing asphalt there, that was just buried buy the
PO and surprisingly is still in good shape except for the last couple
feet before the garage and also the apron area. There actually are
still visible brush marks from the last time it was sealed, which is
amazing, as it couldn't have been less than 19 years ago.


If you do build a sifter, make 2 sides longer like this:

==============================
* *
* *
* *
* *
==============================

I've got mine sized so that the middle
part fits over the wheelbarrow and the
arms hold it in place.

good idea, I'll look into that.

thanks,

nate