Proper Earth Compaction?

[Tejas]

Ok the road builders dug a farm pond and used that earth from the pond to create a level pad for my future house foundation. Earth is from 4" thick to about 3 foot deep. They were supposed to wait to do that but...

So my question is how do I insure that it is sufficiently compacted? What tests can be done and what might such things cost? The road builder said he scraped off top soil and laid no more than 6" at a time and compacted using a large front end loader (driving back and forth over it) rather than using the dozer which he stated did not give the compaction rates that the front end loader would.

Thanking you in advance for suggestions, Tejas home builder

PS. soil is a mix of some clay, and some sandy silt.

[Rich]

You can hire a geotechnical firm to do compaction tests. Typically they'll have you dig a small hole and flatten the bottom of it (12" deep) - then they'll do a test at both elevations.
Should only cost about $100-150.

[DirtMoverGuy]

Soil most definately will be better compacted with a rubber tire loader than with a track machine. Tracks spread out the ground pressure while rubber tires will concentrate the ground pressure in a smaller area. (I have never seen a track compactor but haver seen all type of roller compactors). It is common practice to compact soil in this manner. Having a load of soil in the loader bucket will provide additional weight if it is needed. It sounds that sufficient compaction should be achieved (95-100%) given the type of soil you describe and it is placed and compacted in 6" lifts and is at the optimum moisture level.