A few projects I have done recently

For that det system, would HDPE pipe have been a better choice as far as long term lifespan of the pipe or? Is there anything special about the CMP that makes it better for that use or just cost?

movindirt said:

For that det system, would HDPE pipe have been a better choice as far as long term lifespan of the pipe or? Is there anything special about the CMP that makes it better for that use or just cost?

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Cost, CMP is cheaper. IMO HDPE is a much better choice as I've seen and removed too much CMP that has rust clean through on the bottom.

I think HDPE was around $4K more for this system, money well worth it when you put a $60K parking lot on top of it.

Maybe it's because i don't buy anything in bulk, but last time i bothered to price 24" CMP it was closer to the price of RCP than HDPE. Was that enough acronyms?

hvy 1ton said:

Maybe it's because i don't buy anything in bulk, but last time i bothered to price 24" CMP it was closer to the price of RCP than HDPE. Was that enough acronyms?

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I like acronyms, speeds up typing.

The pricing difference is probably regional and the quantity. Company that supplied this system also makes HDPE at their plant in Georgia.

Bidding another project with 2 barrels of 48" HDPE 150' long with manifold. CMP is $1700 cheaper than plastic.

I am in the process of installing 3 laterals of 60" and manifold. The original spec was a contech duromax system made out of CMP for around $120k in just pipe no structures. I requested the system to be specified in HDPE and the cost was 40,000$ less. The owner appreciated that I ended up with the dirty dirt removal and paving. The reason for such a large system is the contaminated soils. So pipe is solid pipe. Also installing a storm water treatment unit all under parking lot to treat the water before it goes into city storm. Very elaborate.
My point is the HDPE was a lot cheaper than the CMP here.

On another note I did buy another dozer. Went with a Deere 650J. Picked it up last week and so far I am not secound guessing my purchase. Photo is the dealers listing.

Congrats on the dozer Jmac, I have run a 650 a few times and sure did like it, so much that a Deere will be considered in the mix on the next purchase

Material pricing is a regional thing I guess. Southeastern Culvert is the one that supplied this CMP system and they also manufacture/supply HDPE. Contech priced this CMP system and was the same price but owners specifically wanted SEC.

Both suppliers SEC and Contech were cheaper for CMP than HDPE.

I am seeing a lot of CMP going into the ground in my area which just means a nice batch of job security right around the time I get ready to retire. They might get 20 years out of it if they are lucky. We have some very acidic soils, coupled with parking lot runoff, that will take it's toll on metal buried in the ground. Out of the sun light, plastic will virtually last forever buried in the ground.

Finishing up the storm on the auto repair project. 18" HDPE tied into the outlet control structure and 8" roof leader tied into the CMP detention system.

The OCS has a weir wall in it to detain the water in the detention system with a 4" hole at the bottom and a 6" hole a foot and 1/2 or so above. I like how the precaster made the box. The weir wall is a separate piece that slides into grooves cast in the box. We took the weir wall out to make mudding the inside of the box easier, instead of having to stand on your head and mud the pipe.

When we put the weir wall back in we'll be able to adjust the height a little for the invert so everything flows smoothly.



Roof leader connection allowed the 8" HDPE to slide inside the metal stub. It was a tight fit so a mud collar is all that is needed. That and the fact there were no details for the connection.



18" RCP for a yard inlet located in the country ROW. I think this is the first project where we have had RCP, HDPE and CMP all on the same project.

A side note - always, always read ever single small font note on every page of the plans. One note stated that any drainage structure located in the county ROW must be site cast. I didn't catch it, neither did my supplier and I priced it as a pre-cast knockout box. Now we have to form and pour a yard inlet. Win some, loose some.



RCP connection to the detention system. RCP was a tight fit on the outside of the metal stub, also rubbed a mortar collar around the connection.

Just a little 953C love. If I only could have one machine to earn a living with it would be a track loader.

CM1995 said:

Just a little 953C love. If I only could have one machine to earn a living with it would be a track loader.


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That's funny you say that. I have never owned one, I do see how it would be nice. I do have a wheel loader and have not seen a track loader ever in use. If I did own one I would be the only one around with one. Lol.

I purchased a rt56 like your rt82 on auction time it came from Texas. We cleaned it up gave it a coat of paint and it is good to go. It was a rental machine (sunbelt) with 250 hrs on it and looked like it went thru a war. Everything works and I think it is going be great to use. We have 12 apartment buildings to back fill and compact and thought it will work for the out side so we can keep a large wacker plate on the inside to do both sides at the same time when we back fill. That is another tool I see no owns around me but your post about how much you like yours was one of the reason I decided to try one.

You gotta keep an open mind because the way we always have done it does not mean it is always the best.

Before and after

The whole hood areas are filled in with bondo. Not perfect by any means but better than it was and won't hurt the first time they scratch it all up in the first hour of use.

JMAC for some reason the pics didn't post, try it again - I'd like to see your R2 renovation. We bondo'd our R2 as well as it also looked like it went through WW3. The little trench roller has been a great asset to the "fleet". Now I don't see how we got by without him.

The time and money it saves in over excavation in order to get the big roller in the trench and stone backfill has more than paid for itself. I look at the weekly auctions on Iron Planet to see if any more are coming up. I figure we can get a couple of more years out of our current one but if I can pick up another one cheap under $3K, I would buy another one as a spare.

I'm a track loader guy, grew up around them. They are capable of so much on a site. It can cut grade, clear and grub, tote materials and so much more. Basically a CTL on steroids.

I paid 3500$ for mine.

Trying it again.

Nice Jmac! Love the color scheme.

$3500 is a deal for what the little machine can do. On the current project we used it to compact the initial non-crushed stone fill lift with on site material with R2 - saved a ton of money and met specs. I couldn't use my 533E due to weight. If I wouldn't have had R2 that would have been purchased stone at $625 per load. Would have taken 6 loads to get above the pipe and I would've still been nervous putting the big roller on it even then.

We used R2 to bring all the backfill to final sub-grade over the det. system, it took a little longer but there was no way to damage the CMP. The super was so intrigued by it that he ran R2 for most of the backfill.

A real pleasure to see someone do a good pipe job. As always it is neat and clean. I like the connection between the metal and concrete pipe!

Thanks for the trackloader love!

Thanks LC. The pipe isn't always the best but we do what we can to get it right.

The 953C was a champ on this job, saved a ton on trucking and the distance was just in it's sweet spot to make production.

Site cast inlet box in the county ROW. County spec's, which are archaic at best but that's another story, which require any drainage structure in the ROW to be site cast. Why? It's like asking why the sky is blue...

Anyway we're not concrete guys or carpenters but here's the progress pics.

Bottom formed up and rebar tied. A rod buster would cringe as much as I would if he tried to cut finish grade with the 5.



Like I said I'm no carpenter or concrete guy. One thing to remember when making the interior form for a box with 6" thick walls is there are TWO 6" walls. I caught it as soon as the inside form was let down in the hole..

Didn't take much to trim it down 6" and put it back.

Too big inside form.



Forms corrected along with poor man's wall ties and pig feet - tie wire through the forms with grade stakes or rebar to tighten them up. Worked well for such a short wall.

GC had a pump on site to pour the footings. We could've used the pump to shoot the mud in but decided against it and shoveled the mud in from the track hoe bucket. Wasn't that difficult and we didn't blow the forms out.



Finished product after stripping forms and rubbing the bug holes. Turned out OK for a bunch of dirt movers.

CM that box looks better than some I've seen come out of a manufacturer. That really is a stupid spec. I wonder what there thinking is behind it. Might be from back in the day of building boxes out of brick onsite.

One day I'm coming down and move some dirt with your 53. It's been 6 or seven years since I've had the bucket on our 63.