repair busted tank dam

Hi, Keith-52.
From your photo, the first thing I would do would be to cut the sides of that washout back to a reasonable batter so that you have a clean, firm surface to fill to, making sure that there is no 'unsuitable' left in the bottom of the washout as well.. If the material from the batters is any good, you could save it for later inclusion in the wall when you are re-building.

Then I would be thinking about re-building the wall in about 12" steps, keying each layer into the batters that you have created and compacting the layers well as you go. A sheepsfoot roller would be handy but not necessarily essential. 'Dozer tracks will do some compacting with enough passes but a loaded truck will do a better job while and if you can get it in there. Even a decent sized wheel tractor will help with compaction.

Please feel free to ask any further questions.

Just my 0.02.

Hey Deas,

I think I need to ask you - what does batter mean? I have tried and cannot figure it out. Is it an Australian slang?

I am asking this in all seriousness rather that being a bit silly like I often am.:hail:

Batter = slope in Down Under, slope the vertical walls back parallel with the bank, just push it into the washout then out of the fill to use later.

Thanks DPete for your response, and sharing your knowledge and experience with a beginer. If I under stand right, I will need a straight wall full width of dam and I NEED to slope top edge of wash . How far back on top of dam do I start the slope? And areyou saying to taper or slope from top of dam to bottom. That is a 15 ft wall in middle of dam,

Deas has it covered, I'll see if I can help also. The material can't be mud it needs to be compactable if you grab a handful you should be able to squeeze it into a ball, if it seeps out between your fingers you will need to let it dry, do not try to make the fill with mud. As Deas said if you have no other way of compaction then track walk the fill in lifts.[attachment=37143]acmoc 001.jpg[/attachment]

Hi, Walt D73t.
Batter?????????????????????????? WHAT is a batter blade used for?

Hi, Keith-52.
Taper the vertical edges of that washout back to about 1.5 in 1 - 1.5 feet in for 1 foot down - so that you can cut a little flat step into that slope with each layer that you add to the floor of the washout as you fill it in, this is called 'keying in' and it gives the best chance of not leaving any uncompacted material at the edges of the joints.

As DPete said, the material needs to be moist but not too wet. If it will squash out from under a track or a wheel, you would be wasting your time and effort trying to use it as fill for the wall. It also needs to have a good clay content to be able to seal against water. Sandy or very silty materials will not do it.

Hopes this helps.