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Just realized my new patio cost me double because of our soil
I spent about $2,500 on a nice stamped concrete patio, but the crew hit caliche just a few inches down and needed a jackhammer. That added another $1,200 and a full day of extra work I hadn't planned for. Anyone else in the Heights run into this and have a better way to check for it before digging?
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riverf347mo ago
That "better way to check" is the real kicker. A soil probe is the cheap tool for this, but honestly, hitting caliche here is more a "when" than an "if". A lot of crews just budget for the jackhammer time from the start because a probe can miss a big shelf.
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jones.grace7mo ago
That bit about the probe missing a shelf is so true. My neighbor tried to put in a small patio last year and the probe went right through. They started digging and hit a solid layer of caliche about two feet down that was the size of a car. The whole project turned into a mess real fast. They ended up having to rent a bigger machine than they planned for. It just shows you can't always trust the cheap check.
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