Thousand Hills Earthworks

10/24/2022

Snow Management - Call today to get on our schedule

Community Roads, Parking Lots, driveways, snow removal and low corrosivity ice melt

Kalispell Area, community Roads, parking lots, call Nelson - 406.890.3300

Bigfork, East Lake shore, Ferndale - Call John 406.580.3965

key words: snow plowing, snow removal, ice, salt spreader, sand spreader, snow removal

03/04/2022

Grading and Excavation - New road work, Repairs and maintenance, Utilities, water & sewer systems, site work, serving the greater flathead valley. 406.580.3965

01/06/2022

Grading and Excavation - Roads, Utilities, site work, serving the greater flathead valley. 406.580.3965

04/05/2019

Spring is here! This is the time to schedule your driveway or subdivision road grading. We can grade the road, roll and compact, provide compaction water as necessary, supply and place additional material, re-create ditches, and perform other improvements that can bring your road back to a more car friendly path. Call, text, or pm for pricing and get on our schedule

04/05/2019

10/02/2018

Have the perfect property that needs access, utilities, or grading - let us take care of the details. Grading, excavation, material import/export, roads, driveways, all utilities, stacked stones, forest thinning, road/utility decommissioning, drainage and water management, riding arenas, ponds, riparian work, SWPPP administration. Get it done right this fall before its mud next spring.

08/24/2018

Outdoor Riding Arenas:
We are asked about and have constructed riding arenas. Here are just a few thoughts we have found that people might want to consider, even if you are building it yourself:
- Site prep – native soils need to be managed. If there are large stones, they should be removed. Depending on native soils and if a clay layer is going to be installed, an outdoor arena should be constructed with a cross slope, ideally on the order of 2%. If the rider prefers a flatter slope, that can work; the arena may not drain water as well.

- Sub-base material – Ideally, the sub-base material has a clay matrix with little to no embedded stones. Sometimes the glacial till native soils have a lot of clay and will function well. The clay provides a dual benefit; a reasonably hard, stone free surface for the for the animal to gain footing and a cohesive material that provides a clean separation for the imported sand. If there is no clay in the native soil, then importing a solid layer of clay should be considered.

- Base Sand – The base sand has a fairly wide range of rider preferences. The first thing to consider is the type of sand. Some people prefer “ASTM C33 Sand”. C33 includes a gradation specification typically used for concrete. It is a fairly granual sand with stones almost ¼” in diameter. Some people prefer an “embankment sand”. Embankment sand really can be anything, but typically is a finer sand with more silt in it. The finer sand is probably going to be a little softer. Also, when considering the sand, it is good to consider the type of fines in the sand (theses are the very small particles). Depending on the type of fines, some sands may retain moisture better. We usually obtain a couple 5 gallon buckets of sand types for our customers to evaluate different options. They can moisten the sand and spread it out and see which holds moister better and which they like the feel of better.

- Sand Placements – We have found that it is critical that the sub-base material be graded to within a ¼” and well compacted. By proper placement of the sub-base, the sand can be placed at a consistent depth. This too is rider preference and we usually see a preferred depth of 2.5” to 4.5”. However, it is important that the depth is consistent. So if the rider wants 2.5” sand, keep it at 2.5” thick. We try to keep a variance of less than +/- ¼” across the arena.