Colloidal Clay
 

A customer of mine wants me to add colloidal clay around her foundation.
A local architect recommended it for drainage, then add dirt and top it off with sod.

Has anyone use this clay and what other terms are used to identify it and place and order?

No landscapers seem to know what I'm looking for.

Thanks, I'm getting desperate.....

i think what you are looking for is commonly reffered to as "select fill". It's fill dirt with a percentage of clay and is very compactable, often used around foundations

You can't ask the architect?

my first noob question: where can you buy this stuff in small amounts at a time?

You would buy it at a place that sells fill. Not sure what you mean by small amounts, but I imagine most of those places would sell you a bucketful if you are willing to pay cash!!

thanks for the reply. i need to try google a fill place then. thanks. i was thinking a couple 50lb bags to do one side of the house.

coming back to this-can you just dump the clay select fill on top of existing soil?

yes, just make sure you backslope so water drains away from foundation

It depends. The lowest the wood of your wall can come to the soil is.... well, I forget. Is it 6" or 8"? More is better, anyway. If you're already at that level, I wouldn't just add more without a professionals (architect/engineer) approval, and checking with your building dept.

A colloid is a suspension. You can look up the exact definition of a colloid on Wikipedia. Clay is a family of minerals, consisting of several hundred different types. A colloidal clay is a clay which remains in suspension when agitated in water. This means that the clay is in the form of very fine particles which do not settle out of the water column.

A typical colloidal clay is bentonite, so named because it was originally mined in Benton Wyoming. It is essentially impervious, hence is used in waterproofing panels. It also holds water very well, but does not release it easily. Bentonite is used in kitty litter, well drilling fluid, waterproofing membranes, landfill covers, and many other applications, and can be purchased by the 50 lb bag at specialty stores that cater to drillers, or you can buy clay based kitty litter and take your chances on what you get.

Now as to why anyone would want to add such a product around their house, I have no idea. If added in sufficient quantity, it will make the soil effectively impervious, so water will run off rather than percolating downward. So far as I know, it will not improve the soil characteristics for growing plants. I have never seen it used for the purpose you suggest, but if the customer is convinced that they want it, well at least now you know what it is and where to get it.

thats for the info. the purpose is for regrading-draining water away from the foundation. you dont think this collodial clay is a suitable material to accomplish this? not sure what you are getting at exactly. sorry i am slow and this is all new to me :laughing: