Field question

[CJ D]

Sorry if this isn't the appropriate place for this, but there is no subforum for it...maybe equipment? Anyway, hopefully someone with field building can give me some advice.

I am building a new field for our school. Pretty much donating everything. Everything is going well. Looking at fixing up the batters box and pitching area now. I'm torn on ordering the clay bricks, becuase they are expensive, and the wife will freak if I buy $800 worth of bricks for it. I do live in area that has abundant clay. I also have the equipment needed to excavate all the clay I need. Will it be just as good to dig near 100% clay myself, and just tamp into the areas below the soil as I would do with the clay bricks? Common sense tells me yes, but maybe I'm missing something? If anyone has any expertise in this area, I would certainly appreciate it! Also, please move thread if it doesn't belong here!

 

[YOCOACH]

Just a thought, but if you have some scrap 2x4s you could build molds and make the bricks yourself on the cheap.

Brick Making at Home | DoItYourself.com


Edit to Add: I don't think you'd want to just throw clay down since you wouldn't get the kind of water drainage you'd need as opposed to it draining between the cracks of the bricks. Mind you, I have no experience with this (building a field) but I have put in many landscape block patios and you always want a solid base with good permeable material underneath it such as slag and sand so it won't hold water. I was always taught that if we had clay in the area underneath where the patio is going, you'd want to dig deeper down and add more slag to give the water room to spread out and drain through clay since it is more dense and the water will drain really slow. I don't know if it's true or not but the patios are still in place and the blocks haven't heaved due to water freezing underneath from the clay holding it.

 

[JAD]

I am not a brick expert, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express once this year.....clay bricks have been fired in a kiln, which is what makes them hard. Just putting clay dirt will NOT have the same effect.

Making Bricks the Old Fashioned Way | Minnesota Bricks

 

[colin]

clay bad. dig deeper. need drainage for ball.

 

[CJ D]

They are unfired clay bricks. And they are supposed to be stacked together, wet, and tamped down to make a solid base an inch or so under the field dirt. I guess regular clay, not in brick form, would be just as good. That or rubber mat...maybe just rubber mat for batters box. Dunno. This is making my head hurt.

 

[CJ D]

Clay bad? Every field building website and expert states that clay is imperative to use in batters boxes and on pitching mounds/circles. Except for those that acknowledge rubber mats can be used in batters boxes. My question is just for those who may have had experience with the bricks, in that is it basically just the same if I dig clay and put it in in its place.

 

[Coach Al]

First of all, I agree that we should have a separate forum for field maintenance. That being said, rubber mats are much more expensive then bricks. Bricks are compressed so they are tougher than just plain clay. The loose bagged clay is mainly for repair of high use areas. There are many good videos on You Tube to help you.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Try this page. They have tons of info on fields.

Analyze dirt mix on your baseball field to correctly fix problems

 

[Greenmonsters]

Can't say I've built a field, but from a geologist's perspective I'd say you are probably good if your local "clay" is at least 50% clay by grain size.

If you don't know, here are a couple of links to help make a tentative field determination

How to identify silt & clay in the field
Field classification of Soil Sample

 

[SB23]

Juts put in turf !! LOL ! JK

You community is very lucky to have a generous guy like yourself !!