Dirtwork Glossary

Compaction

also: lift compaction, soil compaction

Mechanical pressing of soil to reduce air voids, increase density, and provide a stable surface.

Culvert

also: drain pipe, driveway culvert

Pipe or box buried under a road, driveway, or fill that lets water pass from one side to the other.

Cut and Fill

also: balance, earthwork balance

Moving dirt from high areas (cut) to low areas (fill) to reach a planned grade, balanced so net hauling is minimized.

Daylight

also: daylight out, daylighted

Where a drain pipe or channel exits to the open surface, water has to daylight somewhere it can leave the property.

Detention Basin

also: detention pond, dry pond

Excavated basin sized to temporarily hold stormwater and release it slowly to a downstream system.

Erosion Blanket

also: erosion control blanket, ECB

Biodegradable mat pinned to a slope to hold seed, soil, and moisture in place while vegetation establishes.

Finish Grade

also: final grade, FG

The final surface elevation a site is brought to before turf, paving, or other surface treatment goes on top.

Freeboard

also: safety storage

The vertical distance between the design water surface in a pond or basin and the top of the bank, safety margin for big storms.

French Drain

also: sub-surface drain, footing drain

A gravel-filled trench with perforated pipe at the bottom that collects sub-surface water and routes it to daylight.

Geotextile

also: filter fabric, drainage fabric, geofabric

Woven or non-woven synthetic fabric that lets water through but holds soil back.

Grub

also: grubbing, grub out

Removing the root mass of cleared trees and brush, leaving clean dirt instead of stumps and root balls.

Headwall

also: culvert headwall, endwall

Concrete or rock structure at the inlet or outlet of a culvert that retains the embankment and directs flow.

Lift

also: fill lift, compaction lift

A single layer of dirt placed and compacted before the next layer is added on top of it.

Low-boy Trailer

also: lowboy, RGN trailer

Heavy-haul trailer with a low deck that hauls dozers, excavators, and other tracked equipment between job sites.

Mass Grading

also: site grading

Large-scale cutting and filling to reshape an entire site to a planned set of elevations.

Mulching Head

also: forestry mulcher, drum mulcher

Attachment for skid steer or excavator that chips standing trees and brush into mulch in a single pass.

Pad

also: building pad, slab pad

Prepared, compacted area of ground sized and elevated for a structure to be built on top of it.

Retention Pond

also: wet pond, stock pond

Excavated pond that holds water permanently, with storage capacity above the normal pool for storm events.

Riprap

also: rock armor, rip rap

Loose stone placed on a slope or shoreline to absorb wave or storm energy and prevent erosion.

Scarify

also: scarification

Mechanically loosening the top few inches of compacted or dried soil to break it up before re-working.

Sediment Trap

also: sed trap

Small excavated basin sized to hold sediment-laden runoff long enough for soil particles to settle out.

Select Fill

also: structural fill, engineered fill

Imported soil chosen for known compaction and stability properties, used where native soil isn't suitable.

Silt Fence

also: sediment fence, sed fence

Temporary fabric fence trenched into the ground around a construction site to keep sediment-laden runoff from leaving.

Slope Ratio

also: grade, rise over run

How steep a slope is, expressed as horizontal:vertical (e.g. 3:1 means 3 ft over for every 1 ft up).

Spoils

also: spoil pile, excess material

Excavated material that's left over after cut-and-fill on a project, hauled off or stockpiled for later use.

Stump Grinding

also: stump grind, stump removal

Mechanical grinding of a tree stump to below ground level, leaving mulch in place of the stump.

Sub-grade

also: subgrade

The natural soil surface that supports everything you build on top of it, pad, road base, slab.

Swale

also: grass swale, drainage swale

A shallow, vegetated ditch shaped to carry surface water away from a structure or down a property line.

SWPPP

also: Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan

Federal/state-required plan for keeping sediment, debris, and pollutants out of waterways during construction.

Take-off

also: quantity take-off, QTO

The process of measuring quantities off engineering drawings to bid a dirt-moving job accurately.

Water Truck

also: watering truck, water tender

Tank truck used on dirt-moving jobs to add moisture for compaction and to control dust.

Watershed

also: catchment, drainage basin

The area of land that drains to a single low point, every drop of rain that falls inside it ends up at the same place.