*Sandbags For Flood Protection*
By: TooshieGalore
28 September 2017
It takes a lot of sand to sandbag against flooding and that sand takes up a lot of space to store. It's also heavy. It's back-breaking work and two people are probably not going to fill enough sandbags fast enough when they are needed.
I desired the ability to quickly construct a 12' long sand bag dike about 18" tall to protect the area in front of my double garage door.
My dike, properly constructed, required 210 bags. I use polypropylene "feed bags" as they don't deteriorate and they are cheap at my local feed store. I filled each bag to a bit more than 1/2 full and each weighs about 35 lbs.
210 bags x 35 lbs each came to 3.5 tons of sand, or 2.45 Cubic Yards. That's a lot of sand.
I found sand in this quantity to be economical when buying in bulk. Search for "construction aggregate" in your area. I had several choices in courseness. I forget which courseness I went with, I told the man what I was doing and went with his recommendation. I think I paid about $70 for 2.5 tons, delivered and dumped in my driveway.
My first go was a large sand box which I set pavers on top of as a patio. The patio was nice but filling sandbags in a hurry was not successful.
My second go was a pressure treated deck, 12'x12', in easy to remove, 4'x4' sections. The deck is 10" tall and under the deck is where we store pre-assembled sand bags. Much better option.
I have a small but sturdy cart to transport sandbags from the deck to the garage. It took hubby and I about an hour to open the deck, load the cart, stack the bags, repeat for 12'. Still a sweaty and strenuous endeavor but more successful.
Then I tested it. If I'm not VERY careful during construction a lot of water seeps through. Even being very careful, it still seeps a little. If I were really concerned about major flooding I would go with a water filled bag - easier to transport, faster to set up, less risk of injury and less seepage.
Here's the reference I used for buying, assembling and building:
http://articles.extension.org/pages/26483/sandbagging-for-flood-protection
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