House Pad Construction in Spartanburg, SC

Cut, fill or both

Cut ground is undisturbed and usually firm. Fill is only as good as the way it was placed. So fill goes down in thin layers, and each layer is compacted before the next one goes on. Roots, stumps and topsoil stay out of it, because they rot and leave voids under the slab.

Red clay can make a sound pad when it is handled right. Moisture is the catch. Clay that is too wet will not compact, and neither will clay that is bone dry. We work the fill at a moisture it will take, and we tell you if the weather means waiting.

Getting the height right

The pad height comes from the plans and the survey, but it has to make sense on the ground. It needs to sit high enough that water runs away from it, and at a height the drive can reach at a sensible slope. It also has to fit with the street and the lots either side.

We check those things before the first load moves, and raise any problem with you and your builder while it is still easy to fix. Our main house pad construction page explains the method in more detail.

Testing and permits

Some builders, engineers and lenders want compaction tests on a pad, especially where there is deep fill. That testing is done by a testing firm, layer by layer. Tell us up front, so the work is scheduled around the tests.

Spartanburg County runs a land disturbance permit for lot work, and inside a city that city may have its own rules. Check with them before work starts. For the whole sequence from clearing to finish grade, see site preparation in Spartanburg and our house pad construction guide.

After the pad

The pad is only useful if trucks can reach it. The access drive goes in on a stone base so a loaded concrete truck can get to the footings in wet weather. Water is turned away from the pad before anything is poured. After the house is up, finish grading in Spartanburg sets the final fall of the yard. See the Spartanburg service area page for our other work in the county.