Bunker Drainage, but not ready for sand Cancel The title field is required!

1. Dalton Andrew

   
   3/28/2017 4:03 PM

   Does anyone have any experience putting in drain tile and pea stone well ahead of the sand installation? I have several bunkers where the old trenches are cleaned out and ready for the replacement tile and pea stone. Unfortunately we might not be ready to take delivery and install the sand for a couple of weeks. In the past I have always did a bunker at a time and then moved on to the next one. With this particular project I want to get it done as quickly as possible and feel like getting the tile in to speed up the process. These bunkers are clay based and not lined. In fact, there will be a little bit of the old sand left in the bunkers and we will be adding new sand to that. Any advice on drainage work before sand would be greatly appreciated.
   
   Thanks,
   
   Andrew Dalton
   Metamora Golf and Country Club

   
   
   
   
2. Corey Eastwood

   

   80 posts
   
   3/29/2017 11:03 AM

   Use ridged pipe, not flexible.

   
   Corey Eastwood CGCS, Stockton Golf & CC, Retired
   
   
3. David Brandenburg

   

   3 posts
   
   3/29/2017 2:03 PM

   I would be very concerned that heavy rain would contaminate your drainage and would wait until you have the sand ready for install.
   
   You have done all this work it would be a shame to have contamination and a plugging of drain lines at this point.

   
   
   
   
4. Gordon Seliga

   

   4 posts
   
   3/29/2017 5:03 PM

   I agree with David. Soil contamination could be a problem. Perhaps you could install drainage as normal and cap (mound) the drain lines with sand. This would act as a filter and you could simply shovel up the contaminated sand prior to adding new sand to the bunker.

   
   
   
   
5. Joshua Sawyer

   

   0 posts
   
   3/30/2017 6:03 AM

   Cap the drain lines with a small amount of sand--you can leave it slightly humped up. This should give you a bit of a buffer with contamination. You will then want to go in and scoop the sand off (if contaminated) before the fresh sand comes in. You should be able to keep your gravel clean...just make sure you don't put trash sand that can't be removed right on your new gravel drain lines.

   
   
   
   
6. Clay Putnam

   

   33 posts
   
   3/30/2017 6:03 AM

   Had a similar circumstance at a new construction project - bunkers were constructed including drainage and had to wait for the sand to be installed. Our biggest concern was, as David mentioned, contamination. So we laid silt fence over the drain lines then surrounded the drain lines with "junk" sand. The entire process was inefficient but we tried to make lemonade...

   
   
   
   
7. Dalton Andrew

   
   3/30/2017 9:03 AM

   Thanks for the reply. I think I have enough volunteer help to where I can do most of it at once. Might have a few bunkers that may have tile in a few days before sand, but in that case I will watch the weather even more so than I do now.
   
   Thanks again,
   
   Andrew

   
   
   
   
8. Keith Fellenstein

   

   0 posts
   
   3/30/2017 10:03 AM

   Similar situation on a new build years ago. Construction company put lines and stone in but left stone proud of trench elevation. When bunker sand and tee mix arrived, they simply removed the stone down to the trench height and any contaminated below that and brought in sand. As far as I know, no issues. I wouldn't do that on greens, but tees and bunkers I'd be okay with it. If its only two weeks, how many gully washers are you expecting?