Erosion Control and Silt Fence

There's a right way and a wrong way to install silt fence, so I'm going to cover that today. Let's talk about the orientation of the fence, the difference between standard fence, steel reinforced fence, and bio logs.

Silt Fencing

We're out here installing silt fence. Now we've already got one row of silt fence which has been up and functioning for about 90 days now. But the city wants to see a reinforced silt fence. I'm going to show you the difference between them and show you how to install them. Jake's just manually digging a trench, or you can get a trencher. This way works well. You have to get about a six-inch deep trench to tow it in. Now as we look at the one that's already been installed and been in service for a while now, you can see that it's actually buried right there and that's a key element. The other thing is which way you orient the silt. A reinforced silt fence looks like this and actually has wire mesh. It's more of a permanent structure.

Reinforced Silt Fence

A reinforced silt fence looks like this and actually has wire mesh. It's more of a permanent structure.  And then we use posts to frame those in. Let me show you the orientation on this site, so you can kind of get a feel for it. You can see that the posts are on the downward side. So what that means is as the runoff comes down the hill it will hit the fence. And if you get a blow out the stake remains in place and the fabric will tear in between it. If we had flipped this around the fabric was oriented on this side of the stake then the mud could go all the way down and through. So it's important to you orient the silt fence the right way. So we're doing right now is he's getting the fence initially set by putting the bottom of the extra length in place. Now, this fence actually has a flap dedicated to fold over so he can kick it in and then cover it with soil. This is a great example of what I'm talking abo the t orientation of the fence. Any of the silt that comes down the sediment will hit the silt fence fabric material on this side and then be stopped or reinforced by the wire mesh on the back side of this fencing.

No Gaps

We're getting the new silt fence installed. Important point. You cannot forget. No gaps. Look at the bottom of the fence it's all been dug in six inches deep. There's no gaps. A lot of times you see a fence flopping in the wind. That's not properly installed. Green fence posts every six feet. We're going to be reinforcing this fence with fence post because this is steel sill fence. If this was standard silt fence the wood stakes that are included are adequate. If you can't drive a fence in place there is another option: these bio logs. I recommend staking them in otherwise they can wash away. You can stake them on this case this is the downward side or you can drive a stake physically through the bio log. I don't prefer to rip the fabric at all.  I have seen it done, but I like to keep it in place. Keep it whole Leep it untorn.  I don't like to drive a stake through it if I don't have to.

Erosion Control

Silt fences is in place and erosion control set. Ideally, this should have been sodded and vegetation should have been established.  Then we wouldn't have needed silt fencing, but timing didn't work out. This job is all wrapped up.