Indoor material

[lenny]

Looking at making a spot in the basement to play and was wondering what people are using for material indoors. I was thinking kitty litter but that's going to get dusty I know rubber crumb has its disadvantages. Any help would be great. MERRY CHRISTMAS

[Northern Farmer]

I would just go with top soil.

[skeeter]

I second topsoil, a good quality topsoil

[lenny]

Thanks guys.. plus I could just dampen if it starts to get dusty. Hmmm dust control vehicle needed in the near future.

[skeeter]

A water truck, I like that idea!

[Rvjimd]

I have temporarily used fine dirt from the backyard. Never had trouble with the dust, but I was doing equipment testing and video stuff in the garage not a finished basement. One thing I did notice with dirt is if traction is a concern it will change as it dries out. I watered it a few time and then mixed it to distribute the moisture evenly throughout the pile.

[lenny]

A water truck, I like that idea!
Now this project has my wheels turning. As for a water truck I'm thinking of using the funktionsmodellbau dump truck. To represent the cat D25C water tanker. Thinking maybe a windshield washer pump would do the job. Any thoughts?

[frizzen]

I know SmallHaul uses a dirt/sand mixture over a low pile carpet in his basement. He's mentioned needing to mix in water to keep it from getting too hard to dig.

I think you should just go LittleGiantsConstruction style and dig a bigger basement...

Cat litter is a clumping clay, so it'll probably both powder and turn to hard clay, then snot when watered.

What disadvantage does crumb rubber have?

A water truck would be cool. Could probably do either pressurized tank, windshield pump, fountain pump.

[lenny]

Would love a dig out project on grand scale.. Honestly I only have one experience in rubber crumb just seem to stick in hoppers and dumps. I can only grab a 10x20 spot nothing to crazy. Maybe setup the duratoy and a few load piles just a place to test and tune play a little during the winter months.

[Lil Giants]

Cdn Princess Auto much like USA Harbor Freight, at P/A I found a really small submersible 12v pump used in boats, puts out 120 ga/hr... I think I must have found it in their "Surplus Bin" cause I can't find it now in their catalogue.

[rc13]

Would love a dig out project on grand scale.. Honestly I only have one experience in rubber crumb just seem to stick in hoppers and dumps. I can only grab a 10x20 spot nothing to crazy. Maybe setup the duratoy and a few load piles just a place to test and tune play a little during the winter months.

10x20? Wow! That is a pretty good size area for a basement in a residential home for dirt work area...

[Rvjimd]

Is your play area going to be a "table" style or are you putting it on the floor?

I still remember when I was a kid we had a sandbox in the basement and it was elevated to about 3 foot tall. It had sideboards to contain the sand. If you have the choice I would highly recommend elevating it to at least a few feet, especially if you plan to do any video work. I would love to have a permanent indoor dirt table!

[lenny]

Would love to get up on a table and off the floor as it would be helpful for my back. This whole indoor plan is dependent on going to gas heat and ditching the old oil tank that's in my way. I figure if I make the indoor a permanent spot the wife will be looking to take over my outdoor spot, and we can't have that now can we.

[Northern Farmer]

Tobias Braeker sells construction sand by Habuss. Not sure if it’s worth it though.

http://www.tobias-braeker.de/index.php?id=25
http://i65.tinypic.com/2itbib.jpg

[lenny]

Mite be worth it for pre cast bedding or a bank run honey hole dig. Much rather top soil myslef not a big fan of sand. But it looks pretty impressive being so easy to mold.

[rc13]

I think soil would be best. As long as you have sides built up enough to contain spills. A while back I built a very small play area in my basement out of wood. Wife would not let me use dirt so I used pinto beans... Yes pinto beans. They were inexpensive and worked well for my wheel loaders. But not so well for a track machine, so I kept those out... I basically pushed piles and loaded trucks. Nice to have in the winter for testing. It was a small area and the side boards were only 4" tall so it continued to spill out. So I finally took it down.
If I had the room for a 10 x 20 like you, I would definitely use soil.