How to stop mud in your compound using local palm kernel shells

The rainy season always comes with a lot of heavy mud that can mess up your beautiful backyard. Walking from your kitchen door to the gate or your packing store becomes a serious problem because of sticky wet sand.

You do not need to spend huge amounts of money on expensive granite or concrete interlocks to keep your compound clean. You can easily fix this problem by using local palm kernel shells, which are cheap, available, and very strong against water.

In this article, Tribune Online examines how you can transform your muddy compound into a neat, dry floor using our local agricultural waste.

What you need for the job

You only need a few basic things that you can buy easily in your neighborhood market or local mill.

You need plenty of bags of dried palm kernel shells, clean sharp sand to fill the tiny gaps, a good shovel for digging, and a heavy wooden plank to press the ground. You will also need a long wooden rule or string to mark out the straight path before you start working.

Prepare the muddy ground first

The first step is to trace the exact path where you want people to be walking in your backyard.

You must clear all the weeds and grass from that area so that they will not grow back to destroy your new walkway later. Dig the ground down about four inches deep along the marked path so that your palm kernel shells can sit comfortably inside without spilling over.

ALSO READ: How to build reliable home workstation during Nigeria’s rainy season 

Pour and arrange your shells

Now that the path is ready, you can start emptying your bags of palm kernel shells inside the dug path.

According to research reports published  regarding local road construction, palm kernel shells are excellent natural aggregates that can carry lightweight pedestrian traffic comfortably without crushing. Spread the shells evenly along the track with your shovel until they fill up to three inches deep.

Lock the shells in place

If you leave the shells alone like that, they will be moving around when you step on them, so you must lock them down

Pour a thin layer of clean sharp sand directly on top of the spread shells to fill all the empty holes between them.

Take your heavy wooden plank or a hand rammer and beat the surface down firmly until everything becomes tight, flat, and solid. 

Why palm kernel shells work well

Our local palm kernel shells are great because they do not decay easily and they allow water to drain straight into the ground.

While ordinary mud traps water and turns into paste, a palm kernel shell walkway acts like a natural sieve that lets rain pass through while keeping the top dry. This simple method keeps your shoes perfectly clean throughout the worst storms of the rainy season without breaking your bank account.