Birmingham Dirt

Fill dirt, topsoil, gravel and dirt removal. Jefferson, Shelby and St. Clair counties, Alabama.

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Fill dirt

Revised October 2026

Raise a low spot, build a pad, fill a hole or bring a lot to grade.

Fill dirt is the subsoil that comes out of basements, footings, pools and road cuts. It has little organic matter, which is the point: it does not rot or settle the way topsoil does, so it is what goes under a slab, behind a retaining wall, or in a low spot you are tired of mowing around. In the Birmingham area most fill is red clay. Clay packs hard and sheds water, which is good for a pad and bad for a garden. Fill dirt is sold by the cubic yard, delivered by the dump truck load, and it is the cheapest dirt you can buy.

Kinds of fill dirt

  • Unscreened fill. Cheapest. Clay and subsoil straight off a job, may have small rocks and roots. Fine for raising grade.
  • Screened fill. Run through a screen to pull out rocks and debris. Easier to spread and compact.
  • Clay fill. Red clay. Packs hard, holds a slope, sheds water. The usual choice under pads and foundations.

What it is for

  • Raising a low spot that holds water
  • Building up a pad for a shed, pool or driveway
  • Backfilling a trench, a stump hole or an old pool
  • Filling behind a retaining wall or a new foundation
  • A sloped lot that needs to come closer to level before topsoil goes on

Fill dirt is not for growing anything. Grass and plants need topsoil on top of it, usually four to six inches.

Cross-section: grass over four to six inches of topsoil over compacted fill over the old grade Topsoil Fill, compacted in layers old grade 4 to 6 in
Figure 1. Fill raises the grade and carries weight. Topsoil, four to six inches of it, is the only layer grass can live in.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between fill dirt and topsoil?

Fill dirt is subsoil: clay, sand and rock with almost no organic matter. It is for structure, raising grade and filling holes. Topsoil is the dark upper layer with organic matter that grass and plants grow in. If you are building something, you want fill. If you are growing something, you want topsoil on top of it.

How many yards of fill dirt are in a dump truck?

A single-axle dump truck carries about 8 cubic yards. A tandem, the most common delivery truck around Birmingham, carries 10 to 14 yards. A tri-axle carries 14 to 18 yards. Dirt is heavy, so a truck often carries fewer yards of wet clay than of dry fill.

Does fill dirt settle?

Yes, especially if it is dumped and not compacted. Plan on ordering about 15 percent more than the hole measures, and compact it in layers if anything is going to sit on it.

Can a dump truck get to my back yard?

A tandem needs about 12 feet of clear width and a firm surface. If the truck cannot reach the spot, the load gets dumped at the closest point and moved by hand, skid steer or wheelbarrow. Say so on the quote form and the delivery will be planned around it.

Is clay fill or screened fill better?

Under a pad, a slab or a wall, red clay fill is better because it packs hard. For spreading and leveling by hand, screened fill is easier to work with. Unscreened fill is fine for a deep hole nobody will see.

Fill dirt by city

Local prices, delivery notes and what the ground is like in each place.

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