beach sand...
 

I've never added sand to my beach. Now would be a good time to add a little. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

maybe you care, maybe you don't (you should), but adding sand to a beach on a NH lake requires a NHDES permit...

here's a fact sheet: https://www.des.nh.gov/sites/g/files...0-01/wb-18.pdf

I always buy bags of play sand hoping that's at least safe for the water. But I only need a dozen bags every spring.

I would think that Fall would be the worst time to add sand due to ice movement, winter winds. Every year my friend and I have to "relocate" his sand in the spring.

I am as concerned as anyone about health of the lake but beach sand from a local pit is cleaner than most sand that is already on your beach.I would just do it.

Does clean beach type sand hurt the lake in any way? I can't imagine it would.

Quikrete rip-rap, 60-lb bag
 

To keep the beach sand from washing down the gentle slope and onto the nearby lake floor with each incoming wave, you know what works good?

Line the lower edge of your sandy beach with a row of dark gray .... www.quikrete.com/productlines/riprap.asp ...... set half-way down into the old sand to create an esthetically natural looking lower border that keeps the sand from washing downward into the lake. Is very dark gray and looks like a line of dark gray granite stuck in the sand. It blends.

Price: about $4.50/60-lb bag, packaged in a biodegradable paper bag.

If by "beach sand", we are referring to "play sand"; it should be bank-run screened to fine sand with the organics removed and washed to the point that residual phosphorus no longer clings to the particles.

Just not sure where to get "play sand" in any sizeable quantities.
And not sure what the statutory restrictions are on it.

As mentioned there is a permit require to replenish sand on a beach, on any lake in New Hampshire. If I recall, once you secure it, it last for a few years...
The last time I knew someone that looked at this, it isn't a big deal......

As far as what sand to use, well that depends on how much you want to spend and how much you need. Most of the people with beaches that I know, get a permit and a bulk delivery, that allows them adequate sand to replenish for as long as the permit lasts....

With that said, I believe you are only allowed to add sand up to the high water mark.... so with the lake low doesn't really make any difference...

As a final not, doing it now, is not a good idea, most of it will simply wash away during the spring melt.... I would only replenish beach sand in the spring....

Ooo, even worse than I thought. I hope people will read this before adding more

Landscape Supply
 

Landscape Supply in Alton carries the best and whitest beach sand around. It’s called “white sand”. Most beach dwellers buy there!

Dan

There is sand and then there is sand.
Some sand from dirt contractors is full of weed seeds.

River sand is the best. If you can find it.

Not So Simple...NH-DEA Won't Be Happy...
 

Oftentimes, that paper bag has a plastic liner; even if it doesn't, the paper is like adding a stack of newspapers into the lake.

While that might benefit arthropods, it would take years to "biodegrade". (Newspapers in landfills can be read clearly after decades).

Also, concrete "outgasses" harmful VOCs.

If you must, hose down the bags repeatedly to get them "set" inside the bag. Remove the bag. Move them gently to their final location when fully set.

As to location, the Greater Winter Harbor has a genuine circular counter-clockwise flow. Across the way, friends see the same phenomenon. It reverses when the wind is from the East--which much less often.

My new neighbor--a MA contractor--must have known of this circulation, advising abutters to expect a change to our "beaches".

Where the "sand" originates is unknown.

My "working theory" is a huge underwater spike of fill that was the result of multiple washouts (and re-dumpings) to the wingspan-wide seaplane access roadway ("dirt") that persisted from 1949 to 1999.

Half a century of increasing "dirt" extends deeply northeastward into the harbor, making a large circle for the "Coriolis Effect" to...um...take effect. (Only to be reversed by the less-frequently-encountered east winds).

I understand my neighbor's "sand" has already been dumped; little, if any, "sand" has appeared at my so-called "beach".

BTW, can it be termed "a beach" when it's under two feet of water, starting in May?

(When my shoreline suffers its worst (soil, leaves, needles, boulders, living trees) erosion?

shoreline erosion control with concrete bags
 

Apparently the Quikrete rip-rap is not available at Lowe's or Home Depot in Gilford and Tilton and their Quikrete bags of el cheapo concrete come in a more durable, extra heavy duty paper bag. After soaking in the lake for 24-hours, the concrete mix inside will cure and set up while under water inside the paper bag, and the soggy paper bag can be scraped off with a garden claw tool, a three prong cultivator, and disposed properly so the heavy brown paper does not end up somewhere in the lake water.

Is a strong possibility the more expensive bagged Quikrete, high strength concrete, works better at curing underwater in the bag than the el cheapo Quikrete concrete because it has more cement and less sand in the mix. Plus is maybe other unknown additive to high strength concrete to get it to cure into a more elastic stronger bond and a better 150-lb (mix and water) big lump of concrete.

In Them Hills...
 

Located within the Town of Ossipee is a huge sand and rock pit approaching route 16 at Hannafords. (From Wolfeboro).

Ossipee's river banks (present and extinct) are known for New Hampshire's best chance of finding gold.

:eek2:

My late BIL was earlier asked to bring his gold "sluice" from California, but it was too much trouble.

:confused:

I would've used the lake water intake (free) and pump (almost free) to separate those grains. But that opportunity has reluctantly passed into The Past.

:rolleye1:

.

Ambross Bros in Meredith has a pit in Bridgewater and has both silty screened sand and washed screened sand. I have bought quite a bit of the silty to use on the dry portion of my pond waterfront and the quality is very good. I pcked up another 3 yards last week to take advantage of the very low waterline and only paid $13.50 per yard. The washed sand is more of course but that definitely is what you would want to use if any of your new fill is going into the water.