diff --git a/src/SolidGrid.h b/src/SolidGrid.h
index 0ce72107..a614b9fb 100644
--- a/src/SolidGrid.h
+++ b/src/SolidGrid.h
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ class SolidGrid {
 public:
     BALLS* balls;
     inline SolidGrid() {
-        depth = 0;
+        depth = 4;
     }
     void Build();
     void InitFinder(finder_t&);
diff --git a/src/SolidGrid.hpp b/src/SolidGrid.hpp
index 301a632c..585a08fe 100644
--- a/src/SolidGrid.hpp
+++ b/src/SolidGrid.hpp
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ void SolidGrid<BALLS>::Build () {
         }
         size_t grid_size = 1;
         for (int k=0; k<3; k++) grid_size = grid_size * (maxs[k]-mins[k]+1);
-        depth = 4;
         while (TryDepth(grid_size)) {
             depth = depth*2;
             output("Too many particles per bin in SolidGrid. Increasing bin size to %d\n", depth);