*
OK, I’ve got a problem. Bought my house in 1998. At that time, the gravel driveway was rutted. So as a temporary measure, I had the dump truck driver tailgate a 20 ton load of 3/4″ crusher run, raked it off a little, and things looked better. But here’s the problem, the ruts are back. So I really need to do a little maintenance.
But before I do, I am looking for some advice. Standing at the house looking down the drive, it slopes down hill and makes a somewhat gradual turn 90 degrees to the left. So as vehicles come up and down, the tires push the gravel out to the sides (due to the grade and the hill). This creates the ruts. There is a large (6″ high) hump right down the middle of the drive where cars do not travel. Total length of the drive is about 125′.
Ideally I would like the drive paved. But that’s big money. And I’m not sure we’ll be in the house more than 5 or more years or so, so I am hesitant to spend that much on the driveway (the money would be easier recovered in a sale from other improvements I think).
So I was thinking of renting some heavy equipment (skid steer, backhoe, something like that) to take out the hump and level things off a little. Then I need some sort of surface. Thought maybe asphalt millings, then I could roll them and have a pretty sturdy drive. but if the ruts redevelop, they will be a real pain to fix with the millings in there.
So I’ve also considered 3/4 ” crusher run again. But the stuff has very little dust in it and doesn’t pack real well. This just compounds the rutting problem.
So I am looking for any suggestions. A different kind of stone maybe?? Is there something that packs better?? The crusher run doesn’t seem to. Would some sort of geotextile fabric (or for splinter- cheap carpet 😉 help to keep the driveway from rutting??
Just looking for suggestions, ideas, etc so I can formulate a plan before renting some heavy equipment (and probably an operator too). Want to get it right without going to the expense of paving.
Wish I had a digital camera so I could post a picture. But anyway, Any and all ideas/suggestions are welcome.
Replies
*
Looks (sounds actually) like perfect excuse for digital camera purchase.........Joe H
*Chris,I have a gravel drive as well, athough much shorter and flat as a pancake. I did have the same problem with the ruts...worked some sand into the areas that tend to rut with a garden hose, and they are now about as stiff as concrete. Don't know if it will work for you, but it did for me.
*Try QP with lots of powder in the ruts after removing what is loose. Wet it down and compact it. Then add more 3/4.
*A big mistake that people make when they gravel a driveway or road is to believe that just rock will do a better job than a mix of fines and rock. The fines act as a binder to hold the rock in place. In my area we have several options, usually mixing a couple to get the best results.First we use a mix called (suprise) road base. This is a screening leftover of fine sand, dirt and one inch minus rock. It is the cheapest product and will pack down fairly well, although it is subject to erosion. It also helps seal out water from the underlying soil.If we want to upgrade, we have two choices, limestone crusher fines or crushed asphalt. The crusher fines work very well if they are roll-packed tightly when it is laid out. The sharp edges of the crushed rock, one inch minus, help to bind the material together to make it stay put and the fines seal out the water. The crushed asphalt is reclaimed asphalt ground up and mixed with whatever waste material that is mixed into the pile along with some more heavy road oil. Like the limestone, it binds well when packed. In fact, how well the material is packed seems to be the big secret to making the material stay put. A little water on the mix helps.
*Chris we also have a gravel driveway ours is 3/4 of a mile long. We have crushed rock on it and it does rut up quite quickly but we do have a lot of heavy rainfalls here. (coastal British Columbia) We have a backhoe and a grader we very seldom use. The grader we only use in the winter for snow but the blade is so wide it is hard to use on the driveway and we do not want to make the driveway wider. What I use to level the driveway is a "stoneboat" 3 railrod tracks welded together 1' apart I usually drag this down the driveway every few weeks and it is surprizing how good a job it does.Even though I have the backhoe here the stoneboat is so easy and quick I find it is all I use on the driveway now.
*This is gonna sound pretty dumb...I've got an 800' long driveway, and to help minimize rutting, whenever I drive down it I almost always offset either left or right from where everyone else drives.It honestly does make a difference, especially in springtime...it helps re-compact the winter freeze/thaw heaving, keeping the center crown from getting too large.I do have a fairly tight radius 90-degree turn. That does need to be raked about once a year.
*Forget the carpet: what you need is a metal bedspring!
*Chris,Got a clay base and used 5's & 7's (57's) as a base during constr. and for a few years. Clay came up/stone went down. Topped it off with small berm. This moves around a little on the curve but I use a concrete rake (comealong)a cpl times a year to pull the stone back into the tire tracks and to rake off the center. There's a little washout during heavy rains on the grade. Probably gonna try the berm with fines this time, see if it holds together better. Going about 6 yrs between stone purchases. I get the stone guy to scrape off the cpl inch hump with his skid loader. One tip is get your kids and their friends to slow down a little.
*I'd suggest borrowing or renting something and get the driveway set up with a crown in it. Keeping water off of it will help to stabilize it considerably.
*"One tip is get your kids and their friends to slow down a little. " Thanks Calvin, but I don't think my son's Power Wheels does too much damage :) Although amazingly enough that thing can roost!!Thanks for all the input everyone. Still thinking about the asphalt millings and renting a roller to pack them very well. And as long as I have the roller there, maybe I'll roll the base down tight before getting the millings dumped. At least now I have some more opinions to mull over before I decide what to do.
*The asphalt millings are what i'm going for on the next driveway, 200' long. I've used a little bit of it on two approaches as an experiment. It stays put, inhibits weed growth better than gravel-i don't even want to know why--and also melts snow cover off first. My experiment area was too small to roll, but that's what all the guys i talk to recommend instead of relying on vehicluar traffic to consolidate it. It will cost me $8 a yard (last year price check). Millings driveways are getting more common around here, for whatever reason.
*I'm just looking for the best product. In the grand scheme of things, a tandem axle load of gravel, stone, millings, whatever is cheap. It's the delivery fee that is hefty. Don't remember what I paid last, would have to look at the invoice, but 75% of the per ton cost was trucking, not product. I'm not complaining mind you, tandem axle dumps are expensive and those guys gotta feed and clothe kids too. But if one product is superior to another, the cost for trucking is all the same and the incremental price difference in the product cost is minimal when figured as a percentage of the total cost involved. But the millings look better, control weeds better, and I would hope pack better, especially if I choose a hot July day to roll them. Again, thanks for all the help.
*I need to put in about 150' of drive way on my 5 acres and although I have done a bit of "dumpster diving" in my time, I doubt that I could find enough scrap carpet to do the job - particularly not in any kind of pleasing pattern and color...Has anyone played around with using "soil cement" to firm up the road base? A couple of articles that mention this are:http://solstice.crest.org/efficiency/strawbale-list-archive/msg10580.htmlhttp://gem1.cive.uh.edu/content/conf_exhib/99_present/13.htmIf I have converted this correctly off the top of my head, then the second article would call for about three bags of Portland cement per square yard of dirt at the low end. Using the technique from the first article, I thought perhaps I would wet down the area and then let it dry a bit so it is workable, spread the Portland cement over the area, roto-till it in, tamp it down with a jumping jack and/or roller, and then keep the area wetted down for a while. This would then be covered with a couple of inches of gravel. Evem though my current roto-tiller won't penetrate the soil as deeply as I would like, I hope such a treatment would still firm up the soil enough to be worth the effort and cost. (The area actually has pretty good soil that doesn't get too muddy during the rainy season.) I am hoping that when the soil cement eventually deteriorates, it will crumble into smaller pieces rather than the large chunks that regular concete seems to. Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.
*Chris, for a whole new approach you might want to look into "Gravelpave2." Check out http://www.invisiblestructures.com or call 800.233.1510; This stuff helps make gravel surfaces so stable that it is approved for ADA uses.
*
OK, I've got a problem. Bought my house in 1998. At that time, the gravel driveway was rutted. So as a temporary measure, I had the dump truck driver tailgate a 20 ton load of 3/4" crusher run, raked it off a little, and things looked better. But here's the problem, the ruts are back. So I really need to do a little maintenance.
But before I do, I am looking for some advice. Standing at the house looking down the drive, it slopes down hill and makes a somewhat gradual turn 90 degrees to the left. So as vehicles come up and down, the tires push the gravel out to the sides (due to the grade and the hill). This creates the ruts. There is a large (6" high) hump right down the middle of the drive where cars do not travel. Total length of the drive is about 125'.
Ideally I would like the drive paved. But that's big money. And I'm not sure we'll be in the house more than 5 or more years or so, so I am hesitant to spend that much on the driveway (the money would be easier recovered in a sale from other improvements I think).
So I was thinking of renting some heavy equipment (skid steer, backhoe, something like that) to take out the hump and level things off a little. Then I need some sort of surface. Thought maybe asphalt millings, then I could roll them and have a pretty sturdy drive. but if the ruts redevelop, they will be a real pain to fix with the millings in there.
So I've also considered 3/4 " crusher run again. But the stuff has very little dust in it and doesn't pack real well. This just compounds the rutting problem.
So I am looking for any suggestions. A different kind of stone maybe?? Is there something that packs better?? The crusher run doesn't seem to. Would some sort of geotextile fabric (or for splinter- cheap carpet ;) help to keep the driveway from rutting??
Just looking for suggestions, ideas, etc so I can formulate a plan before renting some heavy equipment (and probably an operator too). Want to get it right without going to the expense of paving.
Wish I had a digital camera so I could post a picture. But anyway, Any and all ideas/suggestions are welcome.