Which Gravel for Drive?

[shane]

Hey guys, my drive is 300' long. The first half coming in from the road is on about a 15 to 20 degree slope. During construction of the house we used river rock for the rough drive. Once the house was finished we covered the river rock with crusher run. Over the years it has washed and now I need more gravel. It is getting fairly thin and dirt is showing in places. So my question is, what would be the best gravel to use in this situation to slow down the washing effect?

 

[Onthesauk]

Out here in the NW, where we get plenty of rain, 5/8th minus is pretty much the standard for driveways. Needs adaquate "fine" in it to kind of hold it in place. I put down a skim coat every year or two, rake it once or twice each Summer.

 

[johnk]

They sell a fabric you could under the gravel. Comes in 12 ft width by 300 ft or so. It allows the water to run through it and keeps the rocks on top. Any builder supply should carry it.

 

[2manyrocks]

I pretty much like crusher run for its ability to pack down.

Do you need to do any grading to keep the water running off your road without washing it?

 

[ray66v]

I agree with the fabric, it can cost as much as $2 a running foot, 10 or 12 ft wide, and it is worth every penny. It keeps the mud out of the stone so, unless you plow it away it will never disappear.
I have done a few long driveways, (up to 350'), with excellent results many years later with this process:
Excavate, (if necessary) 4' to 6", lay fabric, put down a layer of #304 or #411 stone 2" to 3" thick, spray with water and compact using plate compactor or drive over with heavy vehicle, repeat, cap with a layer of #57 limestone just heavy enough to cover base stone & compact.
This gives you a strong good looking lasting drive for normal home usage. If you plan to drive over it with heavy trucks you should add more base.

 

[PA hayseed]

If they did not remove all the vegetation, and topoil, what may (MAY) be happening is your stone is sinking into the ground. I don't know, just thought I would point that possibility out. The fabric is a great idea. I'm more concerned about the slope you described, to do it right, (depending on your soil base) they would have had to dump several triaxle loads of stone (depending on overall length and distance of slope). When you say river stone, I am not sure if you are talking about the 4-6" stuff or the decorative stuff they put in gardens.

Read ray66v's post, he describes the steps pretty well. Mine loosens up every winter due to snow, thaw, rain, freezing, thawing again, vehicles, and my rear blade.

When your done with your solution, get a guy with a roller to come by and roll your driveway. That way you can always fill in the dips when he is donw. For smaller areas a whacker works well. My tractor weighs about 5k, and the roller always packs it down tighter than my tractor. I only have to pay the guy $30 bucks to roll mine, and it may not be an option for you.

I don't know if I helped you or confused you. I would also tell you that it is not uncommon to hae some driveway issues after the first year. Things do settle.

 

[ray66v]

if the hill being steep is a problem, how about if some hot tar was applied under the cap to hold the stones in place on the hill?

 

[WarrenF]

Out in our country they sell what is called road mix. Crushed gravel mixed with sand and dirt to a prescribed amount. It keeps the gravel from migrating all over the place and packs well. I am told it is what they use as the base for laying asphalt. Don't know if that helps.

 

[jimmyj]

This question is right up my alley (so to speak).

Our drive is just like yours, 400ft long and the first 185ft is up a grade of at least 15 degrees. We tried all sorts of stuff including pit run, 3/4 crusher, limestone screenings and so on. It always washed out even if it was put on thick in a really bad storm (the subsoil is sand and gravel, we are on an esker).

Anyhow, about 8 years ago we bought ashphalt road sweepings (you can use road grindings too but sweepings are better and finer). We put 80 tons on the 185ft hill and it has never washed out a bit. It's black too so in the winter it heats up and melts off ice and snow and when I snowplow it stays hard packed and never gets broken up. It is way way way better than any other gravel application I have ever seen and you would be really happy with it.

Installation is important, get the trucking guys to spread it as evenly as possible and then you have to level it off. A tractor works well (we did it by hand and it just about killed me). The key is to make sure it's about 6 inches thick all along and as smooth as possible with a bit of a crown in the middle. Do the install when it is hot and spread it immediately before it "melts together" in a big mass. If you leave it, you will wind up with a huge lumpy mass and have to bring in a grader to break it up.

After it's spread, pack it with a packer or we had a buddy with a dump truck drive over it a zillion times. It will all hardens really good and stay that way. It's not smooth like a paved road, it's rough like gravel that is stuck in place.

If you can get it, check it out.

 

[forgeblast]

Are the asphalt road sweepings waste from putting down a new streach of highway or is it the broken up pieces of old highway?