Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt

   / Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt #1  

glennmac

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2000
Messages
1,591
Location
Western Connecticut
Tractor
2003 Kubota L3430
I hereby grovel for info on gravel.

My gravel driveway is all washed out and rutted. One of my tractor justifications was to repair this. I have never done anything like this, and know absolutely nothing about different types of gravel and other driveway materials. Could I get some knowledge and experience from you all about what kind of material I should use.

One fellow I met recommeded re-ground asphalt that has been scraped off roads. Its not clear to me whether this is used just by itself, or if it is used as a base with gravel put on top. It is also not clear to me if I can spread re-ground asphalt with my loader or the rear blade I probably will be getting. If gravel is put on top of the asphalt, what kind of gravel?

What kind of gravel if I only use gravel by itself?

If it matters, I am in Connecticut and the the base I have left is rocky and pretty hard.

Glenn
 
   / Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt #2  
Glenn, personal opinion on this, but I would use a .5 to .75 inch crushed rock to run on the surface. It will pack down, and with the rough edges, 'lock' together much better than an aluvial gravel, which will have a tendancy to 'squirt' out to the side rather than pack down. It wouldn't be hurtful either way to use or not use the ground asphalt as a base.
 
   / Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt #3  
Glen, here in centeral AR most people will use what is known as SB-2 gravel as a base or for the complete road surface. SB-2 stands for Sub-Base number II. It is a state highway department specification for the most common used base material for paved roads. It is a well graded gravel mix that will pack well. It is very common and anyone in the gravel or construstion business knows it. We call a local gravel company an tell them that you want two loads of gravel for your drive way and they will ask is that SB-2 or do you want some else. I am sure you will have something like it locally.
 
   / Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt #4  
Most gravel around here is from glacier deposits. It's a mixture of sand and small rock. It packs well and becomes fairly hard. There is a small hill in my drive that doesn't rut or erode. There were several erosion paths in the fill over the highway ditch. I buried lengths of flexible 4" drain, which fixed that problem.

My gravel freezes solid in the winter and provides a good surface for blades and blowers. Freezing is real important to provide a surface for snow removal, and I understand that some grades of crushed rock don't freeze well. A neighbour had some septic stone leftover from a restaurant septic system put on a short drive. It doesn't freeze, and it just shifts around a lot. It can't be plowed or blown very well, and it's a problem to remove. Sort of a mess.

The ground asphalt I've seen used mostly as patches over gravel in problem areas don't seem to hold up very well. It tends to erode around and under the patches. I think you need a good base before ground asphalt works very well.

I think drainage is perhaps more important than material in how well a drive holds up. Crowning the drive and ditching for drainage works well.

A place near here had a serious erosion channel develop beside a steep path (turned into a road) behind their place. They had leftover concrete from a highway bridge project dumped into the channel. It just eroded under the concrete, and now they've got a covered erosion channel and a bunch of useless concrete. I think that curing drainage problems and providing a good base are the keys to building a drive that hold up.
 
   / Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt #5  
TomG, I will agree that drainege is a primary factor in road maintenance. Run off needs to be contained and channelled via ditching, and the ditches maintained annually to prevent major road problems. With a good base, proper drainege, the road will be easy to maintain for a number of years with light mainenance.
 
   / Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt #6  
Glenn,
The best driveway base I found so far is #3 crusher run.
Its a crush ledge 1/4''stone with the powder,and once spread in place and pack it seem to hold well.

Little advice,don't try and spread the crusher run on a rain day,for its very hard to work with. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
   / Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt #7  
Here in MO. it is an art to repair a road, with the promise that it will need repair very soon. In our area we have a circle road with houses around the road. They put the asphalt, the reground type. The problem is it did not have enough binder to hold together, the second problem, the road bed was not fixed to stop the road problems. I think the asphalt would have worked if when applied, a binder was added to hold the surface together. The only good thing was it was free.
 
   / Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt #8  
Since I haul material for a living, I always read these driveway posts with interest. Of course, materials can vary from one area to the next. Here in South Texas, I can think of about a half dozen different things that people use on driveways. The two major considerations are, availiblity and frieght cost.
I would suggest looking at what others in your area are using and then determine if the material will suit your needs. Another thought is looking at whatever State road builders are using for base. Straight from the monkey see - monkey do school of driveway construction. A word of caution on base material. Some of it can be quite dusty during dry spells if not covered with some other material.
All the comments, at least to this point, were good. I maybe the only one interested, but I would sure like to know what kind of rock, crushed rock, or gravel some of you are talking about. Is it limestone, granite, or what?
ErnieB
 
   / Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt #9  
I'll "third" that!

I had our raod double chip sealed three years ago. When the road compay was out, one of the big things they did was drainage. They said eveb with gravel our road would have held up better with if the drainage had been good.

Also, When we have done gravel work in our road association, renting a roller/compactor has worked tremendously well. Someone else mentioned the road ABII; it binds almost instantly if you run a roller over it.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif
 
   / Driveway Repair: Gravel or Re-Ground Asphalt #10  
Here in the Triangle of North Carolina, I've been told to use crush and run aka ABC. It costs $7.40 a ton. Depending on water and some other factors I have forgotten it might weigh up to 140 pounds per cubic foot.

My father in law just retired from the DOT and this is what he put on his driveway and told me to put on mine. Its got rocks maybe in the inch ranch but alot of fine dust that helps lock everything togather.

Hope this helps...
Dan McCarty
 
 
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