Expanding Driveway

[Gilford]

I have read some threads about driveway building on the forum, but don't remember reading about the question I am going to ask. Last summer we built a garage and I need to expand an existing driveway a little to make access to the garage easier. The expansion will be about 1000 square feet total. The majority will likely remain gravel, but some may be concrete some day. I have access to an unlimited amount of field stone ranging in size from tennis ball size to the size of two softballs together. My thought was to dig out the sod and top soil about 12" and fill about half way with field stone and fill the rest of the way with stonecrete. However, I am not sure if frost heaving of the field stones may cause problems, such as cracking, in the are that may be concrete some day. I prefer to not have to remove the field stones some day if I do go with concrete. Does anybody have any thoughts? Thanks - Gilford

 

[Egon]

I am not sure if frost heaving of the field stones may cause problems, such as cracking,

Frost heaves are a combination of soil type, water availability and temperature.

These conditions must be altered before any solid surface treatment is applied.:thumbsup:

 

[boggen]

the stones themselves should not be a problem i would not think. but the water would be. you need a way to let water drain away from the area. either by sloping of the area to a lower spot. or french drains. or something. so the water will not accumulate under and in the driveway.

water + cold weather = water turning into ice and causing expansion and ground to up heave. and then during spring as things thaw out. un-even settling of the ground as the water un-freezes.

for me, i know by the sheds i can get approx 2" difference in ground differences in winter vs spring time. to a point in winter it can make it almost impossible to open some longer sliding shed doors. though for me a couple areas has poor drainage that still need to be fixed, and everything for most part around sheds is just plain old clay dirt. for me i will need to be bringing in dirt to fill inside of sheds up some, and then put in a couple inches of drainage rock, then concrete on top of that. the dirt is to raise the area higher than surrounding area so water moves away, and the rock is to help get the water to drain out from under the concrete.

no clue if above is correct way to do it, but it is most likely what i will be doing. eventally once i get caught up on other projects.

 

[SARG]

Personally ....... having learned the majority of my lessons the hard way ....... I would ( at least in this area of clay and rock soil ) remove at least 18" of the existing material and fill with crusher run stone that will pack down.

 

[20 20]

MOST IMPORTANT water needs to be able to go. You'll also need a good filler, personally I would not use crusher run until final layer. It's expesive and without good fill it will just sink away into the abyss. Get rid of your ater and everything else should fall into place.

 

[Western]

I agree with the guy's about the water, going to have to solve that or you will have Ponding. You probably can solve that easy though if you have a little slope.

 

[Egon]

The soil should be replaced to below frost depth with soil which will not allow capillary action for water.

 

[Gilford]

Thanks for all your suggestions, sounds like the concessus is that keeping the water away is the most important and that field stones as a base is not a problem. I will add that the area that I will expanding the driveway into and which abuts the garage does not seem to have raised up at all over the winter. I do have an out building with sliding doors and a dirt floor where the ground does rise noticeably. Maybe the drainage where the driveway expansion will be is already drained fairly well.