I think I have screwed up on my Gravel Drive

[MileHiGuy]

Looking for help on my new gravel drive.

Our rural lake property previously had just river rock based road base for our drive and we wanted to clean up the fines that always finds its way into our barn and living spaces with some granite based rock. Got 200 tons of rock and we started off with 3/4" Minus but mostly 1/2" minus granite and it just does not seem to pack and is way too soft for wheel traffic so far. Rolling it with a large vibratory compactor has made little difference other than looking nice before tire traffic hits it.

I have been sick to my stomach that I did not do more research on the matter but though that the angular shapes of granite bound and packed together pretty well based on some other installs that I have seen but right now you need 4 wheel drive to back any kind of trailers up without digging in.

Any thoughts? Adding fines and water to the mix and then compacting? Would this get us back to tracking in fines into the barn and foot traffic areas?

removing a fair amount of the smaller material and topping it with a 1"-1.25" type of material?

Thank you in advance for any help!!

 

[JMER817]

Give it a little time and vehicle traffic. I used crushed limestone and in the beginning it was soft but has hardened up to like concrete in about a month of driveway traffic

 

[GLyford]

It can be a little easier to pack when wet.

 

[CADplans]

We can get two driveway products, 57's and mill run.
The 57's are a mixture of #5 and #7 stone,,, pour it down out of the truck, it is as packed as it will get.
The purpose of that material is a base for pouring concrete.
You would not want settling or compaction under concrete.
Many people use it on level driveways,,, but, NOT more than an inch or 2 deep.

Deeper than 2 inches,, it is like having the driveway covered in marbles,,, :thumbdown:

Mill run is EVERY size stone between dust and 3/4" ,,,, THAT material will pack.
It will not tailgate out of the truck less than 4" deep.
I can pack it so tight,,, you can not push a walking stick into it!! :thumbsup:

I pack it with this DIY roller,,,

So, if your material is acting like marbles,,, you have 2 choices.
remove the thickness of material down to 1-2 inches
or
add non-loam soil so it will have something to make it pack.

 

[topbuilder]

Locate some pure sand. Masonry sand is even better. No clay content. Spread it on the top. It will work it's way in, you can speed the process by hosing it down..

 

[MileHiGuy]

Thanks for the input...

So if Limestone Dust is going to be spread into the already laid gravel, what is the best way to spread it in evenly. Feels like something like a drop spreader fertilizer operation but cannot believe it would put down enough material without constant reload and time working it in.

Thank you!

 

[Egon]

it.

I have been sick to my stomach that I did not do more research on the matter but though that the angular shapes of granite bound and packed together pretty well based on some other installs that I have seen but right now you need 4 wheel drive to back any kind of trailers up without digging in.

The angular fractured rock does compact better but for proper compaction the sise of the material must be graduated from fine to coarse. If it's not you will not get proper compaction. Take a sample of your gravel to the supplier and maybe he can tell what's missing. If so get the proper amount delivered and mix it in with your present gravel and compact again.

At the crushing site the cause may be crusher settings or selective screening of materials.

 

[aczlan]

If you are buying it by the truckload, have the driver "tailgate" it in (dump it out of the truck with the tailgate chained so it only opens a few inches). That will spread it faster and more evenly that you can.

Aaron Z

 

[FTG-05]

We can get two driveway products, 57's and mill run.
The 57's are a mixture of #5 and #7 stone,,, pour it down out of the truck, it is as packed as it will get.
The purpose of that material is a base for pouring concrete.
You would not want settling or compaction under concrete.
Many people use it on level driveways,,, but, NOT more than an inch or 2 deep.

Deeper than 2 inches,, it is like having the driveway covered in marbles,,, :thumbdown:

Mill run is EVERY size stone between dust and 3/4" ,,,, THAT material will pack.
It will not tailgate out of the truck less than 4" deep.
I can pack it so tight,,, you can not push a walking stick into it!! :thumbsup:

I pack it with this DIY roller,,,

So, if your material is acting like marbles,,, you have 2 choices.
remove the thickness of material down to 1-2 inches
or
add non-loam soil so it will have something to make it pack.

Hopefully not to derail the thread, but more about that DIY roller? Thanks,

 

[dodge man]

You can have what is termed "well graded" and "poorly graded" material. What these terms mean is how much different sized material is mixed together. In your example, you put down poorly graded material, in other words, its all the same size. This makes for a nice clean driveway but with all the material the same size, it doesn't pack together that well, it just kind of slides around. It sounds like you had a well graded material to start with, this means it had fines mixed in with the gravel also. This stuff packs together well, but as you discovered when it gets wet it can get kind of messy. Usually a good comprimise is what they call chips around here. Its smaller than what you put down and doesn't have the fines in it so its not so messy when wet. Its doesn't pack in that well but is small enough its not so loose like the problem you have now.