Creek Gravel / Rock as temporary drive?

[bigshovel]

Also if you can get asphalt millings I would recommend it big time. Spread it, roll it, as heavy as a roller you can get, spray with diesel or kero. I recommend the latter be done after dark. then roll again. 3 months of warm weather and driving on it and you now have blacktop!!! I have done this at both of my homes and camp. The first house was that way for 10 years, camp for 6 and new house was just done.

Brad

 

[skipmarcy]

Creek gravel is just fine for a driveway base, have made several over the years. The only drawback is it takes a little time and some boxblading to get your base solid - by a little time I mean approx. a year or two, depending on how much traffic you can put on it and if you keep adding gravel to it when needed . The gravel will eventually stop sinking when it hits the hardpan and you should have a solid base for finishing from then on out. If you need a driveway in quicker and can't wait, maybe the fabric described here would be the best. Since you have the gravel available for "free", I think it would be a good choice. If you have a pretty good layer of softer soil to start with, it's best and quicker to use the larger gravel at first, then graduate towards the smaller stuff. The big trucks coming in to your site will help pack this rock tremendously. The well-drilling truck and the concrete trucks really helped my last one here, as well as my F250 Super Duty everyday - it packed alot better than my tractor ever could - heavier & narrower tires. I was able to put my white, Camden chert layer on after 1 year and have a fine "white rock" driveway now. Camden chert is very similar to crusher run - smaller sharp rocks that hold in place well with alot of powdered rock to cement it together, it comes from the town of Camden, Tn. not far from me. The surrounding counties use it for the many, many gravel roads around here. Good luck on whatever you choose. Oh, by the way, if you don't ditch your driveway properly it won't matter what you use for materials.

 

[ampsucker]

i'll throw up a vote for don't do it.

here's why. creek gravel, in addition to not compacting well due to the round, eroded nature of the rock from thousands of years of water flowing over it, is also not screened for size. sure, it will work temporarily, but flash forward several years.

you are going out to blade your nice new white rock driveway. it's getting thin in places (settling, pot holes, etc.) and you have to dig down a bit. what do you bring up with your box blade? why lots of big, round rocks. ever hit one with a low profile tire? in addition to possibly deforming the tire, it's rough as heck!

been there, done that. have spent many an hour after blading our nice white rock, out there by hand, picking up the creek gravel and rocks that came to the surface.

plus, if you have a hill of any kind, the stuff erodes like crazy. it is like driving on irregularly shaped marbles.

amp

 

[SPIKER]

AMP:

I think it all depends on the creek as to what type of gravel you have, mine is mostly flat gravel that has flaked off the bed rock (sand stone/shale with small granite round parts, but my drive base is wash 57 creek run which is round and doesn't pack nearly as well as my CREEK's gravel which is flat & broken up easliy with sand & fines mixed in. it works great as a base and I've pulled a lot out the last 4 or 5 years as well as had 100+ tons delivered to add to drive

mark M

 

[cjcocn]

what about driving something heavy on it?

Around here they lay geotech fabric down before building roadways. I have also seen it used on highways. It is really good at preventing the gravel from sinking down since the soft stuff can't work itself up anymore (because the geotech acts as a barrier).

Weight is not an issue with that fabric and when I do my driveway I will be laying geotech down as I too do not want to be re-doing it every couple or few years.

HTH

 

[ampsucker]

good point, spiker. not all things in nature are created equally. around here our creek gravel is very round and mostly smooth limestone. very few fines.

i have a big pile of it at the bottom of my driveway if anybody wants some.

;-)

 

[Tractors4u]

AMP:

I think it all depends on the creek as to what type of gravel you have, mine is mostly flat gravel that has flaked off the bed rock (sand stone/shale with small granite round parts,

Same here. The majority of my driveway is graveled from creek gravel harvest from the creek on my property. It packs really tight.