Putting in an 800' driveway through the forest, advice and tips needed.

[jimmyj]

Sounds like you have a great place there and a lot of seat time coming too!

My parents have a house in the woods (hardwood) and the drive is about 1500 feet long. My dad is a professional road builder and they wanted the power underground as well.

I don't know exactly all the terms but basically they removed the trees on the route (route winds gently but not sharply and is wide enough for trucks, etc) and then scraped off the soil until they got to a decent subsoil (very sandy where they are).

Then he brought in large aggregates and then smaller ones until they had a 3/4' clear stone topping. Then they put on many truckloads of recycled asphalt. They graded it with a full size grader and rolled it with a steamroller. The whole thing is probably 2 feet thick in most spots.

I know it sounds like a lot but the road is AMAZING. It's nicely crowned so it sheds water easily, there are 2 culverts where there are seasonal washes too.

It's going to last longer than I do I am sure, I can't recommend the recycled ashpalt enough. I don't know for sure whether or not they put down a textile fabric somewhere along the way, I'll try and find out.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Well, I differ from most of the posters, I would be considering your 4% slope, BUT NOT to the down hill side. I would have the entire road slope into the hill side. That way you should never slide off the road. You have to deal with more run off, but in my opinion the drive is safer in the long run.

Just my :2cents:

You might also consider getting one of the land plane grader blades. Indispensable for maintaining a road of the length that you are going to have.

 

[JoeL4330]

Shouldn't be a problem; as I remember NH, brush off a little topsoil and a few pine needles and you have a well-draining road...paint it black and you have blacktop.

More seriously, there are some excellent articles available from your neighbor state, for example: http://www.maine.gov/dep/blwq/docwatershed/roads/gravel_road_manual.pdf

and, more generally: Information for Camp Owners - Camp Roads, Maine Department of Environmental Protection

 

[Piston]

If you are planning underground power. Clear a nice easement along side your driveway for the power company

I was actually thinking of going straight through the woods in a straight line from the house site, to the road, rather than following the curvature of the driveway. My thinking is that it will be a shorter, straighter, easier run for the power.
Of course a lot of this will depend on IF I can even dig a trench that long, they don't call it the Granite State for nothin' :laughing:

I like the blue route - curves are better more interesting, also as its is clearer for sun and as milkman said clear enough for the power line whether underground or poles. I would think 24-30' wide which may seem like a lot, but this will allow the sun in more than a narrow lane.

Carl,
I like the blue route better as well for the reasons you mentioned, also I like taking advantage of driving past the large rock pile that I have noted. It is about 70' long and 28'-30' wide. I think it is very impressive to think that it was all piled there before we had these magic machines to do the heavy lifting for us!

I also like the wider driveway clearing with grass on both sides, good point about the snow. I will probably clear a minimum of 30' and most likely more than that. I figure I can always make it wider down the road as well.

Talk to the utility provider and ask them what width they would need on the side of your new driveway

Milkman, I should have already done this and it is a good reminder for me to check with them, thanks.

Sounds like you have a great place there and a lot of seat time coming too!

Jimmy,
Probably more seat time than I can even imagine :laughing: but I love the feeling of accomplishing something on my own so it should be worth it. I just need to keep an open mind and realize when it is too much for me to handle alone!

Sounds like I won't be able to get away with using the bare gravel if I get down to some, without adding quite a bit of finer gravel. I sort of expected that but was still 'hoping' :laughing:

Well, I differ from most of the posters, I would be considering your 4% slope, BUT NOT to the down hill side.

Brian,
As you know I certainly respect your opinion, I know you have a LOT more grading experience than I EVER will so I will definitely think about that, never even dawned on me that it is even a possibility to do it that way.

I have thought a lot about a land plane but I didn't consider buying one until either A) a ridiculously good deal came along or B) I was finished with my driveway and ready to simply 'maintain' it. Would a land plane help in the initial stages or is it simply for maintaining? Also, don't go talking me into a land plane before you get my money for the top n tilt system :laughing::laughing: (side note-I have my FINAL order complete for the step 1 of my valve install!)

Shouldn't be a problem; as I remember NH, brush off a little topsoil and a few pine needles and you have a well-draining road...paint it black and you have blacktop.

Joel,
Thanks for some encouragement :thumbsup::thumbsup:
I'll read up on the links you posted and thanks for that. Sometimes I start searching for a thread on installing driveways or something, and next thing I know I'm reading up on "Creating a Lake" or "Beginner's guide to using a box scraper" or all sorts of different tangents. :laughing:

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Brian,
As you know I certainly respect your opinion, I know you have a LOT more grading experience than I EVER will so I will definitely think about that, never even dawned on me that it is even a possibility to do it that way.

I have thought a lot about a land plane but I didn't consider buying one until either A) a ridiculously good deal came along or B) I was finished with my driveway and ready to simply 'maintain' it. Would a land plane help in the initial stages or is it simply for maintaining? Also, don't go talking me into a land plane before you get my money for the top n tilt system :laughing::laughing: (side note-I have my FINAL order complete for the step 1 of my valve install!) :laughing:

A few years ago I put in a new 1/2 mile long road to the top of our property. The 2 implements that I used were first my rear blade to get the main shape cut in and 2ND my land plane grader blade to get the overall evenness that I wanted on the road. So yes I used the grader blade in part of the building process. I never even used my box blade on it until last year to scrape the weeds off of it.

Now I didn't really need to move much material from one place to another, so for me the box blade was not needed for what I needed to do. I can only imagine what you will have to do with all those trees and rocks that you have. I'm sure that your box blade is going to get a real workout.

Now, if you want a deal on one of these land plane grader blades, let me know, I just happen to have an extra 7 footer, although I would venture to say that the shipping would cost more than the implement.

 

[Carl_NH]

Brian,

From the looks of your photos thats a grader/box blade heaven.

Typical in NH we have 5"-20" embedded rocks (glacial till) 2-6" from the surface, then 50' away granite ledge outcroppings.

The last time I had that much soil under a BB was when I had 80 yards delivered!

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Brian,

From the looks of your photos thats a grader/box blade heaven.

Typical in NH we have 5"-20" embedded rocks (glacial till) 2-6" from the surface, then 50' away granite ledge outcroppings.

The last time I had that much soil under a BB was when I had 80 yards delivered!

Have to agree with you. Decomposed granite is great to work with when it is damp. Packs down very well, holds weight very good whether it is wet or dry and is hard as a rock when it is dry. I had to get a down pressure kit for my PHD because there is no digging in the stuff when it is hard packed and dry.

I have only been to New England once back in 96. While I was driving around (2000 miles in a week) I noticed that at the used equipment places that there were quite a few smaller dozers, but none of them had rippers or even ripper bars. Was that because they had all been broken off? :laughing:

 

[Piston]

Now, if you want a deal on one of these land plane grader blades, let me know, I just happen to have an extra 7 footer, although I would venture to say that the shipping would cost more than the implement

Brian,
Unfortunately I think your right about the shipping, if you were even remotely close to me, I would have a hard time not making some sort of combo deal with the top n tilt kit and your land plane :thumbsup: I'm surprised you still have that landplane though? Is that the same one you've had a while? What kind is it? Too bad I didn't know someone coming out my way....

Unfortunately Carl is right about our NH paradise! I don't believe the land plane would be helpful to me until I have the driveway in and just ready to be maintained. However, that day will come so I will be in the market for a land plane one of these days :thumbsup:
Although, I do have my grandfather's driveway and aunts driveway I could 'practice' on :laughing:

 

[WestshoreConstruction]

Crowning is usually the best way to shed water off a road it basically divides the water shed in half so not only is the water on your road for half the amount of time it divides the shed so erosion to the surrounding property is decreased. The less saturation to your road the faster it dries etc etc.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Brian,
Unfortunately I think your right about the shipping, if you were even remotely close to me, I would have a hard time not making some sort of combo deal with the top n tilt kit and your land plane :thumbsup: I'm surprised you still have that landplane though? Is that the same one you've had a while? What kind is it? Too bad I didn't know someone coming out my way....

Unfortunately Carl is right about our NH paradise! I don't believe the land plane would be helpful to me until I have the driveway in and just ready to be maintained. However, that day will come so I will be in the market for a land plane one of these days :thumbsup:
Although, I do have my grandfather's driveway and aunts driveway I could 'practice' on :laughing:

I have had these 3 grader blades for sometime. I bought them from a local dealer that just wanted to get rid of them. He had had them for about 10-15 years and was moving locations. I have had them for going on 6 years now. I had thought that they were early Road Boss graders, but after talking to the owner of Road Boss 4 years ago at an AG show, found out that they were his competitors grader the Road Master and long since out of business. The 7 footers are about 1400lbs and work very well. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: