New Gravel Drive failed

[radioman]

Do you have a middle buster ? If you do, why not create a ditch on the outside of your circle driveway to give water a place to go. My thinking is you can open a area for hydrostatic pressure water a place to go and it might give the top inch layer a chance to be less saturated. What do you got to lose except gain fun seat time ?

 

[SnowRidge]

Laying fabric down in a curve is a pain, as you have to deal with the wrinkles. I just went through that. You have a circle, the worst case. If it were me, I would build it up like someone suggested, so that the finished grade will be above the surrounding lawn.

I would also find out how much it would cost to pave it.

 

[blueriver]

I think you got to trench it to drain the water, as stated earlier ... I think you created a cavity to hold the water ... its gotta drain.

 

[Airic]

Thank you for all your comments and help. I do have slope and before the gravel was brought in we had quite a few big rains. I would observe during and after the rain and there was no puddling and all water would drain off the drive very quick, almost instant. It was highway smooth before the gravel went down. When the full gravel trucks came they did not sink at all and it had rained the night before so I assumed the base was good.

With this being a turnaround and lots of surface area all the drive slopes in one direction. I'm thinking as you state, the freeze and thaw cyles are creating the problem. Water won't drain if its frozen and it continues to accumulate with more snow/freezing rain. I'm thinking that I may have the proper slope but maybe it should be draining in the most direct route off the drive and not in one direction to one end of the drive. This may have been my design flaw as I was taking advantage of the hill it sits on for the runoff. The odd is that the soft spots are at the top of the slope and not at the bottom.

I think I may pull up the drive and start again in the spring and add the geo fabric and perimeter drain as suggested. I did lay drainage pipe for the gutters that run under the drive so I can tie into this. This is a solid pipe that runs to a spring/holding pond for irrigation. I'm going to eventually pour this as a concrete drive but, I'm holding out till we start and finish the house addition. This maybe a few years out

Thanks again for your help.

 

[TrippleT]

Go to your local highway dept and talk to one of the engineers for information on the base you need to support a drive. Or, talk to a couple of them. I bet you will get some good ideas on how to do the job so that it will work for a long time.

 

[PILOON]

I know one fellow that collected old carpeting to use in lieu of geotextile.

Makes sense as most carpeting is all synthetics (like geotextile) but the problem is where to store the unsightly mess of carpeting until used.

 

[ELMO67]

Yes, all good ideas. If the driveway is now mush, I also think that is because the frost might be down below the mud not allowing the water to drain. There isn't a problem in the spring and summer because there is no frost in the ground to trap the water. As he stated, before the addition of the gravel they could drive on it without a problem, I wonder if that was also during similar thaw conditions?

 

[WH401]

Give CR-6 a try instead of plain gravel. It's half gravel/half a dirt like composition that acts like wet concrete, after its driven over for a while and rained on for a few times it will get as hard as concrete. You aren't really able to do much with it with hand tools once it packs down, but a tractor will still get at it pretty good. That's what I use on my 1/4 driveway, including a large hill. It holds up well to rain, but I also have to have drainage dams at the top of the inclines to the deflect the water.

 

[ray66v]

Thank you for all your comments and help. I do have slope and before the gravel was brought in we had quite a few big rains. I would observe during and after the rain and there was no puddling and all water would drain off the drive very quick, almost instant. It was highway smooth before the gravel went down. When the full gravel trucks came they did not sink at all and it had rained the night before so I assumed the base was good.

There are parts of my back yard, (all clay fill), that I can, and do, drive trucks on, in the summer. The ground is very dry then, and has no problem supporting the weight. Those same areas, in the spring and fall, I cannot drive anything heavier than my cheapo Craftsman mower over them, without rutting it up. What is the difference? The ground has softened, because of an accumulation of moisture. Once it is saturated, it does not have any ability to support weight.

Each year, I add some drain tile to a different area. The tile keeps the water from saturating the ground, the problem is solved. Once the ground has dried out, it's able to accept large amounts of moisture, without turning in to muck.

If your ground became saturated because of the area being dug out for the gravel, and the gravel was able to hold water, it could have caused your problem.

I don't think that is the only problem, based on the photo. You simply do not have enough stone there, to hold enough water, to cause this much saturation.

I suspect that runoff, from the surrounding land, goes through this area, wetting it to the point of saturation. This can happen, even on a slope.

If you determine that is the case, you need to divert the water away from the drive area, with a swail, or collect it, with drain tile, or catch basins, or possibly even all three.

No matter what kind of drive you put there, it will not be stable, year round, if the saturation issue is not addressed.

 

[Egon]

Bring in some more "Well graded Crushed Gravel" [ 60 % or so fractured surfaces and all passing thru a 3/4 inch screen] and build the surface up above the present grade. This will alleviate the drainage problem and give you a drivable driveway!

Probably be the cheapest solution too.