"How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

[mjncad]

"How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

"How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway."

Our recycled asphalt/road base drive needed replacing as it was more mud after a storm than a drive, so here is the saga. Gravel was chosen due to cost as a properly prepared & installed concrete drive would have been in excess of $20,000 & an asphalt drive would have been 1/2 to 3/4 of that. With our expansive soils & the cost factor, going gravel made sense. I estimate our cost to be in the $2,500 - $3,000 range since we did the work ourselves.

What I don't show here are the collateral projects of installing an irrigation valve box & its piping, some buried storm drains & my front sidewalk reconstruction.

At the same time that we were placing road base & gravel on our drive, we did my neighbor's drive, so it was a 2-drive summer. They didn't need any trenching though.

If I had to do it over again, I would have put an equal three part mix of concrete road base, 1" x 3/4" & 1-1/2" x 3/4" concrete gravel.

Picasa Web Albums - Matthew Nicholas - Driveway#

 

[brokenknee]

Re: "How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

Just looked at all fifty photos, looks great, I am just curious for the reason for the weed fabric liner in the trench?

 

[4shorts]

Re: "How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

Man that's a pile of work you did there. It sure looks nice and I like the grading you did. You couldn't dig like that around here. To many rocks. As a matter of fact it's mostly rock around here. So whats the next step in this project? Is it completed?

 

[mojoinco]

Re: "How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

Glad to see your project. Got one coming up myself, though I think I will start with some fill for a base (this is for a pasture drive for occasional use, not the main drive). I have used some ground concrete on my drive (T-rex stuff I imagine). It worked well, looks a lot better than recycled asphalt.

 

[mjncad]

Re: "How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

Just looked at all fifty photos, looks great, I am just curious for the reason for the weed fabric liner in the trench?

The idea is to keep the pea gravel separate from the existing soil.

 

[mjncad]

Re: "How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

So whats the next step in this project? Is it completed?

The driveway is essentially complete. I may put down some more road base or crusher fines on a few soft spots; but that will wait for summer. I need to do some sidewalk work that's part way done due to running out of warm dry weather.

It worked well, looks a lot better than recycled asphalt.

I can't stand that recycled asphalt stuff. It tracks in everywhere you don't want it.

 

[dcyrilc]

Re: "How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

Nice looking job. I'm hoping to do some major work on my driveways this summer. I'll be using ground asphalt though as I have a source to get it for free if they're grinding in my area.

To do it right I will need around 200 truck loads and since rock is $400/ truck load, free works well for me.

 

[Kyle241]

Re: "How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

Good lord, that's a driveway! Up here, we just dig down 'x' inches to remove topsoil and get to a solid base and then dump pit-run which gets bulldozed. With the trucks full with pit-run, they packed it down nicely and then it's 5/8" less over top.

 

[jake98]

Re: "How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

I like the 'service station' spot. Good to be able to top off the tires before you hit the high-way, without having to manuver a truck/trailer/tractor etc. near the garage.

 

[mjncad]

Re: "How I spent my summer vacation" or "How not to do a gravel driveway"

That's a huge driveway you've got Cyril, and I'd do the same if I were in your shoes.