Small amount of rain washout on my gravel drive?

[teg]

I agree with Eddie that it looks like the wrong rock for the job. "Crusher Run" or "Crush and Run" packs together more tightly. It will get washed out with heavy rain but it doesn't sound like you had that.

Also, anytime I get gravel spread on my road, I always order an extra load that I just have dumped in one spot. That way I have extra for repairs and maintenance.

A rear blade, box blade or back dragging the bucket would work to fix that spot.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

What you have there is loose rock on a road. It looks crushed at one time, and sized about the same, which looks to me like it's a decorative or top coat type of rock. It is NOT road base.

No matter what you do with this type of rock, it will continue to move on you. Your ground under this rock must be very good. Is your soil rocky?

Road base is a rock that is crushed with the rock varying in size from an inch or so in size, down to fines. The edges of the rock are jagged. When spread out with a thickness of at least four inches, and compacted, it interlocks and becomes a solid surface that will shed water and support vehicle traffic.

If you have less then four inches, it will not hold up or remain locked together. This is when you get pot holes. NEVER take away from one area and use that to add to another area. BUY MORE ROCK!!!!! Mixing the new rock with the old rock will ensure a uniform compaction and long lasting repair.

The box blade is an OK tool for initially spreading and smoothing out your gravel road. It is also a fair tool for fixing a pot hole or low area with NEW rock. It is a TERRIBLE took when used to smooth out an existing road. All that it accomplishes is to thin the amount of material that you have, break up the compaction of the existing rock, and SPEED UP the decay of the road. The more a box blade is used on a gravel road, the more damage is done.

Eddie

Eddie,

The driveway is nearly 20 years old (near as I can tell) and it is very solid. My dealer said a box blade will do me no good, all I could do was add some crushed linestone or recycles concrete.

In November, the loggers smoothed out and then dropped a couple loads of 57 because they had torn up the driveway logging.

David

 

[MossflowerWoods]

I agree with Eddie that it looks like the wrong rock for the job. "Crusher Run" or "Crush and Run" packs together more tightly. It will get washed out with heavy rain but it doesn't sound like you had that.

Also, anytime I get gravel spread on my road, I always order an extra load that I just have dumped in one spot. That way I have extra for repairs and maintenance.

A rear blade, box blade or back dragging the bucket would work to fix that spot.

TEG,

The gravel was dropped in Nov 10, the tractor arrived in August 11.

I had no means to deploy extra gravel until now.

David

 

[jinman]

David, after repeated washouts on my steep driveway, I've chosen to build what looks like speed humps that are really terraces. I pick the spot where gravel starts to erode and build the hump slanting across the road to direct water off into a ditch or where I can manage it. My neighbors do the same and both of ours hold up well with a minimum bump as we drive over them.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

David, after repeated washouts on my steep driveway, I've chosen to build what looks like speed humps that are really terraces. I pick the spot where gravel starts to erode and build the hump slanting across the road to direct water off into a ditch or where I can manage it. My neighbors do the same and both of ours hold up well with a minimum bump as we drive over them.

The technical term for that is a water bar. If you can't crown the road to get the water off of it, a system of water bars is the next best thing. Plus, the speed bump effect slows down traffic that thinks your driveway is a freeway. The power meter reader ran over my dog once because the thought he could take my driveway at 40 mph. I was not pleased. I fixed the driveway so the next time he tried that he lost some teeth and had to call a tow truck to get his pickup out of the ditch.

An inverse of the water bar is to dig transverse drainage ditches. Same effect, same bumps.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

David, after repeated washouts on my steep driveway, I've chosen to build what looks like speed humps that are really terraces. I pick the spot where gravel starts to erode and build the hump slanting across the road to direct water off into a ditch or where I can manage it. My neighbors do the same and both of ours hold up well with a minimum bump as we drive over them.

Jinman,

More data please. Maybe a picture or two, please?

how big of a bump? how much of an angle?

My drive has been very solid, if not pretty. The problem was days of heavy rain on top of already saturated soil. water was rushing down the wheel ruts until they turned and the water didn't...

David

 

[Bartcephus]

Moss
The answer to how big is: just big enough to divert the water.

The answer to what angle is: According to camp trail managment practices in the northeast, (yes you can Google "Camp Trail Managment") is about 30 degrees to the road, however even that is subject to change depending on the particular circumstances.

Good Luck

Bart

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Moss
The answer to how big is: just big enough to divert the water.

The answer to what angle is: According to camp trail managment practices in the northeast, (yes you can Google "Camp Trail Managment") is about 30 degrees to the road, however even that is subject to change depending on the particular circumstances.

Good Luck

Bart

Bart,

My sysem is behaving oddly. I wil try again. I googled "Camp Trail Management" and I got companies that manage camping locations...

Thanks though!
David

 

[cwersch]

hey moss where in ladysmith are you? i live about 2 miles north of chilesburg and was a mile south before i moved. bout 8miles up ladysith road from the foodlion. yea we had a lotta rain. my driveway washed bout like yors too

 

[MossflowerWoods]

hey moss where in ladysmith are you? i live about 2 miles north of chilesburg and was a mile south before i moved. bout 8miles up ladysith road from the foodlion. yea we had a lotta rain. my driveway washed bout like yors too

cwersh,

Howdy Neighbor!

I'm off of rte 1 just north of ladysmith back behind Mr B's Bluegrass park. I'm about 2.5-3 miles from the Food Lion.

I've had it with the rain.

A huge section of the back yard (between the 2 ponds) is so saturated I have standing water even after a couple days with no rain. There is NO WAY I could get my tractor back there without destroying the yard. There are 2 old stumps I want to grind back there... Actually it has been so wet I have not even tried to take the tractor out.

David