base for gravel

[Gary Fowler]

The OP says he has solid clay so I wouldn't go digging out anything an putting in sand fill. I think you would just create a bathtub that would hold water forever. Just put down some larger sized rock that you can compress into the clay with a roller for a base, then add a top coat of finer crushed stone that will lock together and form a smooth road surface. If you don't want to use a compactor, I would put down the base coat and drive over it for a while with my trucks and tractors to compact it, then put the top coarse on.
You want to use crushed stone rather than river rock for the top so they lock together rather than just rolling around.

 

[EddieWalker]

Build like the county and highways build their roads. Add more dirt until you have the road build up higher then the surrounding land. Make sure you have ditches that slope away from the road and carry the water where you want it to go. Add culverts if you have to. Then compact the soil. Clay is a wonderful building material that is very cheap and will last forever if you have it built up.

Just like building a house or any other structure, you have to do the dirt work first. Adding rock and more rock will eventually get you there, but it will be at a much higher expense with trial and error results. Some areas it might work great, others will always be soft.

If you have a really soft area, dig it out and replace it with dirt that isn't so wet. Spread out the wet dirt where you are building up your road and it will dry out for you.

Keep it simple and don't over engineer something that is very simple.

Once you have the dirt work done, 4 to 6 inches of road base gravel is all you need. It will be crushed rock that varies in size from an inch or two down to fines. The rough edges are important to lock the rock together and the fines fill in all the voids, making it a solid surface.

If you have less rock, it wont lock together and you will have rut issues, pot holes and soft spots. If you have more rock, it will do the same job, last longer, but cost you more money.

Once you spread the rock, you need to really water it in. Usually a good rain is needed for bigger areas. Once it dries, it will be nice and hard.

Eddie

 

[Zockel]

Thanks so much for all the replies! It's been very helpful.
I'll post before and after pictures when the job is done.
Pete

 

[dmccarty]

Our soil is clay or clay and rock depending on the location. Some places are full of rock but others are all clay. In winter when it gets wet, I don't run the tractor in many areas because I will just make a real mess as the tractor ruts up the clay. Go into the same areas on the summer and there are no problems.

Our driveway is about 500 feet long to the house, including the turning circle. There is a big parking area and driveway extension back to the barn that is another 100'x 36'. ALL of our gravel is put on top of geotextile fabric. I used a mesh fabric instead of a woven. I can't remember WHY I used mesh but I had to have a reason. :shocked::laughing:

When I built the driveway we still had to build the house so I only put down the fabric and 3-4 inches of ABC gravel. I figured the driveway would get torn up by the construction traffic and we would add gravel after the house was built. Well that was a decade ago and we still have not added gravel. :thumbsup: We NEED some gravel to raise up the driveway above grade in a few places to keep water off the gravel. But it is not an issue that has caused us to spend money on rock.

Whatever you do, don't try to clean up all of the rocks, roots, etc out of the driveway path. I made a few passes before I realized that one, I was not going to get a clean path, and two, I was just digging a bathtub for the driveway to sit in. I only went down 1-2 inches in a couple of passes but it was enough to require us to add more rock to get the driveway above grade. Just put down the fabric as best you can and lay down the rock....

The second phase of the driveway, the 100'x36' section, is just perfect. I did not dig down with the box blade, I just picked up whatever rocks and sticks I could an put down the fabric. That section is in great shape.

All of the sections are on a slope so they do get a bit of water in spite of ditches. The section with the "bathtub" is the problem area because I cannot ditch because of trees. The only thing I can do is add more gravel to keep the water off the driveway. Even with this limitation, the driveway is mostly fin. There is some run off that has exposed some of the fabric where the slope is acting like a ditch. We have two pot holes where water collects at the hump over the culvert. Again, we just need to add some more gravel which was the plan a decade ago but we always have better use for the money than gravel.

With our soil, there is no way I would build a driveway without fabric. My neighbors don't and they have to regrade every few years. I don't.

Later,
Dan

 

[RDrancher]

Build like the county and highways build their roads. Add more dirt until you have the road build up higher then the surrounding land. Make sure you have ditches that slope away from the road and carry the water where you want it to go. Add culverts if you have to. Then compact the soil. Clay is a wonderful building material that is very cheap and will last forever if you have it built up.

Just like building a house or any other structure, you have to do the dirt work first. Adding rock and more rock will eventually get you there, but it will be at a much higher expense with trial and error results. Some areas it might work great, others will always be soft.

If you have a really soft area, dig it out and replace it with dirt that isn't so wet. Spread out the wet dirt where you are building up your road and it will dry out for you.

Keep it simple and don't over engineer something that is very simple.

Once you have the dirt work done, 4 to 6 inches of road base gravel is all you need. It will be crushed rock that varies in size from an inch or two down to fines. The rough edges are important to lock the rock together and the fines fill in all the voids, making it a solid surface.

If you have less rock, it wont lock together and you will have rut issues, pot holes and soft spots. If you have more rock, it will do the same job, last longer, but cost you more money.

Once you spread the rock, you need to really water it in. Usually a good rain is needed for bigger areas. Once it dries, it will be nice and hard.

Eddie

There are several ways to get the same results, but Eddie's is a good description of how I put in a driveway around here. If the customer's budget allows, I'll also put down a topping of unwashed 3/4" down to chat size crushed limestone. The topping locks together well and provides a nice clean surface to drive on.

Edit - DM, looks like we were posting at the same time. There's a debate even within the geo industry regarding which one to use. I use woven, but obviously non-woven works just as well...just depends on who you're talking to.

 

[vtsnowedin]

The OP says he has solid clay so I wouldn't go digging out anything an putting in sand fill. I think you would just create a bathtub that would hold water forever. .

A good point. A sand undercut should be drained at it's low point to daylight. Cut a side trench and backfill it with crushed rock. You could even throw in a perforated pipe along the low side of the cut then out the outlet ditch. Cuts longer then 250 feet would need multiple outlets usually two to three hundred feet apart depending on how wet the area is. If drainage isn't practical due to the lay of the land use crushed rock for all but the surface course.
'

 

[Zockel]

I just spoke with the guy who delivered gravel to the neighbor earlier in the summer. He says that crusher run is very difficult to spread with the dump truck as it clogs the gate as soon as it is a little wet. He uses what he calls road rock, a mixture of 3/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch gravel. I can see the problem with wet crusher run not coming out the gate when wet, but I can also see the road rock washing away in the rain as it doesn't compact down very well. Looks like I have four options: 1. get crusher run dumped in a few piles and spread it with FEL and box blade (may take more time than I have to spare right now) 2. get the road rock and hope it doesn't wash away too quickly. 3. find another source that has dry crusher run and can spread it from the dump truck or 4. hire someone to do the spreading (sounds like a lot of money for gravel driveway maintenance). Any thoughts?

 

[RDrancher]

I just spoke with the guy who delivered gravel to the neighbor earlier in the summer. He says that crusher run is very difficult to spread with the dump truck as it clogs the gate as soon as it is a little wet. He uses what he calls road rock, a mixture of 3/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch gravel. I can see the problem with wet crusher run not coming out the gate when wet, but I can also see the road rock washing away in the rain as it doesn't compact down very well. Looks like I have four options: 1. get crusher run dumped in a few piles and spread it with FEL and box blade (may take more time than I have to spare right now) 2. get the road rock and hope it doesn't wash away too quickly. 3. find another source that has dry crusher run and can spread it from the dump truck or 4. hire someone to do the spreading (sounds like a lot of money for gravel driveway maintenance). Any thoughts?

I've never had a driver tailgate a load since I've been in business. Fines settle to the bottom during transit, especially if the mix is fines-heavy. FEL and the boxblade is the way to go.

 

[ruffdog]

We have clay here also and the neighbor is a large excavator. I had him put in my new driveway and I told him to do it like it was his own drive so: He dig down about 12" and filled that with #4 rock. He then rolled it with his vibrating roller and some of the soft stuff was oozing up through it. He then topped it off with 6" of 3/4 rock. Since then I have topped it off with 3/4 because it had settled some but that was several years ago. Like others have said, you need the odd shaped crushed rock to lock together instead of round smooth stones. I can have a full propane truck drive on it right after the frost comes out (gooey time) and he isn't going to sink in but maybe 2".

 

[s219]

The one time I had a large load of crusher run delivered to complete our driveway after we moved into our new house and construction traffic was done, I had the driver put it down with the truck. She (a grandma who drives a dump truck and makes big $$) opened the gate and chained it so that it would not open all the way, and then took off down the driveway raising the dump. It worked awesome. I had very little extra work to do with the tractor other than to compact and groom it with a box blade. I think it has to be a good experienced driver, and dry crusher run would certainly help. I can't see it working if it was damp.