New Driveway Construction

[redman135]

Hello FF117, the imperfections can be cured by meticulous blade work prior to rolling. You will know for next time. Just lay the geo cloth, and get some gravel laid before heavy rain arrives.
As for the loam area, grass it. Also make sure water cannot build up speed on bare dirt as it will scour out quickly. I recommend you spread old hay on the bare loam to protect the ground from the rain(scouring/ water runnels) and also from drying out(sun and wind). This gives the best grass survival %. It is surprising how much hay spread on the ground prevents/reduces scouring in heavy rain.

 

[FF117]

Hello FF117, the imperfections can be cured by meticulous blade work prior to rolling. You will know for next time. Just lay the geo cloth, and get some gravel laid before heavy rain arrives.
As for the loam area, grass it. Also make sure water cannot build up speed on bare dirt as it will scour out quickly. I recommend you spread old hay on the bare loam to protect the ground from the rain(scouring/ water runnels) and also from drying out(sun and wind). This gives the best grass survival %. It is surprising how much hay spread on the ground prevents/reduces scouring in heavy rain.

Yeah I'm surely to blame for most of the imperfections. There weren't too many, I should've taken a couple pics after I was completely done compacting. It looked much better than the pics I posted, but you could tell in a couple places where I had gotten a little deep with the blade.

A friend came by and we got the geotextile down today and they started hauling rock. I used a piece of pvc with eye bolts through it to help roll out the fabric, then stapled it down. There's a thin layer of gravel on all of the driveway now to help with the wind, but still a lot left to haul. Tomorrow I plan on getting some seed down. I used to work for a lawn care company and did a fair bit of lawn seeding. I firmly believe in using straw or hay to help with erosion and increase seed survival. No rain is in the forecast for the next 10 days. Planning on renting the same roller compactor this weekend to compact the rock. Hopefully they are done hauling by then.

 

[hutchman]

Yeah I'm surely to blame for most of the imperfections. There weren't too many, I should've taken a couple pics after I was completely done compacting. It looked much better than the pics I posted, but you could tell in a couple places where I had gotten a little deep with the blade.

A friend came by and we got the geotextile down today and they started hauling rock. I used a piece of pvc with eye bolts through it to help roll out the fabric, then stapled it down. There's a thin layer of gravel on all of the driveway now to help with the wind, but still a lot left to haul. Tomorrow I plan on getting some seed down. I used to work for a lawn care company and did a fair bit of lawn seeding. I firmly believe in using straw or hay to help with erosion and increase seed survival. No rain is in the forecast for the next 10 days. Planning on renting the same roller compactor this weekend to compact the rock. Hopefully they are done hauling by then.

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Sounds like you did what I was thinking ... put something through the middle of the role and unroll it with the tractor. Did it work well and was it pretty controllable?

So did the trucks drive on it and spread the gravel? I was really hoping that I could just drive on the fabric and spread the gravel so I'm curious to know how that went and how they did it.

 

[farmer2009]

Sounds like you did what I was thinking ... put something through the middle of the role and unroll it with the tractor. Did it work well and was it pretty controllable? So did the trucks drive on it and spread the gravel? I was really hoping that I could just drive on the fabric and spread the gravel so I'm curious to know how that went and how they did it.

Have them back dump the first layer. Does take a person who knows what they are doing. Most can spread forward but even fewer can spread in reverse.

 

[FF117]

Sounds like you did what I was thinking ... put something through the middle of the role and unroll it with the tractor. Did it work well and was it pretty controllable?

So did the trucks drive on it and spread the gravel? I was really hoping that I could just drive on the fabric and spread the gravel so I'm curious to know how that went and how they did it.

Yep I completely stole your idea. Worked pretty good, especially going uphill. It's not hard to unroll by hand if it's fairly level, but it's nice to be able to park the tractor and know the roll isn't going anywhere. Make sure you use staples and have a helper. There was very little wind when I installed but the slightest breeze will blow that stuff all over. It rolls out pretty straight, but after it's moved by the wind it can be a difficult to get it straight again. Seems like no matter what you do there ends up being a few small ripples in the fabric after the rock it dumped. We had it placed very well and stapled, but you can't possibly get it in contact with the ground as well as the rock does.

He reverse spread the first load and then after he could drive straight on it without starting or stopping he just drove forward and spread. No sharp turns though. It would be best to reverse spread if possible, but he would've been backing up a hill and turning with my driveway. I watched closely and driving forward on it didn't seem to hurt anything, but the ground under it was well compacted. The fabric was affected more by the rock spreading on it than by the truck driving on it.

 

[FF117]

Had a bit of a rough day today. I managed to rip the fabric twice. Once with the box blade near the entrance and the other with the loader at the other end of the driveway. Both spots were pretty small, but it's frustrating because I know better. I used some scrap pieces to repair the areas. I placed a piece underneath and on the top of the torn areas, then stapled the heck out of it. I made sure there was plenty of overlap so hopefully it will hold. The truck driver also managed to make a small tear. He was pulling in the entrance and ran his front tire off the low side of the driveway. There wasn't any rock on the edge of the fabric yet and it made a small tear. It wasn't very bad and was all the way on the edge of the fabric so I didn't do anything with it. I think they got another 7 loads delivered today, which should be a little over half way now. Should be compacting on Saturday.

The cutting edge on my box blade is wore down so I figured I'd flip it around today. Of course four of the six bolts stripped inside the cutting edge. Basically when you try to take the nut off the entire bolt spins. Might just have to cut them off and order new ones. Kinda sucks because it would be nice to use it to help spread rock as needed. Should've taken more pics, but didn't have much time.

 

[hutchman]

Wow, I've never heard or seen of reverse spreading before. That's pretty crazy. Makes sense though ... just never heard of it. I guess back when I learned how to spread there wasn't much call for doing it in reverse as no one knew about the fabric back then.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Had a bit of a rough day today. I managed to rip the fabric twice. Once with the box blade near the entrance and the other with the loader at the other end of the driveway. Both spots were pretty small, but it's frustrating because I know better. I used some scrap pieces to repair the areas. I placed a piece underneath and on the top of the torn areas, then stapled the heck out of it. I made sure there was plenty of overlap so hopefully it will hold. The truck driver also managed to make a small tear. He was pulling in the entrance and ran his front tire off the low side of the driveway. There wasn't any rock on the edge of the fabric yet and it made a small tear. It wasn't very bad and was all the way on the edge of the fabric so I didn't do anything with it. I think they got another 7 loads delivered today, which should be a little over half way now. Should be compacting on Saturday.

The cutting edge on my box blade is wore down so I figured I'd flip it around today. Of course four of the six bolts stripped inside the cutting edge. Basically when you try to take the nut off the entire bolt spins. Might just have to cut them off and order new ones. Kinda sucks because it would be nice to use it to help spread rock as needed. Should've taken more pics, but didn't have much time.

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Sounds like your average day of road construction to me.

 

[Egon]

Nothing beats the load dumped just in front of the paver!

 

[RDrancher]

Sounds like your average day of road construction to me.

10-4 to that one!

I did a driveway yesterday...8 semi and truck & pup loads. The driveway was elevated with multiple culverts and grass on both sides. Load placement, spreading and cleanup to get the stone off of the grass was a real pain. That's just the way it goes.