New Driveway Construction

[vtsnowedin]

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

been there done that!. Used to be that a driver that screwed up and made a crew shovel up a multi_ ton pile could make amends by buying a case of beer for the crew at quitting time. Can"t do that now. Just have to fire his butt.
Don't know as that is progress as far as the daily lives of the paving crew is concerned.

 

[hutchman]

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.

You can still steal any of my ideas you want as long as you try them out before I do so I know if they will work or not:thumbsup:

I'll be doing the same thing very shortly ... if I can ever get the subframe I'm building for my backhoe finished.

 

[TSO]

Looking good. Keep up the good work.

 

[FF117]

Graded and compacted the rock today. There were some areas that were 12+ inches thick and other areas were only 6" thick. Did my best to even it out, but it's not perfect. Probably going to order another couple loads of rock, but doubt I'll rent the compactor again just for a couple loads. Forgot to take "before" pics prior to the grading, but I can tell you that it looked pretty rough before I started. The compactor did a nice job, but we could really use some rain. It would've been nice to be compacting moist rock, but I guess you get more for your money when they haul dry rock instead of wet stuff. I probably shouldn't have crowned the road so much, but I wasn't sure how much the center would compact compared to the edges where the trucks had been driving. Ended the day by spreading some top soil on the downhill side of the entrance. Hope to get some seed down on Tuesday. Unfortunately there's still no rain in the forecast.

 

[farmer2009]

Looks really nice. I wouldn't worry about the crown. Only ways to have too much are if mama's car drags or if it causes you to slide in bad weather. IMO. If it causes you problems have some gravel "barrel track" spread. Basically its just spread in the tracks.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Looks great. You want at least six inches of crown on an unpaved drive and a bit more in steep sections. Yours looks about right as you have it graded now.
I'd get a load of clean sand and chink the top to keep the stones from rolling up from tire action.
As soon as you get some rain the traffic will finish the compaction for you but you will need to touch it up after the house construction phase is over.
Are you going to line the drive with shade trees?

 

[FF117]

Got a couple more loads of rock today. The driver wasn't nearly as good at spreading as the previous driver so I had to work a bit to get it smooth . Added one load to the entrance to thicken it up a bit and the other load on the end to widen it some. When that was done I worked on preparing the top soil for seed. I've got an old railroad tie with re-bar spikes sticking out of it about and inch or two. I drug it behind the tractor to break up some of the larger clumps of dirt and level it out some. I had just got the ditches seeded when it started raining. Didn't rain much, just enough stop any progress, but heck I'll take it. Didn't get any straw down yet, hopefully I can finish seeding and get some straw down on Friday. Probably a little late to be seeding, but it would be nice to get some grass growing in the places with high erosion potential. Still very little, if any, rain in the long term forecast. No pics today because of the rain.

 

[FF117]

Looks great. You want at least six inches of crown on an unpaved drive and a bit more in steep sections. Yours looks about right as you have it graded now.
I'd get a load of clean sand and chink the top to keep the stones from rolling up from tire action.
As soon as you get some rain the traffic will finish the compaction for you but you will need to touch it up after the house construction phase is over.
Are you going to line the drive with shade trees?

We were thinking that some trees lining the driveway would be nice. They might block our view a little, but it's probably worth doing. What do you mean by chink it with some sand? I've never heard anyone around here talk about that. I assume you mean to top coat the driveway with a thin layer to help bind everything together. My rock is CA-6 and has fines with it. Do you still use the sand with that rock? If so, how do you know how much sand to order?

 

[vtsnowedin]

We were thinking that some trees lining the driveway would be nice. They might block our view a little, but it's probably worth doing. What do you mean by chink it with some sand? I've never heard anyone around here talk about that. I assume you mean to top coat the driveway with a thin layer to help bind everything together. My rock is CA-6 and has fines with it. Do you still use the sand with that rock? If so, how do you know how much sand to order?

You need just enough fine sand to fill the voids between the larger stones. Dump a bucket full and back drag it lightly so you don't rearrange the rock you have already placed. We used to use a drag broom along with water and rolling to get a smooth tight surface just prior to paving. Nobody is that fussy with it today. How far a load will go depends on the gradation of your rock but a little goes a long way. Just be sure it is clean material that won't make mud when wet.
Edit to add:
If you don't chink it the rocks are always moving under the tires giving you that crunchy sound and some get thrown into windrows by the tire treads.

 

[FF117]

You need just enough fine sand to fill the voids between the larger stones. Dump a bucket full and back drag it lightly so you don't rearrange the rock you have already placed. We used to use a drag broom along with water and rolling to get a smooth tight surface just prior to paving. Nobody is that fussy with it today. How far a load will go depends on the gradation of your rock but a little goes a long way. Just be sure it is clean material that won't make mud when wet.
Edit to add:
If you don't chink it the rocks are always moving under the tires giving you that crunchy sound and some get thrown into windrows by the tire treads.

Sounds good, I'll give it a try. Sand is pretty cheap around here, just have to pay to haul it. Probably won't get it done right away because tomorrow is my last chance to work on it for a while and I have to get the seed/straw down. The driveway will have very little traffic on it until late spring anyway, so I've got some time.