Advice on driveway repair/sloping/drainage

[Oldpath05]

Thread update, just look at all those old threads it appears no one is fixing driveways anymore, aren't we lucky. But after 25 years my driveway has turned into another dead end Jeep trail, the reason why is run-off water and the cure for long lasting driveway is expensive.

The driveway fixes I see are hot-top, re-claimed hot-top. gravel and then theres gravel with breeze in it, well who ever heard of breeze in gravel, then there are the honey-cone thingys with mixed reviews. One thing I need is something that tractor tire chains wont eat up, seems to me cement is best for that but I havent heard of anyone with a cement driveway at a 100' plus, wonder why that is........... Next year think I'll just hire the driveway repair out to someone who knows how to shoot the breeze, trouble is they'r all in Tenn...........
Putting Down Gravel Driveway Using Geocell. Our Solution for Long Steep Slope. - YouTube Amazon.com : Standartpark 2" Thick Geo Grid Ground Grid Polyethylene 16 sq ft 1885 LBS per sq ft Strength : Garden & Outdoor

 

[oosik]

Geeze - I think it looks pretty good. I would dig out and gravel fill a shallow trench to get the runoff water past your house without causing errosion. Last picture.

 

[JJT]

Blacktop is only as good as its base, it looks like you have no base, just dirt. A good gravel driveway is not cheap. 29 years ago I started with a base of 6" of bank run gravel, (mostly fist sized cobbles), and topped that with 4" of crusher run. Every other year I add another inch or so of crusher run. It's held up well, I do have a steep section of driveway, but it's never washed out. Several years ago I looked into paving the 800' driveway and choked on the price, over $20K.

 

[Diggin It]

but I havent heard of anyone with a cement driveway at a 100' plus, wonder why that is...........

Mine is somewhere between 100 and 200 ... I forget now, 180 or so. Did blacktop at one of the higher oil priced years ... cost me a little over $5K. I don't do snow, so no plowing or blowing with chained tires. Couple of bigger snowfalls (which don't happen but a year out of 5), I just shoveled a walk path or two and let the Sun warm the blacktop to melt the rest of it.

 

[Egon]

If cost is a issue just grade it and get it shaped up. There are no significant ruts or holes so major work really isn稚 required.

Don’t even think of using bank run rocks. ( the nice rounded ones that are not crushed.) you don’t need geotextile fabric either.

 

[Oldpath05]

This woman appears to be satisfied with Geocell honey-cone stuff, but cant find many people using it maybe because its to expensive.
Ultimate Test for Geocell Driveway: Heavy Snow + Delivery Trucks - YouTube

 

[ruffdog]

There is no crown in the drive and all the fines have washed down to the house. I would add crusher run and grade it with a crown. Concrete is expensive with no maintenance while gravel is the cheapest with the highest maintenance.

 

[shooterdon]

What are your neighbors doing?

Frankly, the grade does not look that severe but I realize pictures can be deceiving. We have steep gravel roads here that seem to work wrt shedding rain effectively...but there is one section that is impossible to drive up when it ices up until the county hits it with sand/salt mix.

 

[ovrszd]

Like others have said, doesn't look too bad.

By the pictures my biggest concern would be that your driveway drains to your house. If you pave it that problem will be critical. Water speed will increase.

I like that you control the water running toward your shop. But that also puts more burden on the house area.

Standing at the Jeep Liberty and looking back uphill. Is it possible to slope all of the driveway to the right and get rid of it before it gets to the house? Looks like the Electric Pole is sitting on a "hump" that would have to be dealt with?

 

[EddieWalker]

You have the classic case of a road without any drainage. The lowest part of your road, is your road.

Before spending money on materials that will just fail again, you need to widen your road and dig ditches on both sides of the road. Depending on the quality of your soil, use the material from the ditches to build up the crown of your road. Just glancing at the pictures, your road needs to come up about a foot before you can even think of adding something to top it off.

When building up your road, you need to compact it. Driving over it will help, but you also need moisture when compacting soil to get it to lock together.

Your ditches need to be as wide as possible so the water will flow through them as slow as possible. The faster the water flows, the more erosion you will have to deal with.

In my opinion, the best value for a road is recycled concrete. It's super hard, it compacts easily, and it lasts a very long time. Where I live, our other option is limestone, and that's a fairly soft stone, so it doesn't last very long. You want the rock to be a variety of different sizes all the way down to fines so when it's compacted, it will lock together and become water proof. Water will shed off of the rock and into your ditches.

 

[ovrszd]

Eddie, I agree. But his problem is again if you stand where the Liberty is parked and look toward the public road, what are you going to do with the water off the left half of the driveway? With a crown/ditch, it ends up going past the corner of his house.

It appears the majority of the problem is the rain water that lands on the driveway.

 

[fried1765]

There is no crown in the drive and all the fines have washed down to the house. I would add crusher run and grade it with a crown. Concrete is expensive with no maintenance while gravel is the cheapest with the highest maintenance.

Wide ditches - meaningful crown - 4"+ of crusher run.
Won't be cheap.

 

[Oldpath05]

My house should've been built 8' higher 40 years ago then fill around it, most around town ends up with a flat driveway I lucked out, then some here have a steeper driveway with hot-top then others re-gravel every few years. 25 years ago the driveway was a foot higher then the grass, just have to build it back up next summer, until then I'll hold off buying a Lamborghini. I dont know what the grade is but in the winter time when iced over it's really steep, probably there some here that have a steep driveway even in the summer...

 

[ovrszd]

Thanks for the additional pics. Now I'm more than ever convinced that the driveway needs to slope toward the electric pole, Jeep Wrangler side, run all the water off toward the small sheds in the distance. Much better than having it run toward the house. Between the Liberty and the first tree to the left.

I don't think your driveway can function properly with a crown. Needs to be a one sided slope. To the left when looking at your last pic.

 

[old and tired]

Your driveway is your ditch... I agree with ovrszd that you need to divert the water toward the jeep. Scrape down that side and move it to where your "ditch" is now. Add more material as needed...

 

[fried1765]

Thanks for the additional pics. Now I'm more than ever convinced that the driveway needs to slope toward the electric pole, Jeep Wrangler side, run all the water off toward the small sheds in the distance. Much better than having it run toward the house. Between the Liberty and the first tree to the left.

I don't think your driveway can function properly with a crown. Needs to be a one sided slope. To the left when looking at your last pic.

Yep..... a pitch to one side can be needed when the topography is not suitable for a crown.

 

[PILOON]

I have had a similar problem, can't ditch for a variety of reasons nor lower the 'hump'.
While crushed run was a decent solution heavy downpours would wash out all the fines.
I discovered re cycled asphalt to be a good solution 20 years ago.
A few weeks back I re did my steepest portion with a 4 inch coverage.
Back then we simply dumped chunks of asphalt and did our best to compact it, Worked!
Now days they mill it so that it looks like crushed stone but it still contains the asphalt components that re glue it under hot sun.
The best part is heavy rains do not wash it out and the more you drive the tighter it bonds.

Another upside it is cheaper that crushed stone. (at least in my area)
Our city also has adopted it for hills on all the gravel roads, they lay about 6 inches but for a drive 3-4 is just fine.

 

[homesteader13]

I have had a similar problem, can't ditch for a variety of reasons nor lower the 'hump'.
While crushed run was a decent solution heavy downpours would wash out all the fines.
I discovered re cycled asphalt to be a good solution 20 years ago.
A few weeks back I re did my steepest portion with a 4 inch coverage.
Back then we simply dumped chunks of asphalt and did our best to compact it, Worked!
Now days they mill it so that it looks like crushed stone but it still contains the asphalt components that re glue it under hot sun.
The best part is heavy rains do not wash it out and the more you drive the tighter it bonds.

Another upside it is cheaper that crushed stone. (at least in my area)
Our city also has adopted it for hills on all the gravel roads, they lay about 6 inches but for a drive 3-4 is just fine.

When you first lay it down, before you compact it, put diesel fuel in a weed spryer and give it a good squirt on a hot day and then compact it and it is almost as good as a paved road from my experience.

 

[fried1765]

When you first lay it down, before you compact it, put diesel fuel in a weed spryer and give it a good squirt on a hot day and then compact it and it is almost as good as a paved road from my experience.

Oh...heaven forbid!
The environmentalists will be all over you for that suggestion.

 

[mred2]

We hear a story of an old man that used to take his old oil and put it on his drive way to keep the dust down in the summer. EPA fined him and he had to remove the top layer of soil and have it disposed of. Later his son had it paved. The first thing they did was to spray down a layer of oil. They can do it but you can't. And I do try and stop my oil leaks and don't want it to kill the grass.