Another driveway thread

[TigerfaninAR]

After many years of planning and more recently construction, our new home is almost finished. Prior to building we had many truck loads of shale brought to make a drive for the concrete trucks etc. It has held up fairly well, have a few low spots but even after yesterdays all day rain I'm able to get down it fine. I think it has done a good job at making a base for our drive.

Now time for something the wife will call a driveway. Called the guys who did all the previous work, had a pond dug etc, and they recommend 10 loads of river rock at 300 per load and another 3000 for their labor. Our drive is about 275 ft long. Called a buddy of ours who hauls dirt/gravel and he says all I would need is 2-3 loads of something called c-ballast and then just have someone spread it, 500 dollars at most. So have one say 6000 and another is 1500. Wow, what a difference.

The hauler says the c-ballast will lock together and do much better than the river rock. Heck for 6000 I'm probably close to just putting asphalt down.

 

[Dano97471]

We are about to build a house on our property and was quoted $6.500 for a 150ft gravel road. This to me is way two much. I have a B2920 with a backhoe and box scraper and feel I could do the grading and spreading the gravel. I look forward to what others have to say about your situation.

 

[swiss]

Ah road work so fun, I just rebuilt an old logging entrance road on my property. Here are the steps and costs:

1.) Grade current road flat, bulldozer or tractor work
2.) put down 8 oz Geotextile fabric over grade, about $350 for 14x300 foot roll. keeps the rocks from sinking in the mud
3.) Put down # 4 rock with a spreader truck 16 tons for $400 each load. On 1200' I put down 7 loads. I went heavy on the #4 as I have logging trucks and large equipment moving up and down the road consistantly. You do not need this heavy for daily use.
4.) After 6 months add crusher run over the #4 stone, $380 each load with a spreader truck. The crusher run fills in the holes.

The number 4 stone is pretty serious and makes for a rougher but tough driveway. Some people use 57 stone instead of #4 then put crusher run over after 6 months again.

Steve

 

[teg]

River Rock??? Is that round and smooth? You don't want that. If your base is good, which it sounds like it is, you want crusher run. Fines up to 3/4" that will lock together. Before that, how is the grade and layout? Does water run off the drive now? Is the driveway material higher than the dirt next to the driveway. They have a crusher run that goes up to 2" that you can get to fix or fill any part of the driveway that's a problem now.

Any gravel truck driver should be able to spread gravel as he unloads. You might have to touch it up a little bit. I've done it myself... larger rock as a base, compact followed crusher run. I have not used the fabric... but I don't have much traffic on my driveway.

I had one area that was soft and would not firm up. Put down a fair amount of 2-4" rock, packed it down and covered with 2-3" of crusher run.

 

[TigerfaninAR]

Water runs off the drive except in one or two spots, more of a pothole. The drive is quite a bit higher than the surrounding land. The gravel hauler said he could get very close to having it spread with the truck but need the dozer to smooth beforehand.

Have not heard back from the 6000 dollar bid when I questioned the river rock and extent of the labor. Talked to another today and think at most 5 loads of the c-ballast. Not 10 loads of anything and definitely not 3000 dollars of dozer work.

 

[TigerfaninAR]

One quick question: does the gravel need to be compacted by a dozer, or something else, or just spread out?

 

[swiss]

A couple of points. You can do this work with a Tractor, but if you have not built a road foundation it takes some time to get it right. That is why hiring a dozer may make sense for you. The key is that the roadbed is crowned, ie you have a higher center then the edges. Secondly you need to have ditches on the side. You stated that the drive is higher than the existing land. That is good but I imagine that the road is lower than the immediate area.

That is why ditches are key, the ditch should dump out to the lowest area on the drive. Once you have the "dirt" foundation then the geotextile goes down. This prevents the rock from being pushed into the dirt. Some guys do not like geotextile because when you do alot of snow plowing or grading after time the fabric shows through and gets ripped up. In the south this is not a problem.

The rock needs to be put down by a spreader truck. It does not need to be compacted. The rocks will as you drive over them over time lock into each other and form a firm roadbed.

The key is ditches, and road shape.

 

[teg]

You want the driveway to be perfect before the final layer of gravel is put down. Ideally, a compacted with a vibrating roller would be sweet... I've never done that...

When my gravel guy drops a load, he does a good job of packing down. Normally, I always have an extra load dropped off that I use to patch the driveway until the next time. This extra load delivered also compacts the freshly laid gravel.

After he's gone (and in between loads) I get a load of gravel in the bucket and some weight on the back of the tractor and pack/run over the middle of the road. This is the poor man's way... I'm happy with the results but I don't have a ton of traffic on my road.

 

[TigerfaninAR]

Thanks guys. This basically what my gravel guy said. I think the dozer man is trying to make up for a bad winter or something.

 

[teg]

...5 loads of the c-ballast...

Rock 4 Less serving Butte County (xxx) xxx-xxxx

Didn't know what C-ballast was so I found the site above (I do not work or recommend these guys, just a nice website). Description reads: "...This is a 1" crushed rock that is used for drain rock and also on gravel roads..." Personally, I would not use it for a road... "drain rock" sounds to me that it would allow water to get down into the road. That's not good.

I think this is what I use as my final top coat: 3/4" Class 2 Roadbase. "...It works great on gravel roads..." but it depends on if you can get it.

Edit, Another site:
http://www.rogersgroupinc.com/locationsandproducts/arkansas/glenrose.htm#products

Still doesn't sound like I would want to use it... go with 3/4" Minus or SB-2 State Grade
(again, don't know the company from Adam...)