Compacting gravel driveway

[paulsharvey]

So, one thing I see people on here often forget, focused on the surface, and drainage; looks at the lay-out of a drive. You want a comfortable width, with the Radius' to pull in and out; generally a 12 ft wide driving surface, 25 ft radius, with a clear area of no less than 16 ft is what people feel comfortable with. Sure, you can absolutely reduce the width to 10 ft (or even 9 ft) to save money, but keep the clear width from drop offs, culverts, ecr 16 ft. Keep any trees a min of 4 ft from the edge of the driving surface; but strive for 8 ft or more. Trees cause problems in several ways; 1-organic material (roots) left under the driving surface, that decay over time; 2-live trees, roots will uplift/crack/heave your surface, allowing water to cause more damage; 3-live trees shade the surface, allowing water to sit on the surface and any cracks much longer, and then when you drive over it, it forces the water to cause more damage by hydralic force.

Drainage- at lease have an idea; maybe you need swales or ditches, you might need cross drains (culverts), but often, if layed out right, you can raise the driving surface, and let water spill off the sides. Springs, hill side seeps, ect require attention. Small drain pipes are a waste if trouble and a maintenance nightmare. French drains and under drains can help When needed, but it's better if possible to avoid the need

Maintenance: fill cracks and pot holes, or erosion as they accure, even if it's not the prettiest, it will save you more expense later

 

[paulsharvey]

Also, the one and done approach can be tempting; but when comparing say $20,000-80,000 for a concrete drive, vs a $4000 rock drive, that you spend another 2
$2000 on every 5 years, it takes a Long time to make that concrete pay for itself.

 

[paulsharvey]

For anyone looking at doing a larger driveway, it's also important to know/understand local materials, terrain, and standard practices. What works in N. FLa might be a disaster in Oregon, or Alberta, or New Queensland. A guy in Tenn might be able to redirect a minor creek to align a driveway, but the same thing would put you under the jail in Cali. Areas near salt water (or tanic acid in a swamp) might eat a galvanized pipe in 5 years, that would work in Nebraska for a life time. For example, I write a Lot on some of these threads, but I admit I know Nothing about freeze Thaw cycles, and how they affect you guys up north.

Some things are consistent; drainage, good subgrade, good compaction, and adequate turning radius, and the ability to get emergency vehicles in/out.

 

[paulsharvey]

If possible, you want to avoid slopes/grades greater than 10%, maybe 15-18%, but that's not always possible; and presents unique challenges.

 

[BackRoad]

Adding to the thread drift ...

I've become a believer in putting geotextile under a drive.

My original 1400' drive does not have it and gravel over time disappears. It seems to slowly merge into the clay subsoil, in spite of having a 12 to 15 inch deep, 3 layer construction (4-6" base, 2-4" mid, 1" down to fines top layer). It was built in the 80's as a primary road for a sub-division, which was never developed.

I've added a ~400 foot extension using geotextile under the base. Then a build-up of mixed size asphalt millings.

It's still relatively new, but no evidence of merging with the clay underneath and no loss of millings or sinking of the driveway down into the clay subsoil.

At $360 per 12' x 350' roll, it was inexpensive - compared to adding more millings in the future.

(Photo while constructing one section of the extension showing the layers - before final grading and compacting.)

 

[joea99]

I would have it delivered no matter how they bring it Not sure if you can tell them to bring it dry? Any way spread it all out the best you can bucket angled back and running in reverse is how i do it, Then wet it all down good and do your compacting. How do you do compacting with your tractor ?

In my limited experience, I just drive over the area many times, each time moving over a bit.

After several trips usually the tire tread marks get pretty much overlapped and it does not look to bad.

Going in reverse floating the FEL bucket, almost flat, also helps smooth it out.

Things do get a little tricky near the edge of the road if there is a drop off.

 

[alexinPA]

We used to use #2 crusher run for the base for all our parking lots and roads we built when is was working.
This was always specified by the engineer. This has fine dust in it from being run through the crusher. Wet it down good with a hose before compaction ! I would be careful with the vibrating roller. I assume it would be a 10 ton.

What's wrong with vibrating roller?

 

[AnotherBueller]

Adding to the thread drift ...

I've become a believer in putting geotextile under a drive.

My original 1400' drive does not have it and gravel over time disappears. It seems to slowly merge into the clay subsoil, in spite of having a 12 to 15 inch deep, 3 layer construction (4-6" base, 2-4" mid, 1" down to fines top layer). It was built in the 80's as a primary road for a sub-division, which was never developed.

I've added a ~400 foot extension using geotextile under the base. Then a build-up of mixed size asphalt millings.

It's still relatively new, but no evidence of merging with the clay underneath and no loss of millings or sinking of the driveway down into the clay subsoil.

At $360 per 12' x 350' roll, it was inexpensive - compared to adding more millings in the future.

(Photo while constructing one section of the extension showing the layers - before final grading and compacting.)View attachment 884983

The only issue with doing it that way is that you have no base under the road. So if the soil under the rock/textile ever gets a little soft it will sink under a load and it will never get any better. Large rock followed by progressively smaller rock will bed in. What happens it that the large rock gets pushed down by traffic and spreads out to the sides. When it gets too low for you, you add more and maybe a smaller size. Eventually your 6" wide tire could end up pressing down on a rock / dirt mix the could be 12' or more wide. So less or no more ruts. Textile on dirt = no base. Short term looks good, long term?
Looks good does not equal what is good,

 

[BackRoad]

Yup...

Used a rock bucket with 2" spacing to separate large milling chunks from the smaller stuff.

Built the drive with a layer of large milling chunks under the finer millings.

The middle photo shows piles of the larger chunks waiting to be spread. (This was done to hold the fabric in place ahead of the remnants of hurricane Beryl passing through). The entire drive got a layer of the large milling pieces. The base is 8 to 10 inches deep in the main section.

Then added the finer 2" and under as the final layer.

It's not going anywhere.

 

[LouNY]

Adding to the thread drift ...

I've become a believer in putting geotextile under a drive.

My original 1400' drive does not have it and gravel over time disappears. It seems to slowly merge into the clay subsoil, in spite of having a 12 to 15 inch deep, 3 layer construction (4-6" base, 2-4" mid, 1" down to fines top layer). It was built in the 80's as a primary road for a sub-division, which was never developed.

I've added a ~400 foot extension using geotextile under the base. Then a build-up of mixed size asphalt millings.

It's still relatively new, but no evidence of merging with the clay underneath and no loss of millings or sinking of the driveway down into the clay subsoil.

At $360 per 12' x 350' roll, it was inexpensive - compared to adding more millings in the future.

(Photo while constructing one section of the extension showing the layers - before final grading and compacting.)View attachment 884983

Seen this several times and places in my area. Even been used in cattle walkways that always turned into muddy muck every spring.
From what I seen over several decades is that when the sub base is clay or hardpan it doesn't matter what type of sub base you put in eventually the sub base disappears and the clay rises.
Many years ago most of the roads in this are had shale sub bases and at times were topped with crushed shale and eventually paved over. What has happened is those roads no longer have any kind of base the shale has decomposed from freeze thaw cycles and road vibrations and is now blue clay.