Driveway - Gravel vs Coarse Asphalt

[Haoleguy]

All - Thank you for the suggestions and feedback. I will have the gravel drive graded again in the short term and plan to move to having it paved later. The paving will be required by the town when we build a new house on the property. It appears that layers of landscape fabric, gravel, and airport/fine base asphalt is a good cost effective way to construct a long driveway....Cheers

 

[Junkman]

Mine was done with asphalt that is graded "State Mix Base". This is the product that is used on the highways. I had a base coat installed 10 years ago, and it is still in good condition. I intend on having the top coat done this summer. Again, they will put down state mix which is courser than the normal driveway mix, but holds up better. The reason is that some huge rocks/boulders have been pushing up from underneath and have caused some large bumps. They will be excavated out beforehand. Then a leveling coat will be applied and rolled before the final top coat is done. When I installed the original roadway with gravel 20 years ago, we stripped away the top soil and bulldozed down 2 feet to remove all the larger rocks. Then put 18" of gravel on top of the area that was bulldozed and replaced. That meant that there should have been no rocks/boulders for the top 42", but with the extremely cold winters that we have had in the past few years, more have come to the surface.

 

[Tevi]

Instead of fabric get used carpet.It's free and they'll bring it to you

 

[roccon31]

junkman, what type of gravel did you use? if you used 18" of the 1" or smaller crushed stone for your base, over time, the mud can actually push up through the small stone from frost heaving and excessive ground moisture. this could be part of your problem. we like to use a ballast (4") stone about 6-8" thick, then roll it, then use the 6" of 1" and smaller crushed stone (quarry process, 2A modified, surepac, whatever) on top of that, roll it, then pave it. the ballast keeps the mud from coming up through the stones. there is a BIG difference in the durability if the ballast is used. especially if truck traffic (if customer has oil heat, or a dumpster) is involved.

again, there is a big difference in materials from area to area. we are pretty fortunate in that extremely durable stone (argillite) is readily available. most areas are not so lucky.

 

[MMH]

as was posted, the binder is "ID3" here in PA. each state has different mixes. basically it is a mixture of the 3/4" base mix, and the 1/2" top mix. it also is a "wetter" mixture, meaning it has more tar in it than base.

our base for roads 4" ballast stone, then 3/4" modified stone, then 3/4" base, then binder which is a mix of top and base, then our top is 1/2". usually 2-3" per layer. the only thing i have ever used 1/4" top on is a tennis court. 1/4" top would crumble on our roads with the amount of frost heaving we have.

Sounds like a recipe for a decent driveway...

 

[Joel888]

If your state is using the Superpave Method for asphalt mix design you may hear the "binder mix" mix called I 19.0 mm or RI 19.0 mm ( r mean recycled which some do charge less for) its the same thing just means a minimum 10% is passing the 3/4 or 19mm sieve on asphalt design.