Driveway Materials?

dlroy101 · Jan 17, 2006

I'm going to use an excavator to have a driveway and landing put in at my property. I had planned on that when getting my tractor (B7800). I didn't want to get a tractor large enough to do the driveway job. I figured somebody with a dozer and other heavy equipment would be able to do a better job regardless. I met with a couple of excavators over the weekend and they both were talking different materials from one another. The first guy suggested all shale or shale as the base with blue stone on top. The second guy wants to use a limestone material he calls dirty tailings. I've had some people including the second guy say that the shale in the area (Hampshire County, Capon Bridge, West Virginia) will break down rather quickly and pretty much just turn to dirt and I'd be back where I started. The second guy also said that the dirty tailings will pack down extremely hard and not be very penetrable by water, so will hold up over the long haul. This is my first experience with this type of thing, so I'm looking for some knowledge from this board. I'm sure it's here.

Thanks,
Darrell

Soundguy · Jan 17, 2006

I'm in florida mind you.. but we used crushed limestone (fines) and they are packed as our finishgrade, over a compacted subgrade of native 'dirt'.. possibily stabilized with a little red clay, or limestone.. though no water laded/absorbing white clays.. they have to be removed if encountered.

For driveways.. materials of choice are a boxed out area containing a clay or limestone base, compacted, then covered with various things.. like gravel, crushed / reclaimed concrete, asphalt millings ( reclaimed asphalt ).. etc.

Real wet areas may need soil cement as a stabilization / subgrade..

A little more to it than that depending on slop, drainage size.. etc.. but those are the basics..

Soundguy

PILOON · Jan 17, 2006

If by 'tailings' you refer to what is called 0-3/4" up here, then that would be everything from dust to 3/4" crushed stone.

An, yes, he is correct. That stuff gets to be almost concrete and does drain well, however the base below it must also be solid and drainage and ditching must be considered as well.

Any clay bases would probably want a larger crushed stone base to act as support. Think in terms of snowshoe.

The last thing you want is to rut the drive during spring thaws.

Recycled (crushed) asphalt is now becoming widely used as well. It packs nicely and tends to stick together somewhat.
We fid it great for steeper grades as it does not wash out like tailings or crushed stone will.

I'd say that a 6" base of 2 inch crushed topped with 3" of tailings or crushed 0-3/4" would make for a topnotch drive in most cases.

KubotaSteve · Jan 17, 2006

I am fairly close to you and my driveway has the shale and crusher run on top.
The base on the driveway is extemely hard and with the crusher run does not allow water to penetrate it. The reason I know that is that I have a few low spots and when it rains, it puddles in those sections.
I was having a problem with my top stone to keep spreading out, so I decided to dig along the edge of the driveway and install a straight line of railroad ties. That digging showed just how good the base was. Even the edges were hard. Plus the benefits of shale is that is costs about a 1/3 of what stone costs. As far as the shale breaking down, that is sort of what you want it to do so it packs better. There are two types of shale though (black and yellow). The black is better for the driveway but the edges can be very sharp. The yellow does breakdown faster but turns to a hard clay like surface.
The only real maintenance that I have is using a drag on the driveway in the spring from where I cleared snow in the winter and maybe gouged the driveway here or there /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

dlroy101 · Jan 17, 2006

The excavator described the dirty tailings as rough limestone with some red clay in it. I believe they dig this stuff up either at the beginning or end of a quarry operation. Anyway, he said it would break up while they were working it in and pack down real hard. He recommended putting down some 21A or Bs or 30Ds on top, which he said would give the driveway a smoother finish and be nicer to drive on.

5030tinkerer · Jan 17, 2006

I know about nothing about driveways, other than I will be needing one. Project will be about 800'. Current ground is agricultural - had soybeans on it last year. I have a Kubota GL3830 HST and will soon have a 6' box blade. Can I do the prep (which I imagine is just removing the material that isn't already hard packed) and spread of top material on this or is there a strong sell towards working with an excavator with a dozer with experience to get things going?

inveresk · Jan 17, 2006

Your machine should do the job. I've managed to build most of my road with a L3130 with 6' box blade. Took five days to scrape about 10 - 12" of topsoil, lay geotextile then about 8" of roadstone and a 3" topping over an area 12' wide and about 200 feet long.

Soon as we get a dry spell, I'll try to finish the remaining 150 feet or so.

I priced an excavator but at $110 CAN/hour and an estimated two days to complete, I decided to save the money and give it the seat time. I also benefited from the experience of trying my hand at building a road for the first time.

5030tinkerer · Jan 17, 2006

Thanks for the confidence boost! I've give it a go after I purchase a box blade. Is that the tool of choice for dirt removal or do I need that as well as a rear blade?

inveresk · Jan 17, 2006

I managed ok with only the box blade although I do have a FEL as well. I used the box blade to scrape the topsoil off and the FEL to move it to the dirt pile. I also needed both to spread the roadstone and topping.

It took a bit of practice to use the tools right and some thought to figure out the best way to go about the job but within a day or so I felt I was in my stride.

The box blade is a must, I'd say, a really great piece of kit that made it fairly easy to leave a good looking job.