Driveway/sidewalk options other than concrete or asphalt? What border?

[ShowroomShine]

Building my house, I will do a concrete pad near the garage, however I dont want to pay to concrete or pave the long driveway I will have.

Other than the obvious gravel, what options for a driveway do I have? I would like to put some sort of border in place to keep the driveway located, maybe railroad ties or similar? My main concern with the driveway is aesthetics, followed by dust. I want it to look good, and be dust free for the most part.

What have you done? Pictures?

 

[s219]

We did concrete apron with exposed aggregate (dark gray) around the garage, and then crusher run for the 700' driveway. Dust hasn't been a real issue, but perhaps that is due to the fact that we get enough of rain in this area. I did not edge it with anything and don't think it's needed. When the crusher run locks up and sets, it isn't going anywhere. It's like concrete almost. I have about 200' of the driveway adjacent to a grassy area that I mow, and rarely ever have to worry about stone getting in the grass. In fact I think edging would just add a complication and probably be more trouble than the actual gravel. As long as it's not loose gravel, it should stay put.

For our sidewalk up to the house, I laid down flagstone (a ton pallet was $300 or so and did about 25' long 3-4' wide). I then spread #8 gravel between the stones to fill in. I may add a little more gravel this summer (after 3 years) to fill in some spots between the flagstone where things settled. I'll see if I can dig up a pic later on. The only downside with the flagstone sidewalk is snow removal in winter. I normally skim over it with a shovel best I can, and then need the sun to do the rest.

 

[txdon]

Since you have not ruled out pavers, here is a pick of my circular drive with cement curbing. No dust. Doing a section at a time it is not overwhelming. After the forms were set, I got the pouring of the curbing down to 3min a foot with a home depot mixer and a wheelbarrow. I bought the bags of cement a pallet (42) at a time and could throw them in the mixer from the pallet reducing the number of times I had to handle them.

 

[ShowroomShine]

Since you have not ruled out pavers, here is a pick of my circular drive with cement curbing. No dust. Doing a section at a time it is not overwhelming. After the forms were set, I got the pouring of the curbing down to 3min a foot with a home depot mixer and a wheelbarrow. I bought the bags of cement a pallet (42) at a time and could throw them in the mixer from the pallet reducing the number of times I had to handle them.

Holy cow, that looks great. Also, holy cow that looks like a TON of work.

I think pavers are out for me, driveway will be 300-400ft long.

 

[EddieWalker]

When you add up the numbers, you'll find that it's very hard to beat concrete for anything other then gravel. Railroad ties will add up quickly. When placed on the dirt, they rot out quickly, so replacing them is never ending. Rocks might be an option for a border if you can get them for free.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

You couldn't pay me to border a gravel driveway. If you can't afford asphalt or concrete, either crusher run or blacktop millings.

 

[joefromga]

Ditto on the rotting railroad ties. Probably depends on the area but where I live they rot in a few years and are crumbs when you have to replace them. They're meant to sit on railroad gravel and stay dry.

Landscape timbers that are treated may last longer but still will rot eventually.

Dig down, bring larger gravel then smaller up to grade and use the grass edges as a border. Will hold in and with crush and run on top will pack well.

 

[teejk]

Kinda depends on what materials you have locally. We are granite chips here and dust is not a problem (one of my previous houses in a different part of the state was limestone and yeah...dust was a problem). A good base of "breaker run" topped by smaller stone is what we did. Took a few years to settle but then we brought in more. I guess sooner or later I'll rent a bobcat to level it back out but not a big problem now. You are looking at a very long run there and whatever you decide is going to be $$$! Border??? A good gravel guy will be able to lay it down pretty good. From there we keep it trimmed with a mower (a little Weed B Gone sometimes). I know in some parts of the country they use "chip-coating" which is essentially pea gravel over a layer of hot tar but I don't know if you save much over asphalt.

 

[s219]

Here are a couple pics of our sidewalk. First shows the flagstones laid out and arranged, and second shows the #8 gravel filling in the cracks. I later lined the edges with gabion stone, but don't have a pic of that.

 

[PILOON]

Very popular around here is re cycled asphalt or millings.
If laid down on a decent base and early spring or summer the sun will fuse it back to pavement status very adequate for a driveway.
Generally it is less expensive than crushed stone and does a better job.

Heavy rain will wash crushed stone while millings don't move. Even our city uses millings on all the hilly sections of our 'dirt' roads as it is maintenance free.They put down about 6 inches and compact it.

I did my hilly drive with crushed/millings some 15 years ago and other than some frost pushed stones causing 'bumps' it has stood the test of time. My compaction was simply the last truckload driving back and forth with bald tires. Today most guys will rent a roller for better results.