Gravel Drive width?

[Garandman]

Garandman, you're site looks almost exactly like mine, except my circular drive has an island of (4) Loblolly pines, and (1) White Pine. I wasn't excited about the amount of soil and trees that were initially removed, but after driving my truck in and around the site, quickly realized that elbow room is good!

Those were Red Oaks, shallowly rooted in topsoil, and with the power line going right through them. :confused2: Just finished splitting the last of it this week: stuff takes a long time to dry but burns great.

 

[s219]

Looks good USAFpj! All this talk brings back some memories:



Evrything filled in by 1-2 years:



Now I am always looking for creative ways to mow the shoulders and ditches!

 

[USAFpj]

Beautiful! And thanks for the visual reaffirmation! Pretty scary right now, as I've owned (6) different homes in the last 20yrs, but this one is our last home and is being put on my Dad's property. All immediate and extended family members are excited and ask endless questions, but this whole idea is scaring the crap out of me- reminds me of getting married, know what I mean?:2cents:

Although young at 40, this is a constant reminder that this is the house you'll be carried out of, and whatever you change to the floor plan now, may echo unfavorably when I'm much older and not able to perhaps maintain. Kinda fun, but definitely not as excited as the others around me

 

[s219]

Boy do I know the feeling. Between the cost and the effort involved in moving and settling at our new house, I plan it to be my last, so I was very deliberate with all the plans, site work, and construction. I told my wife I plan to die in this house, but hopefully not because the house itself kills me.

We do have two floors and stairs with master on 2nd floor. Hopefully the stairs will keep me young. If that ever becomes an issue, I can see blowing some of my retirement savings on a stair lift (or elevator if I am eccentric and rich when I'm old).

One thing I am realizing after two years here is that we left a relatively simple low-maintenance house and lifestyle in the suburbs for a more complex house and lifestyle in the country with waterfront. My responsibilities have gone up by 10X it feels like. I'm in my mid 40s now and can handle it, but hopefully the workload will start to taper off as I get older, so that I can actually enjoy the location. Right now it keeps me busy. I spend more time doing projects and rarely get to enjoy them. Will be nice to run out of projects and maybe have time to relax and enjoy the results. Simple stuff like sitting on the porch that up to now I have mainly just spent time building and finishing. And I have many hundreds of hours into building my dock, but only about 60 hours on my boat motor. Need to get to the other side of the tunnel....

 

[dstig1]

S219 +1 on that!

I wonder how long it will be until I am "done" enough to actually enjoy my place... And I mean that in years...

 

[workinallthetime]

so with all of your miles of gravel driveways what would be the best suggestion for a sandy loam base site? driveway is excavated 6 inches deep at least and varies from a 20 foot entrance to a 12foot funnel then back to a 30 foot parking area. sub soil is solid however the recent freak storms here have created a 2 inch level of surface mud.

 

[s219]

so with all of your miles of gravel driveways what would be the best suggestion for a sandy loam base site? driveway is excavated 6 inches deep at least and varies from a 20 foot entrance to a 12foot funnel then back to a 30 foot parking area. sub soil is solid however the recent freak storms here have created a 2 inch level of surface mud.

Unless there are extraordinary circumstances, I'd put down coarse gravel (#3 here) and then top with crusher run. With sandy loam, drainage should not be a real concern, and you probably won't need geotextile fabric underneath the #3. But site conditions will tell you -- if there are any areas that get soft, you might want fabric to keep the #3 from sinking.

I have one neighbor with very well drained soil, and all he did was put down crusher run over the scraped-off topsoil. Against my expectation, it has done just fine. I think he later added #3 in one soft spot, but the vast majority is just crusher run directly on the subsoil, and has done fine.

 

[workinallthetime]

Unless there are extraordinary circumstances, I'd put down coarse gravel (#3 here) and then top with crusher run. With sandy loam, drainage should not be a real concern, and you probably won't need geotextile fabric underneath the #3. But site conditions will tell you -- if there are any areas that get soft, you might want fabric to keep the #3 from sinking.

I have one neighbor with very well drained soil, and all he did was put down crusher run over the scraped-off topsoil. Against my expectation, it has done just fine. I think he later added #3 in one soft spot, but the vast majority is just crusher run directly on the subsoil, and has done fine.

Been a few years since this project was finished so I thought an update would be nice.
I have an endless supply of shale here on the property which I used as a base for the road, the shale base was used to fill low areas (2 draw crossings) as well as provide a stable base 6 to 8 inches below grade. We brought about 22 loads of crusher run to top off the shale which packed in very nicely. Maintenance has been done with a box blade every three months or so just to pull the larger pieces back to the main tracks and maintain the arch for drainage. We are to the point now where I would like to top-dress the entire drive with 3/4" which will make the drive smoother and more aesthetically pleasing.

 

[fried1765]

Been a few years since this project was finished so I thought an update would be nice.
I have an endless supply of shale here on the property which I used as a base for the road, the shale base was used to fill low areas (2 draw crossings) as well as provide a stable base 6 to 8 inches below grade. We brought about 22 loads of crusher run to top off the shale which packed in very nicely. Maintenance has been done with a box blade every three months or so just to pull the larger pieces back to the main tracks and maintain the arch for drainage. We are to the point now where I would like to top-dress the entire drive with 3/4" which will make the drive smoother and more aesthetically pleasing.

3/4 minus will work much better than washed 3/4.
The 3/4 minus will pack like concrete, the washed 3/4 will migrate as vehicles travel over it.

 

[Egon]

If you got shale spread more and then use a vibratory drum toothed packer on it till you have the size shale you want. There will be it’s of fines to lock it together.