gravel driveway refresh

[oscer]

Interesting debate.

My drive is about 650 feet long with about a 10 degree slope towards the bottom. In my upstae NY area we get some wicked rain and after a couple of years it starts to 'grove'. I'm wondering what to put down.

Also has anyone tried those water filled rollers from Northern? Are they any good for anything besides your lawn after you've seeded it?

I havn't tried one of theirs, some are steel some plastic. I made one out of an old 52 gal water heater tank and filled it with concrete. I figure it weighs about 1100 lbs. When I put a new stone driveway in this spring I rolled it and you could see the results but it didn't pack as well as I had hoped. I used course shale for the base and 3/4" stone with dust (its called 2rc here) for the top coat.
'

 

[jimmy1]

Interesting debate.

My drive is about 650 feet long with about a 10 degree slope towards the bottom. In my upstae NY area we get some wicked rain and after a couple of years it starts to 'grove'. I'm wondering what to put down.

Also has anyone tried those water filled rollers from Northern? Are they any good for anything besides your lawn after you've seeded it?

When I did my drive 2 years ago I rented a riding packer with a vibrating feature. I do not remember the size but it was quite large and it did a wounderful job.

Jim

 

[Rob-D]

I havn't tried one of theirs, some are steel some plastic. I made one out of an old 52 gal water heater tank and filled it with concrete. I figure it weighs about 1100 lbs. When I put a new stone driveway in this spring I rolled it and you could see the results but it didn't pack as well as I had hoped. I used course shale for the base and 3/4" stone with dust (its called 2rc here) for the top coat.
'

You would think 1100 lbs. would make a significant mark. What was the width of it? I guess it depends on how much that weight is spread over. It's like needle point high heeled shoes. The force is tremendous.

 

[HomeBrew2]

Attached is a list of rock sizes. Sorry I don't have a reference for it but it was easy to find with a Yahoo search. Around here, rubber tire rollers work well, ie, heavy vehicle with over inflated (non-agressive) tires.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Here are the stone sizing standards: #57 is 1 -1/4 3/4 and 1/2 inch.
#8 is 1/2 inch.
2A Modified is 1 inch w/ fines.
#1 Ballast is 4 inch.
#3 Ballast is 3 inch.

Also GRAVEL comes from a lake,stream or river.
STONE comes from a quarry. (limestone-granite-sandstone)
SLAG comes from a mill.
All of the above come in the same standard sizes.

Backup, if you are just adding material to the top and want a nice look, go with #8's or 57's. Also stay away from the material with fines as the fines turn to mud when wet, unless slag is available in your area. The slag fines will not turn to mud as Slag is a manmade product.
What the railroad uses is probably too coarse for your needs unless you are adding to your base and then topping with a finer stone. Also most railroad ballast has a certain amount of contaminants from laying on the railroad bed for years. Chemical cars oozing who knows what. plus oil-diesel fuel,ect.

 

[Slacker]

I use "ABC" aka "crusher run" or "crush and run" on my 1.5 mile drive. It doesn't fill in holes well, but smooths out and packs nice.

 

[thingy]

That crusher run fine stuff works real good at first,,than the water washes grooves in it,,and washes it period,,,just plain ole crused stone about the size of a peanut is best,,it won't wash much,,and its not too big,,about once every 4-7 years you got to do it again any ways,,takes less next time,,thingy

 

[oscer]

If I remember correctly it is 53" wide.You dont have any trouble seein' where you ran your last pass but I'm sure the thing Jimmy used would be a lot better for packing stone.

 

[fenneran]

Interesting debate.

My drive is about 650 feet long with about a 10 degree slope towards the bottom. In my upstae NY area we get some wicked rain and after a couple of years it starts to 'grove'. I'm wondering what to put down.

Also has anyone tried those water filled rollers from Northern? Are they any good for anything besides your lawn after you've seeded it?

Our driveway is about 1,800 ft long with two hills. We've always used milled roadbed on the drive as it was the cheapest, but on the hills I have to constantly scrape it back up after a couple of rains. Last summer when I had it re-done (after about 5 years of use), the guys used a vibrating compactor on it. Man, what a difference. It's almost like blacktop now. We've had some significant rains and made it through the winter and the hills are just now starting to need a scraping.

Whatever rock you choose to go with, I highly recommend a vibrating compactor if there is any grade at all to the drive.

 

[dirtworksequip]

The main trick to keep from getting potholes is to keep it dry. Grade it so the water will run off and not lay on the road. Once water softens the road a hole will start and just keep getting bigger. Keep it dry and you will have no trouble with postholes.