gravel driveway refresh

[Backup]

Thanks guys, this is the info I was looking for.

 

[Farwell]

The railroad ties have creosote as a contaminate and the railroad folks use a product similar, if not the same, to Agent Orange to control plant growth along the tracks. Not sure I would want that in my driveway.
Farwell

 

[snoboy]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...3460722-gravel-driveway-refresh-trap-rock.jpg

I Washington we call that 1 1/4 mius. Meaning it's screened to nothing larger than 1 1/4.

 

[gemini5362]

I have a question. I have a new driveway from where I built a garage on to my house. Although I live in the mountains there is a couple of spots that are soft and I want to get a solid base before I pour a concrete driveway accross the soft spots. I have an option of going down to a local creek and getting river rocks which are kind of flat and about 2 inches across. I can take my FEL down to them and load them in my trailer since it is only about a mile down to the creek. Would those work ok instead of getting smaller gravel ?

 

[dirtworksequip]

I would not want to use large rock because you will get voids between them.
go with material that can be compacted. Are the soft spots caused by being wet or where they just not compacted when you made the driveway?

 

[Rob-D]

Packing it seems like a very good idea. If I remember correctly someone said you could stone and oil a drive and it would be like blacktop. I don't know the process but that's what they do on some of the dirt country roads up here.

I thought the trick was to put larger stone under the top finish so the water would drain through and wash to the sides from the middle bank.

 

[dirtworksequip]

If you have a wet spot, then yes you can put larger stone to act as a french drain to get rid of the water. It would have to be constructed as to drain out of the road base. If you simply put large rocks in a hole in the roadbed it will trap water in the hole. The water must have a way out.

 

[Rob-D]

Yes, that is what I was trying to relay. That if you ran a larger stone under your finish stone on the complete driveway it would allow the water to vent off the roadway and out the sides of the drive.

I heard of people running stone grates across the drive every 50 or 100 feet on steep drives. The hope would be that the rushing water would hit the grate and run to the side before it accumulated to much speed. Has anyone seen this or tried it?

 

[dirtworksequip]

Out West on National Forest roads they use water breaks. You take two 2x6's up on edge with a 2x4 bottom. Making a U-shaped trough.This trough extends the full width of the road at an angle to give it some drop. Then its buried in the roadway to catch water as it runs down the road and diverts it off the road. The U-shape trough is reinforced on the inside with samll daimeter pipe with several nails thru the pipe along the top of the U.( The pipe acts as a spacer to keep the top of the U from bending in.

 

[bluetc30]

i did my road that i have up next to the lake some flooding occurs during heavy rains i used 3/4 roadbase at 6 inches thick after it is put down it wears like iron almost like it was paved and it packs well had a 10 wheel dump ride over while it was being spread and the truck didnt sink into it and it plowws great