Gravel Road Grading

[docone]

I've found the box blade works well if you lift the front cutting edge about one half inch above the surface, and let your 3pt all the way down, the rear edge will smooth as you go. The big secret is the speed of travel, SLOWER is BETTER! I have successfully takes the swales out of my 650 ft gravel drive in just a few passes. Box blade work requires lots of practice, BE PATIENT, and you will suceed.

JMHO

 

[NoTrespassing]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still working on the drive. The part in question is used by two other households and we're formulating a plan. We've purchased driveway fabric at a cost of about $800 and plan to put 4 inches of roadpac/crushed stone on top of the fabric. This is on the advice of a local contractor.

Thoughts?

Kevin

 

[dmccarty]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still working on the drive. The part in question is used by two other households and we're formulating a plan. We've purchased driveway fabric at a cost of about $800 and plan to put 4 inches of roadpac/crushed stone on top of the fabric. This is on the advice of a local contractor.

Thoughts?

Kevin

When I built our driveway, I put down geotextile fabric and it works wonders. The only problem with it is that you want to lay it as flat as possible and if you have to regrade later, you have to be very careful to not dig down and catch the fabric. If you do, it will pull up out of the gravel and you will have to rebury it. I use a pick axe to loosen the gravel along with a pointed and straight shovel. Not a big deal but you hate it when it happens.

I built our driveway over two time periods. The first phase I only put down 2-4 inches of gravel on top of the fabric. The idea was that when the house was finished we would put down a few more inches of gravel to repair the driveway from construction damage. The problem was that there was no damage from the house construction so we did not add gravel. We NEED gravel because the first section of driveway is at grade so we have water run off problems in very HEAVY rains. I had to use the hard rake, pick axe, and two shovels to do some repairs over the weekend. Anyway, we need a few more inches of gravel to raise the driveway above grade to help solve the water run off issue.

The second phase was built after the house was completed and the fabric has 4-6 inches of gravel and is in perfect shape.

Our driveway is 11-12 years old at this point and I think this year we will add the extra gravel.

Some of the erosion on the first phase of the driveway is in a steep turn and quite a bit of the stone washed away even though the fabric was still covered. You could walk on that part of the driveway and feel the mushy clay we have moving under the fabric. My neighbors do not have fabric, and with less driveway and a flatter slope, they have much worse erosion. Once we put down enough gravel to get the driveway above grade our water erosion issues will go away.

No way could we have gone over a decade without additional gravel if we had not used fabric.

Later,
Dan

 

[RDrancher]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still working on the drive. The part in question is used by two other households and we're formulating a plan. We've purchased driveway fabric at a cost of about $800 and plan to put 4 inches of roadpac/crushed stone on top of the fabric. This is on the advice of a local contractor.

Thoughts?

Kevin

I recommend a minimum of 6" of gravel over the geo. You'll lose 1" to 1.5" in thickness with compaction.

 

[PILOON]

A standard rear blade turned completely around with the cutting edge reversed will do a great job. That way it doesn't dig in.

Yep, done that more than a few times.
Also rigged that way driving in reverse does a good job of scalping the highs and filling the lows because the 4 wheels are on flat surface and the blade 'scalps' the bumps. Just like a grader.

And for a 'pretty finish' drive kinda fast dragging that reversed blade and you'd swear somebody hand raked the finish.

 

[Pirate]

All I have ever used is my back blade reversed. Seems to do a great job. Problem is driveway is real steep so when some cars drive up too fast or in drive instead of low, they dig ruts. Right now we are having a massive internal debate of whether or not to concrete our steep portion which is 300'. That will leave about 300' before it from the road and gravel all around the house.

 

[PILOON]

All I have ever used is my back blade reversed. Seems to do a great job. Problem is driveway is real steep so when some cars drive up too fast or in drive instead of low, they dig ruts. Right now we are having a massive internal debate of whether or not to concrete our steep portion which is 300'. That will leave about 300' before it from the road and gravel all around the house.

The answer to that is to inform everyone to shift to LOW at the bottom of that slope.
You will notice the problems come at or about where the automatic tranny shifts. Starts with a few loose stones and exaggerates at every shift.
Climb in low and no problems.

One good solution (if available) is crushed or chipped re cycled asphalt as a topping, Much better than concrete ,which by the way, would need and armature or mesh to stabilize that concrete.

Around here even our city is using re cycled asphalt on all our hills as so far (like 5 years) no problems.
Heat re-cooks and binds it back to a flexible road bed surface. Best installed early summer to let sun do its job. Best advantage is that water no longer erodes the finish.

 

[dmccarty]

I recommend a minimum of 6" of gravel over the geo. You'll lose 1" to 1.5" in thickness with compaction.

I agree. While I did not do this on the first phase of the driveway I did in the second phase. Though 6 inches seems to have worked just fine on the "newer" part of the driveway.

Later,
Dan