Help..Quick fix for mud hole in drive?

[BobReeves]

Boy do I have a mess to deal with and not much money. See attached photo. Our drive gets quite a bit of big truck traffic, UPS deliveries, trash truck, propane deliveries etc. With the combination of the drive not being put in properly and the recent rains we have a mess. I need to fix this temporarily until we get the money to dig it out and put in a tin whistle. Getting to the point we may not be able to get out.

In this area water drains across the drive and getting a drain pipe in will eliminate the problem but right now I only have about $300.00 I can throw into this hole to get us by for a couple more months. The only equipment I have access to is the neighbors tractor with a box blade.

Can you guys suggest what I can get hauled in and will I be able to spread/level it with a box blade? Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[MikeBurr]

Have you checked your local dump, they may sometimes have culverts dirt cheap. Our dump always have some that are in good shape, my only problem is that they are mostly to big and too long for my projects.

 

[BobReeves]

The pipe is the cheap part, getting someone with a back hoe and big enough trailer to haul the pipe is the expensive part. Was quoted $800.00 to get the pipe, dig the ditch, put it in and fill in with shale/gravel. Thought that was a fair price but he can't do it until it dries out and we won't have the money until the middle of next month.

Thinking of ordering a load of 3 inch gravel and top it with driveway gravel just not sure I can spread it with a box blade. Did a circular drive close to the house last summer that turned out well but I rented a tractor with a FEL for a week and used the FEL to spread the gravel.

The delivery truck did the best he could to tailgate the gravel but I still ended up with a 3 foot tall pile where he started. Some of these guys are not real good at tailgating and I am afraid I might not be able to spread a big pile with only a BB.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Bob Im not sure about materials cost in your area but the way we fix a soft spot is to drag the mud out an=water with a blade or bucket then add 3inch crushed stone and compact then a layer of red sand and finally 3/4 inch crusher run you could just use the 3 inch rock and crusher run to.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

A box blade will spread 3" stone.

You need to get the area to drain. I bought a 6" piece of schedule 80 PVC (buried 10")to go under my road, but if you have big trucks driving over it, you need something tougher.

Is it suppossed to drain along the side of the road or does the water need to cross it? How much water needs to drain? You may need bigger pipe, and yes it is $$$

3" will help, try a load and spread it. See where you stand. If it fills it, then spread "screened to 1 1/2" gravel with fines" on it.

 

[Bird]

Bob, it's hard for me to tell from that picture just what size culvert you need, or how much digging would be necessary, but I helped a neighbor put in a "culvert" for a similar problem using nothing but a single 6" PVC pipe, a little dirt, and crushed rock. I know it's lasted for several years without showing any signs of deterioration. And on my brother's drive, we used two 4" ABS pipes, side by side, and neither the daily UPS truck, the LPG delivery truck, nor his Matco tool truck ever did any damage to it.

 

[MarkV]

Bob, I think the guys are on to a temporary fix to get you through for awhile. A stick or two of heavy wall 6” PVC should not cost that much and with a load of crushed gravel packed in tight around the pipe it will carry more weight than you would think. I would go with crushed gravel with fines so it can be compacted well around the pipe. Sounds like a job the box blade and some hand work could do.

MarkV

 

[goodoleboy]

hey , I know a guy that will give you all the rock you want.You have to laod it by hand though, not to bad as your only handling smaller rocks or bigger ones can be broken up with a sledge. Its about 30 minutes from Inola past Claremore.

IM me if interested.

 

[JerryG]

Bob,
I am real fan of swells. It looks like the area is lower on the right side of the picture, is that right?

 

[Currmudgeon]

I'm not seeing a place to put culverts. The road surface is pretty much at grade. But I notice that the road rolls up and down, and the water is in the low spots. <duh> Getting those low spots drained will be a key to your road longevity.

Can you ditch along each side and drain that water to somewhere? You may need to put in cross culverts between the ditches at the low spots, to get the water across the road. But without some kind of ditches, there's nowhere for the culverts to drain to.

The soft spots themselves can be beefed up by cutting out the muck, putting down geofabric, and backfilling with three or four inch stone, then top dressing with some road stone.

The minimum job is a lot of work. The ditching job looks like a helluva lot of work.

 

[Varmintmist]

Looks to me like you have a little pitch in the grade. The right side is lower correct?

If that is the case then you either have to get the pipe way out in the field to the right to get a 10-12 in pipe to drain, or put in a smaller pipe.

How much water do you get? Do you need to put in a culvert at all or can you ditch it later?

If you dont get much water normaly and you want a quick fix. Drag the mud out and toss in a 4-6 in sced 40 pvc. Backfill with stone and cover with modified. As long as the pipe is covered 1/2 its diameter it will hold the weight. Sced 80 would be better but this is a temp fix. 40 will hold and its cheaper.

As for needing a backhoe, there are these short manualy operated ones sold every day, pick-maddoc's /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif If you need to get it trenched, they work. Not near as fun as watching a backhoe, but they will move dirt. If you are only going with a 4-6-8 in pipe, the deepest you need to go in 12 in. The bottom of that mud puddle in close to that now.

If you dont want to pipe it, get the mud out and fill it with 3in and top it with modified. Or just fill it with threes and let the mud come up through.

Long term, you will have to steer the water away from your drive. Either by ditching, putting a swale on the high side, or grading it into a culvert. If you leave the water in the drive, you will keep having this problem.

 

[DocHeb]

If you have some of those nefarious cedars from the Texas area, cut a mess of 4-5" cedars as long as the drive is wide and lay them parallel across the drive. A little bumpy, but you will get across.

 

[Deerlope]

1 tandem load of # 3 crushed stone smoothed out to let whatever drives in &out get over it will make a good temporary fix. Been there done that. Let the delivery trucks pack it.

 

[BobReeves]

Was up early working on the drive and hadn't checked the forum until now. Wow where do I start, thanks for the tips gang all good ideas. Goodolboy, thanks for the rock offer but think we are OK now. Had a load of 3 inch dumped in the hole, managed to get it pretty level and then had two loads of 1 1/2 crusher run dumped in the drive. Am getting pretty good with that old MF 135 and box blade. The 3 inch looked a bit intimidating with 5 foot mounds but I just backed into the pile and slowly managed to get it spread.

After doing this I think I will go back to plan A. The area on both sides of the mud hole are low. If we get any rain at all I have standing water on both sides. The water on the right drains across the drive to a shallow natural pond on the left. Plan A is ditches down both sides to the street which has a ditch lower than the standing water. Will try to remember to get a picture tomorrow.