I think I have screwed up on my Gravel Drive
- Thread starter MileHiGuy
- Start date
- Views: 8388
Avery11
Bronze Member
Contact your local landscaper. Most do snow work in the winter. They can deliver a load of sand and spread it fairly evenly by making a couple trips up and back with their spreader. Do a load and give it a few weeks. You can add more but tough to take it away. We use a lot of the stuff you have here in the northeast. If it is washed, it will take the fines pretty quick and if you don't overdo it, your stow-aways should be minimal.
Depending on how much area you have to work with, and the length of the drive, you might consider removing and stock piling half of it. Then the thinner layer can get compacted into the base and you can gradually add to areas as needed, from the pile.
dodge man
Super Star Member
If it were me, this is what I'd do. Regular gravel with the fines in it packs in good, but like you are concerned about, when it gets wet it can make a mess. There are certain times around here, mostly when the frost leaves the ground, even a firm driveway just gets really soft. I'd rather deal with the loose gravel problem than have the mess. This is the biggest reason I paved my driveway.
Egon
Epic Contributor
Fines can be mixed in. Make sure the fines are also properly graded for compaction.
To mix existing with fines an angled blade(grader) can roll windrows of the materials back and forth. This will mix it well.
To help keep fines from tracking add a little lime in the walking area.
teejk
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2012
- Messages
- 1,775
- Location
- Merrillan, WI
- Tractor
- JD 2020, IH CC 1250, Ariens 926 Snowthrower
Let it sit for a while and deal with it...your snow plow guy/gal will be your best friend (on his/her equipment). After a season or two you will likely find a few piles of excess material that you can use to fill in the holes. Granite is pretty hard stuff (we live in the part of the state where the last glaciers departed...those rivers are still here and the boulders don't seem to have eroded at all). Patience is required...
DrRod
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2005
- Messages
- 881
- Tractor
- John Deere 4110
Probably not an option for you but by way of general information . . .
In my part of PA everyone uses slate. There are slate banks all over the place and you just get a load [or scoop it with your tractor FEL if close by] and spread it on the driveway [any type of back blade will work]. It packs down quickly and lasts for years, even decades. Even the loggers use it for surfacing their access roads. Costs about $65 for a dump truck load and goes a long way. Only drawback is that there's always some bigger chunks in it that have very sharp edges. While these break up over time, they can cut a tire -- speaking from experience.
In my part of PA everyone uses slate. There are slate banks all over the place and you just get a load [or scoop it with your tractor FEL if close by] and spread it on the driveway [any type of back blade will work]. It packs down quickly and lasts for years, even decades. Even the loggers use it for surfacing their access roads. Costs about $65 for a dump truck load and goes a long way. Only drawback is that there's always some bigger chunks in it that have very sharp edges. While these break up over time, they can cut a tire -- speaking from experience.
CurlyDave
Elite Member
The pictures I see are not 3/4" minus or 1/2" minus. Around here they are what would be called "crushed clean" where the fines have been washed out of the rock.
I would check the invoice the see what the quarry thought they delivered and take a sample back to ask them what you actually got.
As others have said, the fines are what make the rock pack together, and what you got has no fines at all in it.
* * * * * *
For rock like this, what is called the packing fraction is usually about 61%. This means that in a given volume of rock, say one cubic foot, 61% of the volume would be occupied by rock, and 39% would be air spaces. This can vary a bit depending on shape, size distribution, etc. but is a good starting point. Fines, which have a wide size distribution will almost completely fill the interstices (air spaces).
If you originally got 200 tons of rock you would need 200 x (.39/.61) = 127.8 tons of fines to completely fill the interstices. Since sand is usually screened to a small range of mesh sizes, you would need less sand, but it would not be as effective.
* * * * * * *
If the quarry made a mistake in what they delivered, they should help you fix it.
If you really ordered crushed clean material, I would start with getting one truckload of fines delivered in a short section as far from the house as possible and washing it in with a sprinkler. If that works repeat as necessary along the entire length of the driveway.
* * * * * * * *
When we built our house, I had seen the tracking issues other people had, and put a concrete apron 25' wide in front of the garage and 40+ feet in front of all the man doors into the house. Our driveway is topped with 3/4 minus about 4" thick and we have no tracking issues, from cars into the garage, from people into the house or from our 2 labradors and 1 golden retriever.
toppop52
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2011
- Messages
- 10,619
- Location
- Eastern Shore of Maryland
- Tractor
- Massey Ferguson 1723, Cub Cadet 1864
I love my clam shells, pretty white and pack like concrete, but not practical in the mountains.
It sounds like it is too thick. Thick gravel can't really compact because as you have seen when tires go across it they can sink down and just push the gravel up and around the tires. Angular gravel is hard to find here and people use a lot of this small 3/8" round gravel on their drives here because it is what is available close by. I hate it and prefer crushed asphalt but I have seen first hand if you put the round stuff down really thin it kind of works but if you get several inches of it you have a mess and will sink in and leave ruts.
I really don't know what your best solution is but adding something might help I just don't know what. Maybe call some material suppliers in your area, explain your problem, and see if they have any solutions. I have seen caliche roads that were like driving on sand but after being wetted and packed they were like concrete. The problem with rock is it doesn't like dirt does. Sure you can compact the individual pieces together but you can't get it wet and and compact it like you can with say dirt. I think adding some type of finer material and incorporating it in to the gravel would help but get some advice from someone more knowledgable than me before trying it.
I really don't know what your best solution is but adding something might help I just don't know what. Maybe call some material suppliers in your area, explain your problem, and see if they have any solutions. I have seen caliche roads that were like driving on sand but after being wetted and packed they were like concrete. The problem with rock is it doesn't like dirt does. Sure you can compact the individual pieces together but you can't get it wet and and compact it like you can with say dirt. I think adding some type of finer material and incorporating it in to the gravel would help but get some advice from someone more knowledgable than me before trying it.