Locking stone on steep drive

Robbie · Mar 21, 2002

I'd like some suggestions on locking stone on a 30 degree road. I currently have two courses of road bond down and lightly packed. The gravel loosens-up and is just about un-navigatable by two wheel drive autos after light grading with a box blade or back-blading with my tractor's FEL.

I've heard that a light casting of Portland cement will help solve the problem. Is this true? Any particular application techniques? Any other ideas.

Thank you!

beenthere · Mar 21, 2002

It is very difficult to get a good gravel drive with a light grading. I only will grade when I can move the top 3" by blading it to the sides and back, then spreading it into a new mat and packing it with the tires of car or truck. I like to work the fines into the larger material, and bond everything together. If the newly spread gravel is not packed immediately, then the fines dry out, and the first rain washes them away, leaving the larger washed material (marbles) on top. Grading to a 3" depth will take care of washboarding too.
Any light grading will just roll the 'marbles' around on top, making a rolling material under tires, and if on a grade or a curve, will work that marble material off to the side quickly. I suspect these york rakes also just move the marbles around on top, and do not mix the fines in with the larger materials.
Another thing that I have done, if I get too many loose 'marbles' on top, is to scrape off the loose material on top and haul it off somewhere other than on the drive surface.

MossRoad · Mar 21, 2002

We had gravel for years when I was a kid and it just kept pushing out and rolling around. My dad found out about slag from the steel mills and that is what we have used ever since. It is very rough and irregularly shaped and tends to lock together well. Do you have access to this in your area? I recommend testing it out if you do.

jhburke · Mar 22, 2002

I have been told for gravel drives to go to the quarry and get a load of fines. This is the dust like residue of the limestone. Spread this on you drive and wet it down real good. It acts like cement and really tightens up the rock.

Darren · Apr 6, 2002

Try the fines spread on top and look at the road during a heavy rain. Wherever you have water flowing on the road you have to intercept it and keep it off. Otherwise you'll always have problems.

jyoutz · Apr 6, 2002

Robbie, I know that you won't want to hear this, but really a steep uphill road is impossible to maintain. The only good solution is to re-route the drive on a contour and then cut some rolling dips (rolling grades) into the road whereever the grade changes.

Darren · Apr 7, 2002

A steep road can be maintained you just need to be the energizer bunny because you're going to be doing it again and again and .... The key is doing something about the water. Worse case if you are on rock is you may have to put in traverse drains. Places that sell metal culvert can special order culvert with a drop drain built in. On a steep road you'd need to break out a large enough channel across the road to embed the culvert in concrete with just the drain sticking up far enough to be level with the gravel when installed.

The drain itself would have concreteflush with the top on both sides so traffic wouldn't mash it. Enough drains would have to be installed to keep the water from getting enough strength to wash out the gravel. If you can ditch along side the road fine. You can run to a culvert that passes the water under the road.

jyoutz · Apr 7, 2002

Darren, I would agree with you, but I think that unless it's not possible, it's always better to design and contruct a proper contour road with switchback. You don't see engineers designing straight uphill runs at a steep grade.

Darren · Apr 7, 2002

There's obvious differences when it comes to the money a state can spend as compared to the average property owner. To build a normal grade road into my place would involve some serious rock removal. Just to put in a water line up the hill required jackhammering out three foot of rock 3 or 4" at a time. You'd have to take out more than that to replace the road that was cut up the side of a ravine. I'm on solid rock in most places.

On one stretch, I probably have about a thirty degree slope. I get a fair amount of practice using the 5600 to pull trucks up the grade when the weather is bad. I'd love to have a better road but it'd be much longer and cost a ton of money to build. Good engineering practice is great if you have lots of money.

The eye opener here is that the road was probably put in when the house was built in the 1860's. There're "roads" on this place that I've had to winch a truck up that were used by horse and wagons.