Making Gravel Driveways Last

[EddieWalker]

From what I've been told, you need at least 4 inches of gravel at a minimum to do any good at all. The way it was explained to me is that the rock needs to lock together on all sides to gain maximum strength. If it's only 2 or three inches thick, then it will flex or move too much and not lock together.

As for the size, I like a larger rock from up to 2 inches down to fines. The fines are what locks everything together and is the most important part of a good gravel drive.

Eddie

 

[Egon]

Crushed rock with many fracture surfaces and sized so it is of maximum density. This type of material will compact well because of the fracture surfaces.

Pit run or plain rock do not compact.

Egon

 

[inveresk]

I partly agree wtih Egon. Single size material will not compact. You need a variety of sizes including a good deal of fines, preferably with sharp material rather than rounded.

 

[yak651]

We had ours dug down about 10-12" to remove top soil, brought it back up above grade with clay & compacted, then had about 6" of 6" breaker run and then about 4 inches of 3/4" crushed with some ground up asphalt parking lot material packed in. Seemed to pack pretty nice, I'll have to see what it looks like this spring

 

[Highbeam]

Dude, Yak, that's irritating. Can you rid us of that picture? please?

 

[yak651]

sorry, still getting used to this... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[JCS_in_KY]

They've got another mix of gravel they sell, same size as the other 3/8 - 3/4 of an inch but it's got lots of lime powder in it, the quarry tells me that the powder will help it all setup into a better base for a driveway. Have any of you used a mix like that?
John

 

[Highbeam]

So much better. Great picture, but it was so wide....

Thanks bud

 

[Jarrett]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( like I said all they do is just drop the load on whatever surface you happen to have, usually only 2 - 3 inches thick. It looks good but doesn't last long. )</font>

That's pretty much the way it's done down here too. I think I'm going to do it a little different when I get to building my driveway.

 

[JCS_in_KY]

Tomorrow I'll try to take a couple of pictures of my driveway project and post them here.