New Driveway Construction

redman135 · Sep 22, 2015

Hello FF117, the imperfections can be cured by meticulous blade work prior to rolling. You will know for next time. Just lay the geo cloth, and get some gravel laid before heavy rain arrives.
As for the loam area, grass it. Also make sure water cannot build up speed on bare dirt as it will scour out quickly. I recommend you spread old hay on the bare loam to protect the ground from the rain(scouring/ water runnels) and also from drying out(sun and wind). This gives the best grass survival %. It is surprising how much hay spread on the ground prevents/reduces scouring in heavy rain.

FF117 · Sep 22, 2015

redman135 said:
Hello FF117, the imperfections can be cured by meticulous blade work prior to rolling. You will know for next time. Just lay the geo cloth, and get some gravel laid before heavy rain arrives.
As for the loam area, grass it. Also make sure water cannot build up speed on bare dirt as it will scour out quickly. I recommend you spread old hay on the bare loam to protect the ground from the rain(scouring/ water runnels) and also from drying out(sun and wind). This gives the best grass survival %. It is surprising how much hay spread on the ground prevents/reduces scouring in heavy rain.

Yeah I'm surely to blame for most of the imperfections. There weren't too many, I should've taken a couple pics after I was completely done compacting. It looked much better than the pics I posted, but you could tell in a couple places where I had gotten a little deep with the blade.

A friend came by and we got the geotextile down today and they started hauling rock. I used a piece of pvc with eye bolts through it to help roll out the fabric, then stapled it down. There's a thin layer of gravel on all of the driveway now to help with the wind, but still a lot left to haul. Tomorrow I plan on getting some seed down. I used to work for a lawn care company and did a fair bit of lawn seeding. I firmly believe in using straw or hay to help with erosion and increase seed survival. No rain is in the forecast for the next 10 days. Planning on renting the same roller compactor this weekend to compact the rock. Hopefully they are done hauling by then.

hutchman · Sep 22, 2015

FF117 said:
Yeah I'm surely to blame for most of the imperfections. There weren't too many, I should've taken a couple pics after I was completely done compacting. It looked much better than the pics I posted, but you could tell in a couple places where I had gotten a little deep with the blade.

A friend came by and we got the geotextile down today and they started hauling rock. I used a piece of pvc with eye bolts through it to help roll out the fabric, then stapled it down. There's a thin layer of gravel on all of the driveway now to help with the wind, but still a lot left to haul. Tomorrow I plan on getting some seed down. I used to work for a lawn care company and did a fair bit of lawn seeding. I firmly believe in using straw or hay to help with erosion and increase seed survival. No rain is in the forecast for the next 10 days. Planning on renting the same roller compactor this weekend to compact the rock. Hopefully they are done hauling by then.

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Sounds like you did what I was thinking ... put something through the middle of the role and unroll it with the tractor. Did it work well and was it pretty controllable?

So did the trucks drive on it and spread the gravel? I was really hoping that I could just drive on the fabric and spread the gravel so I'm curious to know how that went and how they did it.

farmer2009 · Sep 23, 2015

hutchman said:
Sounds like you did what I was thinking ... put something through the middle of the role and unroll it with the tractor. Did it work well and was it pretty controllable? So did the trucks drive on it and spread the gravel? I was really hoping that I could just drive on the fabric and spread the gravel so I'm curious to know how that went and how they did it.

Have them back dump the first layer. Does take a person who knows what they are doing. Most can spread forward but even fewer can spread in reverse.

FF117 · Sep 23, 2015

hutchman said:
Sounds like you did what I was thinking ... put something through the middle of the role and unroll it with the tractor. Did it work well and was it pretty controllable?

So did the trucks drive on it and spread the gravel? I was really hoping that I could just drive on the fabric and spread the gravel so I'm curious to know how that went and how they did it.

Yep I completely stole your idea. Worked pretty good, especially going uphill. It's not hard to unroll by hand if it's fairly level, but it's nice to be able to park the tractor and know the roll isn't going anywhere. Make sure you use staples and have a helper. There was very little wind when I installed but the slightest breeze will blow that stuff all over. It rolls out pretty straight, but after it's moved by the wind it can be a difficult to get it straight again. Seems like no matter what you do there ends up being a few small ripples in the fabric after the rock it dumped. We had it placed very well and stapled, but you can't possibly get it in contact with the ground as well as the rock does.

He reverse spread the first load and then after he could drive straight on it without starting or stopping he just drove forward and spread. No sharp turns though. It would be best to reverse spread if possible, but he would've been backing up a hill and turning with my driveway. I watched closely and driving forward on it didn't seem to hurt anything, but the ground under it was well compacted. The fabric was affected more by the rock spreading on it than by the truck driving on it.

FF117 · Sep 23, 2015

Had a bit of a rough day today. I managed to rip the fabric twice. Once with the box blade near the entrance and the other with the loader at the other end of the driveway. Both spots were pretty small, but it's frustrating because I know better. I used some scrap pieces to repair the areas. I placed a piece underneath and on the top of the torn areas, then stapled the heck out of it. I made sure there was plenty of overlap so hopefully it will hold. The truck driver also managed to make a small tear. He was pulling in the entrance and ran his front tire off the low side of the driveway. There wasn't any rock on the edge of the fabric yet and it made a small tear. It wasn't very bad and was all the way on the edge of the fabric so I didn't do anything with it. I think they got another 7 loads delivered today, which should be a little over half way now. Should be compacting on Saturday.

The cutting edge on my box blade is wore down so I figured I'd flip it around today. Of course four of the six bolts stripped inside the cutting edge. Basically when you try to take the nut off the entire bolt spins. Might just have to cut them off and order new ones. Kinda sucks because it would be nice to use it to help spread rock as needed. Should've taken more pics, but didn't have much time.

hutchman · Sep 23, 2015

Wow, I've never heard or seen of reverse spreading before. That's pretty crazy. Makes sense though ... just never heard of it. I guess back when I learned how to spread there wasn't much call for doing it in reverse as no one knew about the fabric back then.

vtsnowedin · Sep 24, 2015

FF117 said:
Had a bit of a rough day today. I managed to rip the fabric twice. Once with the box blade near the entrance and the other with the loader at the other end of the driveway. Both spots were pretty small, but it's frustrating because I know better. I used some scrap pieces to repair the areas. I placed a piece underneath and on the top of the torn areas, then stapled the heck out of it. I made sure there was plenty of overlap so hopefully it will hold. The truck driver also managed to make a small tear. He was pulling in the entrance and ran his front tire off the low side of the driveway. There wasn't any rock on the edge of the fabric yet and it made a small tear. It wasn't very bad and was all the way on the edge of the fabric so I didn't do anything with it. I think they got another 7 loads delivered today, which should be a little over half way now. Should be compacting on Saturday.

The cutting edge on my box blade is wore down so I figured I'd flip it around today. Of course four of the six bolts stripped inside the cutting edge. Basically when you try to take the nut off the entire bolt spins. Might just have to cut them off and order new ones. Kinda sucks because it would be nice to use it to help spread rock as needed. Should've taken more pics, but didn't have much time.

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Sounds like your average day of road construction to me.

Egon · Sep 24, 2015

Nothing beats the load dumped just in front of the paver!

RDrancher · Sep 24, 2015

vtsnowedin said:
Sounds like your average day of road construction to me.

10-4 to that one!

I did a driveway yesterday...8 semi and truck & pup loads. The driveway was elevated with multiple culverts and grass on both sides. Load placement, spreading and cleanup to get the stone off of the grass was a real pain. That's just the way it goes.

vtsnowedin · Sep 24, 2015

Egon said:
Nothing beats the load dumped just in front of the paver!

been there done that!. Used to be that a driver that screwed up and made a crew shovel up a multi_ ton pile could make amends by buying a case of beer for the crew at quitting time. Can"t do that now. Just have to fire his butt.
Don't know as that is progress as far as the daily lives of the paving crew is concerned.

hutchman · Sep 24, 2015

FF117 said:
Yep I completely stole your idea. Worked pretty good, especially going uphill. It's not hard to unroll by hand if it's fairly level, but it's nice to be able to park the tractor and know the roll isn't going anywhere. Make sure you use staples and have a helper. There was very little wind when I installed but the slightest breeze will blow that stuff all over. It rolls out pretty straight, but after it's moved by the wind it can be a difficult to get it straight again. Seems like no matter what you do there ends up being a few small ripples in the fabric after the rock it dumped. We had it placed very well and stapled, but you can't possibly get it in contact with the ground as well as the rock does.

He reverse spread the first load and then after he could drive straight on it without starting or stopping he just drove forward and spread. No sharp turns though. It would be best to reverse spread if possible, but he would've been backing up a hill and turning with my driveway. I watched closely and driving forward on it didn't seem to hurt anything, but the ground under it was well compacted. The fabric was affected more by the rock spreading on it than by the truck driving on it.

You can still steal any of my ideas you want as long as you try them out before I do so I know if they will work or not:thumbsup:

I'll be doing the same thing very shortly ... if I can ever get the subframe I'm building for my backhoe finished.

TSO · Sep 24, 2015

Looking good. Keep up the good work.

FF117 · Sep 26, 2015

Graded and compacted the rock today. There were some areas that were 12+ inches thick and other areas were only 6" thick. Did my best to even it out, but it's not perfect. Probably going to order another couple loads of rock, but doubt I'll rent the compactor again just for a couple loads. Forgot to take "before" pics prior to the grading, but I can tell you that it looked pretty rough before I started. The compactor did a nice job, but we could really use some rain. It would've been nice to be compacting moist rock, but I guess you get more for your money when they haul dry rock instead of wet stuff. I probably shouldn't have crowned the road so much, but I wasn't sure how much the center would compact compared to the edges where the trucks had been driving. Ended the day by spreading some top soil on the downhill side of the entrance. Hope to get some seed down on Tuesday. Unfortunately there's still no rain in the forecast.

farmer2009 · Sep 27, 2015

Looks really nice. I wouldn't worry about the crown. Only ways to have too much are if mama's car drags or if it causes you to slide in bad weather. IMO. If it causes you problems have some gravel "barrel track" spread. Basically its just spread in the tracks.

vtsnowedin · Sep 27, 2015

Looks great. You want at least six inches of crown on an unpaved drive and a bit more in steep sections. Yours looks about right as you have it graded now.
I'd get a load of clean sand and chink the top to keep the stones from rolling up from tire action.
As soon as you get some rain the traffic will finish the compaction for you but you will need to touch it up after the house construction phase is over.
Are you going to line the drive with shade trees?

FF117 · Sep 29, 2015

Got a couple more loads of rock today. The driver wasn't nearly as good at spreading as the previous driver so I had to work a bit to get it smooth . Added one load to the entrance to thicken it up a bit and the other load on the end to widen it some. When that was done I worked on preparing the top soil for seed. I've got an old railroad tie with re-bar spikes sticking out of it about and inch or two. I drug it behind the tractor to break up some of the larger clumps of dirt and level it out some. I had just got the ditches seeded when it started raining. Didn't rain much, just enough stop any progress, but heck I'll take it. Didn't get any straw down yet, hopefully I can finish seeding and get some straw down on Friday. Probably a little late to be seeding, but it would be nice to get some grass growing in the places with high erosion potential. Still very little, if any, rain in the long term forecast. No pics today because of the rain.

FF117 · Sep 29, 2015

vtsnowedin said:
Looks great. You want at least six inches of crown on an unpaved drive and a bit more in steep sections. Yours looks about right as you have it graded now.
I'd get a load of clean sand and chink the top to keep the stones from rolling up from tire action.
As soon as you get some rain the traffic will finish the compaction for you but you will need to touch it up after the house construction phase is over.
Are you going to line the drive with shade trees?

We were thinking that some trees lining the driveway would be nice. They might block our view a little, but it's probably worth doing. What do you mean by chink it with some sand? I've never heard anyone around here talk about that. I assume you mean to top coat the driveway with a thin layer to help bind everything together. My rock is CA-6 and has fines with it. Do you still use the sand with that rock? If so, how do you know how much sand to order?

vtsnowedin · Sep 30, 2015

FF117 said:
We were thinking that some trees lining the driveway would be nice. They might block our view a little, but it's probably worth doing. What do you mean by chink it with some sand? I've never heard anyone around here talk about that. I assume you mean to top coat the driveway with a thin layer to help bind everything together. My rock is CA-6 and has fines with it. Do you still use the sand with that rock? If so, how do you know how much sand to order?

You need just enough fine sand to fill the voids between the larger stones. Dump a bucket full and back drag it lightly so you don't rearrange the rock you have already placed. We used to use a drag broom along with water and rolling to get a smooth tight surface just prior to paving. Nobody is that fussy with it today. How far a load will go depends on the gradation of your rock but a little goes a long way. Just be sure it is clean material that won't make mud when wet.
Edit to add:
If you don't chink it the rocks are always moving under the tires giving you that crunchy sound and some get thrown into windrows by the tire treads.

FF117 · Oct 1, 2015

vtsnowedin said:
You need just enough fine sand to fill the voids between the larger stones. Dump a bucket full and back drag it lightly so you don't rearrange the rock you have already placed. We used to use a drag broom along with water and rolling to get a smooth tight surface just prior to paving. Nobody is that fussy with it today. How far a load will go depends on the gradation of your rock but a little goes a long way. Just be sure it is clean material that won't make mud when wet.
Edit to add:
If you don't chink it the rocks are always moving under the tires giving you that crunchy sound and some get thrown into windrows by the tire treads.

Sounds good, I'll give it a try. Sand is pretty cheap around here, just have to pay to haul it. Probably won't get it done right away because tomorrow is my last chance to work on it for a while and I have to get the seed/straw down. The driveway will have very little traffic on it until late spring anyway, so I've got some time.