New stone driveway - use geotextile fabric?

[RobA]

I had an excavator put in a 50 foot constuction/driveway entrance for me a few months ago. He used 4" stone, 4 inches deep. After compacting that he topped it off with 4 inches of 2" stone and crusher run (I think) and compacted that. I mentioned that I may want to put in a driveway to my tractor barn (about 1,000') and use geotextile fabric below the stone. He said he wouldn't bother since it wasn't worth the added cost and effort.

Any opinions?

 

[Syncro]

I sure would use a fabric. If your contractor used 4" cobles as a base that tells me that the native soil is probably unstable, or has a water problem. Fabric is cheap insurance and helps, providing it has enough compacted cover. Just be very sure that you get the right product as not all geotextile fabrics are the same. I would consult a local soils engineer, or at least use a product specifically made for driveway underlayment and not a landscape fabric. [SIZE=-1]Mirafi 500 is a good choice.[/SIZE]

 

[radair]

It all depends on the characteristics of the subsoil. Geotextiles do a couple of things: 1) spread the loads from the driveway over a wider area, and 2) maintain separation of the sub-base from the native soils.

If the native soils are weak, loose, wet, etc., fabric is certainly a good idea. If the native soils are well-drained sand and gravel, there's no need for a geotextile.

 

[rswyan]

I put in a new driveway last year .... it replaced the original that my father had put in.

The original was asphalt that had been laid down over a base of 1. slag, 2. cinders, and 3. limestone (pea gravel) - all of which was put down over a 10 year period. The grading on the original wasn't really done correctly - the topsoil was never removed initially and the whole thing tended to be below grade and was prone to being wet (damp feet.) All the gravel that Dad laid down eventually just sunk into the clay. When it was asphalted it ended up with two coats of asphalt - the first was about 4" and the second (about 10 years later) was around a 2" topcoating. This ended up completely failing after about another 10 years ..... massive deep cracks across the width and large areas where the entire surface broke up into 4" to 6" chunks.

I (partially) relocated the driveway to an area where it was on higher ground and I removed all the topsoil down to the clay before laying down woven geo-tex. Then I used similar gravel as you - 4" to 6" of No. 2 and a similar amount of crusher run on top of that. That was a year ago ..... it's become very packed down at this point ..... when it's dry out it's almost like concrete .... and it's not a whole lot different when it's wet - except that the top 3/8" to 1/2" is a little mushy. I've had loaded dump trucks on it (60K or 70K lbs) and it's solid as a rock - the gravel ain't goin' anywhere. It will outlast me ..... and probably my kids.

I'll probably eventually chip and seal it ..... and I expect that that will last quite awhile given how it seems to be holding up.

 

[ctpres]

Have 300 ft plus crushed concrete drive on sandy soil. Installed fabric and about 6 inch layer of material. Now three plus years old and no sign of rutting, is still about as flat as day one. Saved a bunch on material. I highly recommed fabric

 

[RobA]

Any idea what the fabric would cost? Driveway will be about 1,000 feet long and 12 feet wide.

 

[deereguy]

I knew a guy that did the same thing that rswyan did for a feedlot for his cattle, it was like concrete when he was done and could scrape it with a loader. I did a little bit different thing behind our barn with the animals, I added 4"-6" of 1"-dust limestone and packed it with the tractor, then topdress it with 1" or so as needed (maybe every other year). I just scraped it a few days ago to get manure/old hay off and it was like concrete. The limestone also tends to keep the hoofs trimmed back so we aren't trimming them as often.

I have also spoke with a landscape materials supplier who graveled around 2 acres for supplies, they always geotextile (they have 3 locations and installed it as mentioned in above posts) and said they run 50-70 semi's over them throught a year, and it holds up VERY well, again topdress every so often, the down side is it tends to track (in buildings and trucks)when wet

I like geotextiles and look foward to using it when building a new drive.

 

[rswyan]

Any idea what the fabric would cost?

Locally here it goes for around $490 for a roll that's 12.5' wide by 432' long.

 

[moeh1]

Keep looking for a better price! woven here is $297 a 452' roll and $230 for the non-woven

 

[HappyCPE]

I used it on my driveway when I lived in town. I found that it helped bridge over soft clay spots, but it also cut down on maintenance [weeds would not grow through it] and the stone did not sink into the subsoil. After 7 years I only had to grade the stone I had, not add more stone. The fabric paid for itself and then some.