Refurbishing gravel driveway + my first post!

[3 Horse Ranch]

Hello all,

This is a wonderful forum, and this is my first post. [everyone claps] Thank you, thank you.

We are the proud owners of a Mahindra 1538 HST, and we love the dickens out of it. It's still a relative newborn, but it's been running wild like a toddler and it will soon be coming home like a pre-teen covered in mud just a little late for supper.

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My question:
We live in the Pacific Northwest, western WA. We need to fix/upgrade our gravel driveway and I just wanted to see if I'm on the right track. I've been reading lots of information here and elsewhere. We seem to have a pretty solid base of 12" or so of crushed rock, but only maybe 1 1/4" minus with 5/8" minus on top. It's getting fairly mushy and holy, so I plan to scrape off any muck and lay down new layers of rock. For long-term solidity, should I do 3" of 1 1/4" minus? Or just go straight to 5/8" minus? Do I need to get even more drastic? Lastly, in general, should the subbase, or actually subgrade, be graded to level with surrounding area to prevent bathtub? Or can the subbase be a little below grade so long as the top courses are nicely graded to shed water?

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First let me say welcome to TBN.
I used to work for a gravel company (14 years) in Bellingham so I know a little bit about gravel. As others have recommended that your driveway needs to be above surrounding grade and crowned to shed water. You mentioned 1 1/4 minus for your driveway which is a good relatively inexpensive choice. However not all 1 1/4 minus is equal. It is basically whatever comes out of the ground and crushed. Sometimes the pit operator will throw in some cobbles that were previously screened out from washing aggregate to bring the rock content into spec. It usually will pack pretty hard but I have seen some with a high sand content that never packed hard. This is often referred to as crushed gravel (often called 'base course" or CSBC). Another kind of 1 1/4 minus is crushed rock, most often from a quarry rather than a gravel pit. We had two types of crushed rock, the cheaper was a basaltic rock, the mo re expensive was limestone. Both of the crushed quarry rocks packed hard with the limestone packing the hardest and looking the best, but both are more expensive than 1 1/4 base course. I don't know too much about what is available where you are, but we hauled quite a few tons of material from pits and a quarry in Granite Falls to the new Lakewood High School in Smokey Point about 4 miles west of Arlington airport (about 40 miles r/t). I think your best bet would be to give a local gravel company a call and talk about what you need in yardage and what you want to do. Most gravel dispatchers want to sell you that product that will best suit your needs and they will know costs and the quality of the products they sell (or haul).You could get the driveway built up with base course, compact it and use it for a month or so and then order in some 3/4 or 5/8s clear crushed rock as a 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inch top dressing. Clear crushed lets water flow through it, but never compacts. As long as everyone is easy on the throttle and brakes it looks good and slows the start of weeds.

Or if money is no object, pave it.
Just some thoughts

 

[flingwing1969]

I'll say thanks for that FrankRetired - good info.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Wow! Thank you all so much for the quick responses, this really is such a fantastic resource for a city slicker like me!

But I should have been more forthcoming... we already have ALL of those implements!! Yes we totally went a little crazy with our initial tractor purchase, haha. Sooooo....

- With our land plane (grading scraper), I'm gettting a nice smooth surface but it is quite apparent we need more rock, and we are prepared for the cost.

- I think I understand now that I should use the rear blade to begin to form the crown and try to get some side ditches shaped at the same time. I will attempt to shape it best as I can now, and then use the fresh rock to finalize the water-shedding profile.

- To compact the surface after shaping, I will drive with a truck or our tractor until I fall asleep at the wheel.

- When we are ready for the crushed rock, your responses suggest I start with 1 1/4 minus. We can always top dress with smaller if need be.

- In regards to the land plane, I assume it will be more useful in the future when we have the basic driveway built up properly. Right now I'm questioning that investment a bit.

Again, THANKS and thanks to joeu235 for your compliment on our property.

I have a practically new (no more than 20 Hrs) 6' Land Pride 6 way rear blade I would sell. It has a set of skid shoes (new, never installed) also. We down sized and moved into town a year ago and stuff did not sell then so still have it. The tilt function, offset, and skid shoes work well for crowning if you do not have top & tilt hydraulics. Send me personal if interested.

Ron

 

[Tractor Seabee]

If you are going to build up the foot everybody is recommending you need to do it in layers and compact with a roller. 4-6",of 4" minus crushed (not pit run) and top with 1 1/4" minus crusher run in 4" compacted layers. Taper out the edges about 2' past the road edge. The upper layers will need some moisture control; you don't want it real dry. The crusher fines are what makes a solid impervious top.

End of the day; any gravel build up will be better than what you have. Budget may create a compromise as we all love to spend other folks money for them. There are 3 ways: wrong, right, and what you can afford.

Ron

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

I concur totally with Tractor Seabee. Layers and compacting between layers is very important no matter which product you choose.

One more thought on the matter, recycled products. Crushed concrete is a where is as is and when is kind of product. When we crushed it, every few years, it was made in sizes from 4-8" down to a 3/4 minus, but the stockpiles were usually gone by the end of 6 months. the 3/4 minus also packed very hard. Smokey Point Ready Mix in Arlington may have the crushed concrete. Another product is recycled asphalt (RAP) which when compacted with a rolling compactor is second in smoothness and hardness to hot mix asphalt. Granite Construction in Marysville may have the asphalt. Other concrete ready-mix and asphalt companies may also have the products, but those are the two I am familiar with in your area.