JimMorrissey
Veteran Member
Great idea with the torch....have to remember that one.
STABILIZING CLAY SOIL BASE IN DRIVEWAY
- Thread starter VIEWQUEST
- Start date
- Views: 152942
PineRidge
Super Member
Jim it really saved my old pair of knees. Some of the best ideas are really the simple ones.
gabby
Gold Member
A grading contractor told me that the key to most any drainage problem is elevation and grading to get rid of surface water. I have followed his advice many times with good results.
Whatever you do to build your road, be sure it has a crown and be sure there is positive drainage for surface water. The road must be higher than the surroundings, and ditches or natural slopes must carry the water away.
I buy sand/clay fill dirt to build up my farm roads. As long as it sheds water it works great.
gabby
Whatever you do to build your road, be sure it has a crown and be sure there is positive drainage for surface water. The road must be higher than the surroundings, and ditches or natural slopes must carry the water away.
I buy sand/clay fill dirt to build up my farm roads. As long as it sheds water it works great.
gabby
beenthere
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2001
- Messages
- 18,463
- Location
- Southern Wisconsin, USA
- Tractor
- JD_4x2_Gator, JD_4300, JD_425, JD_455 AWS, added JD_455, JD_110, JD_X485(sold)
Where are you from, and what kind of clay are you dealing with?
I don't think your lime method will work, and there is no choice but to remove and drain well.
I don't think your lime method will work, and there is no choice but to remove and drain well.
Sully2
Veteran Member
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( </font><font color="blueclass=small">( LIME the living H*** out of it!..BUT...BUT..that drive..if you intend on EVER running / parking anything heavy on it....REQUIRES a good solid ROCK "base". About 5-6 inches of 3" rock...pounded down into a "solid chunk" by constant driving on it with heavy trucks...like concrete trucks..etc..
Application...over time with VERY SMALL fine crushed lime chips...and eventually...its like one solid mass of concrete! )</font>
Rock first? or lime? how long will lime/hardness/strength last? How about winter?
sounds like a good idea for folks round these parts.
I think you mentioned something like this before? )</font></font>
You want to get your rock..and then gravel on top as soon as yo can...but it dont have to be that week or anything.....but I wouldnt let it go all winter or anything like that.
I first saw it done on a new highway being built about 1972 or 73. Farmers couldnt buy lime here at all...highway builder had it ALL taken. Tri axle dumps spreding lime on a roadbase...that had been cut 14 inches down into the clay...and when one traileer had dumped its load..one following started dumping and they kept on...for over 30 miles of road.
They followed up with 12 inches of HI TEMP asphault ( now..remember..this road has NO BASE!!)...and with the exception of one single skim coat to recover it...its in perfect shape...and thats from about 1972!!!
Application...over time with VERY SMALL fine crushed lime chips...and eventually...its like one solid mass of concrete! )</font>
Rock first? or lime? how long will lime/hardness/strength last? How about winter?
sounds like a good idea for folks round these parts.
I think you mentioned something like this before? )</font></font>
You want to get your rock..and then gravel on top as soon as yo can...but it dont have to be that week or anything.....but I wouldnt let it go all winter or anything like that.
I first saw it done on a new highway being built about 1972 or 73. Farmers couldnt buy lime here at all...highway builder had it ALL taken. Tri axle dumps spreding lime on a roadbase...that had been cut 14 inches down into the clay...and when one traileer had dumped its load..one following started dumping and they kept on...for over 30 miles of road.
They followed up with 12 inches of HI TEMP asphault ( now..remember..this road has NO BASE!!)...and with the exception of one single skim coat to recover it...its in perfect shape...and thats from about 1972!!!
normde2001
Elite Member
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2002
- Messages
- 4,163
I don't know where you are located, but in NW Georgia there is an abundance of chert that is used widespread for building driveways and even rural, unpaved roads. It is a combination of gravel and clay that compacts like concrete in a short time of driving over it, very cheap compared to gravel. I get 9 yd. truckloads for about $75, compared to about $250 for 3/4" gravel.
Highbeam
Super Member
Rather than lime, we use actual cement dust delivered and spread by a truck and then tilled into the native soils to about 12" depth. The process creates CTB or cement treated base and works very well here in the valley soils.
I've got some wet spoogey clay to build roads in. I have learned that naked clay, even shaped with a steep crown, will become spooge if you drive on it during the wet season or when it is not dry and cracked. The spooge leaves ruts, the ruts fill with water, and the clay becomes a deep spooge hole. Stay off the naked clay unless it is dry.
Once that same naked, clay, crowned road gets as little as 3 inches of 1.5 inch rock on it, the road is drivable and will remain drivable year round with moderate loads. The clean rock keeps the surface from pumping into spooge and the crown shape is maintained. Adding a top layer of crushed rock, I like 1.25" minus, is a long term solution for a permanent road since it will actually prevent the water from getting to the clay.
Clay is funny. Water won't move through it, it is nearly waterproof but when water is present the clay becomes spooge if you work it at all.
Once it is spooge, it takes a lot more rock to make it solid and then you will have a non-crowned clay subgrade so you'll want to top it with crushed right away.
I've got some wet spoogey clay to build roads in. I have learned that naked clay, even shaped with a steep crown, will become spooge if you drive on it during the wet season or when it is not dry and cracked. The spooge leaves ruts, the ruts fill with water, and the clay becomes a deep spooge hole. Stay off the naked clay unless it is dry.
Once that same naked, clay, crowned road gets as little as 3 inches of 1.5 inch rock on it, the road is drivable and will remain drivable year round with moderate loads. The clean rock keeps the surface from pumping into spooge and the crown shape is maintained. Adding a top layer of crushed rock, I like 1.25" minus, is a long term solution for a permanent road since it will actually prevent the water from getting to the clay.
Clay is funny. Water won't move through it, it is nearly waterproof but when water is present the clay becomes spooge if you work it at all.
Once it is spooge, it takes a lot more rock to make it solid and then you will have a non-crowned clay subgrade so you'll want to top it with crushed right away.
Dargo
Super Member
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2004
- Messages
- 5,981
- Location
- S. IN
- Tractor
- Jinma, Foton, TYM, Belarus, Yanmar, Branson, Montana, Mahindra and maybe some green and orange too.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ... Some of the best ideas are really the simple ones. )</font>
It's been almost 20 years since I put in a 900' + driveway across clay soil that honestly had standing water on it. Every contractor and engineer I spoke with told me that I'd have to have some sort of matting or fabric put down first to prevent the rocks from simply being mashed into the muck. At the time I couldn't come close to being able to afford the fabric on top of the price of all that rock (and a bridge that I'll have to revisit in the next decade). That fabric works very well, but it is not cheap. While basically just walking around in the muck trying to figure out what to do, an old guy (now long since dead) across the way walked over and offered his advise. It turned out that I used his advise and it worked just fine. He told me to put down old carpet for a base in the muck and put my #2 rock over that, topped by 53's for a few years and then #9's.
The old carpet only serves as something to keep the bottom layer of rock from sinking until a good base is built with the lime in all the rock. The backing of the old carpet ended up working perfectly. I've never had an issue and I've run hundreds of yards of concrete down the driveway in trucks that had up to 11 yards each in them without issue, and it has everyday traffic. I'll never forget the looks I got when local carpet shops (who were only too happy to dump loads of old carpet on me) first started showing up. I had all sorts of stuff from nice orange shag to astro-turf. I used it all. The first trucks had to spread gravel as they backed onto the old carpet because there was still standing water and muck.
Maybe in some places it would be too embarrassing to use old carpeting for a base, but I had no other choice but to wait until I could afford the "real" matting. Mine has withstood the test of time and I'm slowly working my way out concreting my driveway now. While digging out for the concrete forms I've looked for some of the old carpet, but I haven't seen any. I suppose it's gone now, but it served it's purpose.
It's been almost 20 years since I put in a 900' + driveway across clay soil that honestly had standing water on it. Every contractor and engineer I spoke with told me that I'd have to have some sort of matting or fabric put down first to prevent the rocks from simply being mashed into the muck. At the time I couldn't come close to being able to afford the fabric on top of the price of all that rock (and a bridge that I'll have to revisit in the next decade). That fabric works very well, but it is not cheap. While basically just walking around in the muck trying to figure out what to do, an old guy (now long since dead) across the way walked over and offered his advise. It turned out that I used his advise and it worked just fine. He told me to put down old carpet for a base in the muck and put my #2 rock over that, topped by 53's for a few years and then #9's.
The old carpet only serves as something to keep the bottom layer of rock from sinking until a good base is built with the lime in all the rock. The backing of the old carpet ended up working perfectly. I've never had an issue and I've run hundreds of yards of concrete down the driveway in trucks that had up to 11 yards each in them without issue, and it has everyday traffic. I'll never forget the looks I got when local carpet shops (who were only too happy to dump loads of old carpet on me) first started showing up. I had all sorts of stuff from nice orange shag to astro-turf. I used it all. The first trucks had to spread gravel as they backed onto the old carpet because there was still standing water and muck.
Maybe in some places it would be too embarrassing to use old carpeting for a base, but I had no other choice but to wait until I could afford the "real" matting. Mine has withstood the test of time and I'm slowly working my way out concreting my driveway now. While digging out for the concrete forms I've looked for some of the old carpet, but I haven't seen any. I suppose it's gone now, but it served it's purpose.
Highbeam
Super Member
The real question is did you put the color side up or down? Some geofabric is a grid, good thinking on the carpet.
Victory Pete
Silver Member
I am covered in clay from grading my driveway again, thanks to Google I found this site. I have been in the proccess of dragging away the clay with a box blade. I intend on adding as much gravel as possible over the remaining clay. How much gravel is best?
Thanks
VP
Thanks
VP