Using concrete slabs to "pave" some wet spots in a road.

   / Using concrete slabs to "pave" some wet spots in a road. #21  
I believe the OP stated eight inch or so ruts on a stable bottom.

That’s not the bottomless swamp scenario that keeps getting quoted!
Hmm... this is what I was thinking:
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   / Using concrete slabs to "pave" some wet spots in a road. #22  
I have a section of road in my bottom land that stays consistently wet and muddy. The ruts are about 6 to 8 inches deep, so not bottomless and I am never worried about getting my tractor stuck. But I would like to have the option of getting trucks down there. A truck would probably have to get on it pretty good to get through there making a mess of the road and truck.

Here is my plan. A buddy down the road got swindled into accepting some loads of fill that have tons of rather large concrete slab pieces about 4 to 6" thick. My plan is to run my york rake through the muck and mud to make a rather level bed for the concrete "tiles" and lay them together as close as possible to pave a road through the wet spots. I think the mud will almost act like mortar. I will fill the voids between the slabs with mid sized rock chunks to hold it all together. These sections are about 40' long and about 15' long, so not huge.

Any tips, tricks, warnings? Good idea bad idea?
I fought similar problems for years, attempting similar solutions. It dawned on me that every road I drove on had water run under it in pipes of various sizes. So I took that route and started controlling the water. It was more work but did eliminate 98% of my problems. Others have come to see what I had done. My default statement is; 'Stop using your driveway as a drainage ditch'.
 
   / Using concrete slabs to "pave" some wet spots in a road.
  • Thread Starter
#23  
I fought similar problems for years, attempting similar solutions. It dawned on me that every road I drove on had water run under it in pipes of various sizes. So I took that route and started controlling the water. It was more work but did eliminate 98% of my problems. Others have come to see what I had done. My default statement is; 'Stop using your driveway as a drainage ditch'.
Excellent advice! Makes perfect sense.
The only problem is this area is along a creek and it floods 3-8 times a year. So unless I raise that area somehow it will always get wet and stay wet for awhile, generally most of the winter and spring.
 
   / Using concrete slabs to "pave" some wet spots in a road. #24  
I think some geotile fabric would be your friend. Put that over the mushy ground. That will help support the concrete.
By me, crushed shale is what many use for driveways. Our soil holds water. The ones that just layout the shale find it disappearing into the ground. While the ones that roll out the geotile have much better luck. These rolls sold at Lowe's, for one, come in 14'x 400' rolls.
 
   / Using concrete slabs to "pave" some wet spots in a road. #25  
To the OP, a lot of overthinking in my opinion. Some advice seems to think if you put those slabs in the world will stop turning. Me reading between the lines it sounds like you have a problem area but it’s not a huge deal. Dump those slabs in and see what happens.
 
   / Using concrete slabs to "pave" some wet spots in a road. #26  
I had success using concrete slab/chunks on a path that ran about 50 feet down the side of my barn. I first scraped it out sub level,so the slabs would end up at grade, then used sand and some gravel as a bed.

dug a drainage ditch on the low side, and filled it with fist sized chunks and gravel. Then laid the broken slabs in like mosaic tile, and drove back and forth with tractor.

Ten years later, it still works well.
 
   / Using concrete slabs to "pave" some wet spots in a road. #29  
Any tips, tricks, warnings? Good idea bad idea?

Build drainage ditches both sides of the roadway, and use culvert(s) to move water across the road.
As said, stop driving in the "ditch". Drain the swamp and raise the grade.
 
   / Using concrete slabs to "pave" some wet spots in a road. #30  
I was at a chemical plant under construction in Russia last year and they used slabs of concrete that were approximately 6 x 12 (probably metric, but I don't think that way) to temporarily pave the roadways placing them side by side. Since there was nothing under the slabs they shifted every which way and made for the most God awful ride I ever had in a bus. The impressive thing was that I never saw a cracked slab.

I'm afraid without some form of bedding your slabs will create nothing more than headaches.
 
 
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