wood pallets under gravel driveway?

[i7win7]

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[Egon]

Drainage!

 

[deezler]

Pallets under a driveway sounds like a terrific way to get nails in all your tires eventually. Seriously, the amount of nails in some pallets is insane - you don't notice them when the pallet is good and strong. But I just burnt up a stack of 20+ old pallets and crates in my bonfire pile, and I've already pulled a full 5 gallon bucket of nails out of the ashes using my magnet sweeper.

You put clay down intentionally? ? ? Clay doesn't allow water to drain. The whole point of a good roadbed is that it has drainage! Yes, you can slope the surface off to shed the water, but if you want gravel on top, all that clay underneath is going to do is stay mush for you.

At this point if your clay is sucking down the gravel, I would follow the previous commenter's advice and keep adding gravel. 20x30' is not a huge area, you only need a few yards of gravel. Just keep loading it up and eventually it will be a solid base of rock.

Still, I build my roadways over SAND, then gravel. Starting over and using geotextile fabric over whatever soil base you find underneath might be the best long term bet.

 

[oosik]

There is a 150 foot section on my mile long gravel driveway that does not have adequate drainage. Sooo.... it's muddy every spring. I could construct adequate drainage but it would require re-contouring the edge of one of the neighbors fields. I'd rather not listen to his bellyaching.

It has never become really bad. Just flings mud all over my newly washed Power Wagon. I sog thru it every spring. As it dries I "trowel" it smooth with the tractor. Good for another year.

 

[Needville]

I have some lease property I don't want to spend money on that got insanely muddy around the gates and cow feeding areas. I got some old carpet someone was replacing and put it down in place of the geofabric. Put a layer of gravel over the top of that and it has been working for 3-4 years.

I would not use wood pallets. I store hay on them and they rarely last more than a year. I don't think they would last a week driving on them.

 

[LouNY]

I would say that every area is different. What I know that works in my area on soft spots is good heavy duty geotextile fabrics and gravel.
In places with what we call hardpan which is a type of clay, when dry it requires a pick to scratch the surface, when wet it's slick and sucks gravel into it and swallows it up never to be seen again.
If a person just adds gravel even with good ditches the gravel goes down and the hardpan rises and the surface of the roadway may increase, it will on flat ground.
Digging down 6-8 inchs laying out the fabric, backfilling with good gravel and you will have a good driving surface that stays. Unless you are on a steep grade in which case the rain will wash out the fines that pack in to hold the gravel and you will end up with a hill covered in marbles till you add fines to pack in again.
Crusher run the fines will wash out even faster then gravel on steep slopes, then you have a bed of shifting pieces of crushed rock.

I would never put wood pallets in the ground, plastic ones maybe and some of the fancy ($$$$) grid systms look very nice.

 

[Sodo]

Don’t use wood. It will become “compost”. It turns into “nothing” a void. Make this subgrade structure with geotextile and rock. Second choice is geotextile & soil (which is probably already onsite! Maybe it has some gravel in it.

The geotex and the rock will let water pass thru, its better. But getting the rock there can be a hassle. Soil may work if it hardens, but has the risk of capturing the surface water. You’d want to time this project just before summer, if using soil.

The burrito will “harden” and it will spread the load, and if the area doesn’t pump, it won’t sink. Don’t use blue tarp, it breaks down too; get geotextile fabric made for burial, it’s structural. Used carpet could work too but can be hard to find at the moment you need it. This will work and its easy.

 

[allthebacon]

I would say that every area is different. What I know that works in my area on soft spots is good heavy duty geotextile fabrics and gravel.
In places with what we call hardpan which is a type of clay, when dry it requires a pick to scratch the surface, when wet it's slick and sucks gravel into it and swallows it up never to be seen again.
If a person just adds gravel even with good ditches the gravel goes down and the hardpan rises and the surface of the roadway may increase, it will on flat ground.
Digging down 6-8 inchs laying out the fabric, backfilling with good gravel and you will have a good driving surface that stays. Unless you are on a steep grade in which case the rain will wash out the fines that pack in to hold the gravel and you will end up with a hill covered in marbles till you add fines to pack in again.
Crusher run the fines will wash out even faster then gravel on steep slopes, then you have a bed of shifting pieces of crushed rock.

I would never put wood pallets in the ground, plastic ones maybe and some of the fancy ($$$$) grid systms look very nice.

We have this clay here and a 15 deg slope.

- box bladed subsurface clean
- laid weed mat fabric on clay with pins
- a layer of crushed rock with fines
- compacted
- geohex panels with pins
- finished with ‘toppings’ crushed rock

Expensive but I’ll only cry once

 

[marhar]

Available now are plastic pallets. That solves the nail problem and the mushroom name calling.
The pallets are strong. Using them, your idea is an excellent idea.

That is an excellent idea; I never thought of using plastic pallets.

 

[MF243RedTop]

Using plastic pallets turned upside down would be an excellent idea. They're strong and heavy built and would carry gravel well within them. But they typically don't give those away but do sell the ones taken out of service.