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Gravel Driveway Maintenance
Our house has a 150' gravel driveway that has had nothing done to it since it was put in 8 years ago. The road is smooth and hard packed and there is nearly no gravel left on the roadbed. This year, due to a lot of snow, there are a few shallow gouges in it caused by plowing with a loader bucket.
What sort of top treatment should be done to keep the road in good repair? Is a new layer of gravel called for? Should a box scraper be dragged over it?
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Gravel Driveway Maintenance
Ken, in my part of the world gravel is used very little for roads. At one time I had gravel spread over a crushed seashell driveway. Had real problem with that moving around. There is a plant near here that makes a steel wire. They have a good bit of waste from their foundary that is used for such. It worked much better than the gravel did. That slag would catch on the other pieces and not slide very easy where stone would. No problem with it cutting tires. We sold that place May of 2000 and do not think they have redressed the drive since then. kt
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Gravel Driveway Maintenance
We use crushed limestone here. We call it roadstone meaning it has the lime left in with the crushed rock. The rock is usually crushed to one inch or smaller. Our situation is about identical to yours, meaning that in the spring the rock has compacted and settled somewhat into the base material. So long as there are no major gouges or holes I just have the roadstone spread to about 4-6 inches deep without disturbing the existing road, by fall it has worked in pretty good. Frank.
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Gravel Driveway Maintenance
Ken, you don't say what size the gravel is.
The size is far more important than anything else. Large stone will tend to move, so will stones that are too small. The ideal compromise for a driveway (slow speed, little or no sharp wheel turns) is 3/8" - 5/8" crushed with as much of the smaller and fine particles and dust left in as possible.
If you already have fairly fine material, I would suggest just top dressing it. If the material on top is fairly large (3/4" or bigger) top dress it with smaller stuff. Any time you dig down in you risk unpacking it. If you have a rear blade that will offset, put it out and pull the material that pushed out to the shoulders back in too.
Once you have it back in order try putting some CaCl (Calcium Chloride) down on it, just sprinkle it like fertilizer, it will go a long way to holding it all together and keeping the dust down.
Best of luck.
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Gravel Driveway Maintenance
Thanks fellas. There isn't much stone left on top, but what has been pushed to the sides is big, mostly 1-1.5" as a guess. I'll order some top dressing of 3/8-5/8, have the truck spread it as he dumps and smooth it out with the box blade. Some CaCl sounds good too.
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Gravel Driveway Maintenance
Ken the KEY as Murf and Frank said is the fines. The fines are what hold the blend together. A driveway the fines or minus 200 material should be at least 10-13% much more than that will hold moisture and be soft when wet then rut.
Here's where I seperate. I would not just top dress. I would scarifire 1-2 inches into original drive with the new material and get a good surface blend and bond.
I do like the calicum treatment be sure to get a nice crown.
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Gravel Driveway Maintenance
What's available differs from one location to another. I use "stone dust and chips" but contractors elsewhere may not have heard of it. So see a local road contractor to find what you need that they can supply, and whether you have the equipment to spread and grade it or they should do it. Unless the material is porous or you don't get downpours, you want a little "crown" graded in.
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Gravel Driveway Maintenance
Just a bit of history on the driveway to the house here at the farm. We built the house ten years ago in an open field, no driveway of any kind. there were no drainage issues to get water away from the drive so with no prior grading we put a layer of two inch washed limerock about six inches thick, then on top a layer of one inch washed rock. We drove on just that for a year or so till it settled. Since that I have two tandems of one inch "Roadstone" we call it here meaning the fines are left in with the rock spread about every other spring, that gives me a new layer about four to five inches thick. It just seems to be getting more solid every year. right now the drive is about 12-14 inches above the lawn along either side of it. That seems to be high enough that very little snow gets on the drive, it mostly just blows across it. Frank.
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Gravel Driveway Maintenance
here in my parts they have pretty much used a blend called "road gravel" a mix of a sandy clay, fines and gravel , sometimes crushed sometime not, sized 1/4" to 1" . Lately the concrete companies are pushing recycled crushed concrete, sized from pretty fine stuff to realy course for driveways. haven't seen it myself in use, but with talking to others -that crushed concrete is working out real well as it will break down a bit and interlock itself and form a hard tough layer. Pricing seems quite reasonable compared to the "'natural' processed stuff'"
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Gravel Driveway Maintenance
Woodie; Here in Eastern Iowa I paid about 215.-240. for a tandem (15-17 ton) delivered 16 miles and spread last spring, I haven't checked yet this spring on the current cost. Frank.
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