Gravel vs asphalt driveway

[Rt jam]

I have a small driveway on the east side of my house. It's over 10 years old.

On the west side, I want to make another driveway on virgin soil. Excavation of grass and dirt.
Contractor claims tamping and crushed gravel for asphalt. I'm not sold on the ground not settling under the asphalt. I've pushing gravel for a few years, then asphalt later. I have an 02 Silverado 2500HD Duramax crew 4x4, probably close to 7000lbs and a 24' enclosed. What do you think about the 2 options?

 

[nadogail]

I have a small driveway on the east side of my house. It's over 10 years old.

On the west side, I want to make another driveway on virgin soil. Excavation of grass and dirt.
Contractor claims tamping and crushed gravel for asphalt. I'm not sold on the ground not settling under the asphalt. I've pushing gravel for a few years, then asphalt later. I have an 02 Silverado 2500HD Duramax crew 4x4, probably close to 7000lbs and a 24' enclosed. What do you think about the 2 options?

If you have several years of working with gravel and asphalt you very probably know more than many Contractors. I can understand that although you know what needs to be done to build a good driveway, you just might want to pay someone else to do it.

 

[Viper98912]

I'm a little bit confused; do you push gravel for a living, or are you saying that you want to put down gravel for a couple of years (and roll over it with your truck) to have it settle in, and then do the asphalt?

If the latter, you need to have the gravel properly compacted before you put on the asphalt. Something properly excavated and compacted should not settle underneath.

 

[FuelFC]

Remove all grass and growing matter, compact, underlayment mat, gravel, compact, wait a year dress, compact, asphalt.

 

[carcruse]

Check with your City/Township or whoever's jurisdiction you are under, a lot of them require a driveway to have a hard surface, asphalt is, gravel isn't.

 

[RoninB4]

-Your location isn't available. If you're in the snow belt you should consider how often you'll want to shovel it. Shoveling snow off a gravel driveway isn't as much fun as it should be. Just a thought.

 

[Torque&Recoil]

There are a lot of variables here. Type of soil, do you have winter freezing where you live, etc. That said, I am going with "Tamp and get it done" for the following reasons:

a. I think the maximum tire pressure on your Silverado is 80 psi. That's what counts for compaction. The contact pressure of a steel roller is substantially higher. IDK about vibratory tampers, but I'm betting they are higher also. Only as an example - the worst tool to use to compact soil is a bulldozer. Because of the huge area of the tracks, the contact pressure is low and the soil doesn't get compacted, even though the dozer is very heavy.

b. Your tires won't cover the entire area. What about between the tire tracks?

c. Waiting a year may help. However, soil softens up in the spring from thawing (water takes up less space than ice).

I'd just get the project done and over with in July or August, when it's hot and dry.

 

[beltfeed]

Option 3: Concrete! I park my F350's and trailers on concrete. It holds the weight and never gets sink areas like asphalt does. Gravel (stone) is a pain in the ****, weeds, constant settling, stones stick it the tire grooves and end up everywhere.

 

[Dagny]

Here in Wi. frost below a driveway will go 7 feet down. It is impossible for blacktop to last in these conditions. When the frost is leaving anything heavy traveling on top will destroy it. Concrete deals with this better because it has strength which creates other problems but overall is much better.

 

[Rt jam]

I'm in southern Ontario. We have freezing temps in the winter and snow. There is another driveway to shovel but I can just ignore the snow on the west side for a couple years. My truck will not get stuck with a few inches of snow and it usually melts in a few days. The dirt under the house is a very dense clay like substance.

I just keep hearing horror stories about new driveways sinking in spots where the car is parked. That is the only reason I considered letting it settle for a couple of years.

Pretty sure concrete is out of my budget. The proposed driveway area is 4.25 x 17.75 m. It would need 2 window wells. My quote is 10k and 12k Canadian for same with 10m concrete divider to separate driveway and grass.

 

[75gmck25]

I am in Virginia and it's very common for suppliers to stock bulk Bluestone gravel in various sizes.

I have found that it works to dig the area out a few inches and then add barrier cloth, and on top of that you put a good thick layer of #57 size Bluestone gravel, then tamp the #57 gravel and cover it with another inch (or more) of Bluestone dust. As you tamp it down and drive on it the "dust" sifts down in the #57 gravel and the base interlocks really well. Running a vehicle over it will disturb the dust layer on top and might make some tracks, but it is not enough the disturb the #57 stone base.

The stone base also holds a lot of water underground in the stone, so in my case it also solved drainage problems caused by my clay soil.

 

[mikegt4]

I am currently working on an expansion of my driveway. I removed all the vegetation and tamped down my hard clay with my track loader then spread a layer of #2 limestone as a base. Tamped that down with my loader and topped it with #304 gravel. Tamped that down with the loader then ran over it with my plate compacter. The compacted #304 ends up almost like like concrete, it's commonly used around here for heavily trafficked "gravel" driveways.

 

[Jazz1]

im fine with gravel..theres a method to snow removal on gravel
Asphalt or concrete would increase my taxes so never happening….My neighbour had 50’x200’ paved stretch done..with a guarantee of no standing water after rain…contractor had to return and redo 30% of driveway. Use a contractor with good references…base prep is not cheap when done correctly

 

[njk4o5]

Here in Wi. frost below a driveway will go 7 feet down. It is impossible for blacktop to last in these conditions. When the frost is leaving anything heavy traveling on top will destroy it. Concrete deals with this better because it has strength which creates other problems but overall is much better.

what do they make your roads out of?

I'm in Maine, we havnt really ever had frost depths over 18" i'm surprised wisconsin is that much colder

 

[green manalishi]

im fine with gravel..theres a method to snow removal on gravel
Asphalt or concrete would increase my taxes so never happening….My neighbour had 50’x200’ paved stretch done..with a guarantee of no standing water after rain…contractor had to return and redo 30% of driveway. Use a contractor with good references…base prep is not cheap when done correctly

What is the snow removal on gravel trick?

 

[Firebrick43]

What is the snow removal on gravel trick?

Slot a piece of pipe and weld attach ears to it. Slip the pipe over the cutting edge and bolt the ears with plow bolts to the moldboard.

Or get decently sized skids to lift the blade. Many skids are way too small

 

[Firebrick43]

what do they make your roads out of?

I'm in Maine, we havnt really ever had frost depths over 18" i'm surprised wisconsin is that much colder

https://www.nrcc.cornell.edu/services/research/reports/RR_96-1.pdf

They have had frost depths of 90” over the past 25 years. Page 18 (24 of pdf).

 

[PCustoms]

what do they make your roads out of?

I'm in Maine, we havnt really ever had frost depths over 18" i'm surprised wisconsin is that much colder

Where in Maine?

Gets a lot deeper then 18" in most winters...

 

[Codyboy]

When I hear some talk about "gravel" as a base I think they're talking about actual gravel which is round.
I've never seen gravel which is round pack at all.
You'd probably want road base that is angular in shape. Packs very well.

But I know some refer to both as "gravel".

 

[PCustoms]

When I hear some talk about "gravel" as a base I think they're talking about actual gravel which is round.
I've never seen gravel which is round pack at all.
You'd probably want road base that is angular in shape. Packs very well.

But I know some refer to both as "gravel".

I've never heard of gravel as exclusively round Rock

 

[fitter30]

Driveway is 1/4 mile of chat and a 40x60 parking lot in front of40 x30 garage. Use kubota bx 1850 subcompact tractor. With 3" pvc pipe sliced lengthwise on both the edge of bucket and rear blade. Use the bucket for the parking lot to push the snow with bucket floating. Blade for the drive have it set 2" above the road and the blade floats on high area's. Bucket for the transition from blacktop road to drive.

 

[Dagny]

Driveway frost dept is deeper cause we plow all the snow off.

 

[Codyboy]

I've never heard of gravel as exclusively round Rock

gravel​

1 of 3

noun​

grav·el ˈgra-vəl

Synonyms of gravel
1
obsolete : sand

2
a
: loose rounded fragments of rock
b
: a stratum or deposit of gravel
also : a surface covered with gravel
a gravel road

Wiki
Colloquially, the term gravel is often used to describe a mixture of different size pieces of stone mixed with sand and possibly some clay.[1] The American construction industry distinguishes between gravel (a natural material) and crushed stone (produced artificially by mechanical crushing of rock.)

Crushed stone
rock crushed and graded by screens and then mixed to a blend of stones and fines. It is widely used as a surfacing for roads and driveways, sometimes with tar applied over it. Crushed stone may be made from granite, limestone, dolomite, and other rocks. Also known as "crusher run", DGA (dense grade aggregate) QP (quarry process), and shoulder stone.[30] Crushed stone is distinguished from gravel by the U.S. Geological Survey

 

[mikedodge]

People put new paved driveways in all the time. There shouldn't be any problem with it using a reputable company.

We have one paved and other gravel driveway and parking areas. Gravel is no big deal to shovel after the first snowfall or two but it will get stuff growing in it over time and will also get ruts and sink marks over time with regular use and heavy vehicle parking but at least you can fix that pretty easily.

 

[Firebrick43]

I've never heard of gravel as exclusively round Rock

Here if you ask for gravel you get round rock dig from the river and creek banks.

Because it’s local most of my neighbors have gravel drives and the roads used to be until we complained on how terrible they are about 15 years ago.

Stone or crushed stone is hauled in from the quarry

One neighbor thought I was uppity for spending money to have stone brought in to build my drive.

The roads are 4 times better that our county uses limestone now. I dread having to drive the truck across the river after a rain, their county still uses gravel

 

[PCustoms]

Here if you ask for gravel you get round rock dig from the river and creek banks.

Because it’s local most of my neighbors have gravel drives and the roads used to be until we complained on how terrible they are about 15 years ago.

Stone or crushed stone is hauled in from the quarry

One neighbor thought I was uppity for spending money to have stone brought in to build my drive.

The roads are 4 times better that our county uses limestone now. I dread having to drive the truck across the river after a rain, their county still uses gravel

Around here "bank run" is the sand/gravel/stone as dug from the old riverbed.

Everything else is processed to some degree. From the local yard:

 

[Jazz1]

What is the snow removal on gravel trick?

we pack the snow with pickup until we got 4” smooth hard pack..then anything after that gets plowed or blown, ice stays froze till the end of March…

 

[reader2580]

I started the install of an asphalt driveway in fall of 2001. The company recommended they put the base in and then wait until spring to install the asphalt. There had previously just been a dirt driveway.

 

[mikedodge]

we pack the snow with pickup until we got 4” smooth hard pack..then anything after that gets plowed or blown, ice stays froze till the end of March…

Ours always gets plowed from the 1st time it needs it. The popular thing here now is tractor snowblowers and that doesn't go to well with it.

 

[Jazz1]

Ours always gets plowed from the 1st time it needs it. The popular thing here now is tractor snowblowers and that doesn't go to well with it.

I have a blower on my SS16,,#1 reason to have a frozen base on driveway..

 

[mm08822]

Remove all grass and growing matter, compact, underlayment mat, gravel, compact, wait a year dress, compact, asphalt.

And depending on surface water/freezing temps, having a means to drain the base.

A stabilized asphalt base (coarse gravel within) is more durable than the finer residential grade asphalt top coat.

 

[75gmck25]

Another consideration might be if you have any restrictions for Floor Area Ratio (which includes areas covered by driveways and sidewalks). A gravel driveway is water permeable, so if they do a FAR calculation before approving a building permit, the gravel driveway does not count against you.

It seems that "gravel" has a different meaning in some areas, but I always assumed it was smooth stone dug directly out of the ground or a river bed. This means the stones are smooth enough to shift and slide against each other when you drive or walk on it. When you use crushed stone instead it will be very rough and angular, and that makes it harder to move. If you add smaller and smaller stone (and/or stone dust) on top, it will usually pack down and completely interlock.

 

[pl_silverado]

Another consideration might be if you have any restrictions for Floor Area Ratio (which includes areas covered by driveways and sidewalks). A gravel driveway is water permeable, so if they do a FAR calculation before approving a building permit, the gravel driveway does not count against you.

It seems that "gravel" has a different meaning in some areas, but I always assumed it was smooth stone dug directly out of the ground or a river bed. This means the stones are smooth enough to shift and slide against each other when you drive or walk on it. When you use crushed stone instead it will be very rough and angular, and that makes it harder to move. If you add smaller and smaller stone (and/or stone dust) on top, it will usually pack down and completely interlock.

Not in my retarded township, they told me that they consider a gravel driveway an impermeable surface and it counts towards my impervious allotment.

 

[Bill T]

In my area, concrete is considered an "asset" and will raise your property taxes. Asphalt drives are considered temporary and will not raise the taxes. Kind of screwy but real.
In our area, granite is the stone of choice. For a drive placed on cut (not fill), go down at least 4-5". Remove all organics. Compact with vibratory compactor if possible to 135-140 psi (think compacting several times with at least a 10 ton roller if possible for a permenent drive). Put down 2-3" of #57 stone to help drainage. Roll this, but you will not get true compaction due to no fines. Next put down crusher run. Here crusher run is crushed granite around 5/8"-1'' with fines. When compacted, dampen the crusher run (just dampen), then compact to around 140psi. I realize 99% of folks do not have access to testing equipment. Just roll it in with a vibratory compactor if possible. It is good when you get 1/2" or less deflection when the drive is proof-rolled. If placed in this manner, a gravel drive will have just as long a life as asphalt (provided it does not get destroyed removing snow). Not a factor in the south where I live.

 

[Stuart in MN]

It seems that "gravel" has a different meaning in some areas

Whether it's called gravel or crushed stone or something else, yes the definitions depend on where you live. It's probably not really important in this discussion.

If you have the luxury of letting the driveway settle and compact for a couple years before having asphalt put down I think that's the best choice. There is the issue of a dirty garage floor and tracking dirt into the house, not only when it rains but especially in the spring when the frost goes out of the ground.