Driveway/Road choices

[Skip Fix]

So for you road building experts what are the pros and cons and costs of different materials as I get lots of opinions. I need roughly 600 ft from the road to the shop. Right now the county put in the culvert and it looks like crushed granite /feldspar almost over it. Then needs to go through hay pasture. It will double as the driveway to the house once it gets built(shop/garage was the first priority right!). Gravel leveled, Crushed concrete over scraped off organic then limed dirt, crushed limestone.

Any thoughts?

 

[stikman56]

I'm no road expert, but here most people put the fabric down, then gravel. The fabric keeps the gravel from sinking until the end of time, making more gravel almost not ever needed. It's said to be one of the best kept secrets about gravel driveways. We are using it for the 140 feet to the shop when we build the new house. It's pretty cheap too.

 

[bookman51]

I'm no road expert, but here most people put the fabric down, then gravel. The fabric keeps the gravel from sinking until the end of time, making more gravel almost not ever needed. It's said to be one of the best kept secrets about gravel driveways. We are using it for the 140 feet to the shop when we build the new house. It's pretty cheap too.

Tell me more about the fabric. Where does one get it...and what kind of costs?

 

[stikman56]

Tell me more about the fabric. Where does one get it...and what kind of costs?

Not sure where you get it, the excavator we are using is doing it when they build the driveway. He said and I'm trying to remember here, a 300' roll I believe and it's 12 feet wide and it costs,??? I am trying to remember, we got a bid for all the work start to finish for this project, was 11 grand. All I was interested in to be honest, was the entire cost. I think he said around $350.00 for the roll.

 

[hoppsxc140]

Our local water works/irrigation supplier carries these types of products.
I'd give these guys a call and see who is local to you.

http://www.usfabricsinc.com/products/wovenstabilization

 

[bookman51]

Not sure where you get it, the excavator we are using is doing it when they build the driveway. He said and I'm trying to remember here, a 300' roll I believe and it's 12 feet wide and it costs,??? I am trying to remember, we got a bid for all the work start to finish for this project, was 11 grand. All I was interested in to be honest, was the entire cost. I think he said around $350.00 for the roll.

Thanks

 

[finn]

I would imagine the fabric would be helpful only if your subsoil is unstable. It would be a waste of time and money if you have good soil conditions.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

I'm using large cracked stone as a base layer. Most of the rocks are about 3". Driving on it to compact it and I'll put a smaller gravel/sand/clay mix over that. Around here they refer to the mix as road gravel or CA6. For some of the existing lane/driveway they used the road gravel (and some fabric?). They also laid asphalt over part of it. Without the larger rock to create a solid base it gets soft.

After I have a solid drive I can either pour concrete or have asphalt laid on top of it. Without a solid base nothing will hold up.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I'm using large cracked stone as a base layer. Most of the rocks are about 3".

Depending on where you live, crushed concrete is a good, low cost, alternative for base material. Make sure to request "no metal".

Driving on it to compact it ....

That is tough on tires unless you are driving over it with a medium/heavy duty truck. If you don't want to pay for a roller, I would wait a full year or at least a winter/spring freeze/thaw cycle before putting on the top layer just to see how far it sinks.

... and I'll put a smaller gravel/sand/clay mix over that. Around here they refer to the mix as road gravel or CA6. For some of the existing lane/driveway they used the road gravel (and some fabric?). They also laid asphalt over part of it. Without the larger rock to create a solid base it gets soft.

Some parts of the country apply a more "liquid" asphalt product over the finished (compacted) top (finer) level of gravel. It takes a couple of days to harden and it does have to be re-coated every few years, but it is less expensive.

After I have a solid drive I can either pour concrete or have asphalt laid on top of it. Without a solid base nothing will hold up.

Yes, that is the advantage of a good gravel base driveway. You can always lay asphalt or concrete over it in the future.

 

[Craddosk]

How to build a great road.

Remove all overburden until you are on clay or similar impervious material. Grade and pack. Lay woven geotextile fabric and bring to <6 inches from grade with road crush. Compact as much as possible. Last six inches bring to grade using washed rock crush. Compact as much as possible.

 

[bmxdad]

We have a hard rock quarry near by called Lynch Creek, and they have a crushed blue-grey hard rock basalt... good stuff for a drive way. The 1-1/4" packs down like concrete with no loose stones and very few tailings or dust in it. Its a little more expensive, but looks nice. It's better then normal crushed rocks, which will break down over time. I also dusted a layer of salt about 6 month ago, and no grass or weeds have shown yet. But I have a small 30' drive ... your 10x that.

 

[ms fowler]

Depending on your subgrade conditions, you may want to consider a geo-grid as opposed to fabric. Geo-grid is much heavier, and the openings are sized to lock up with the stone whether you use %57 or CR2. Talk to a supplier.
I also like recycled concrete if its available close by. Pick out the odd rebar so you don't puncture a ture, but RC is a great product.

 

[MagKarl]

No such thing as "no metal" recycled concrete in my experience. The stuff around here has a ton of wire from mesh in it. Spread and track down with a dozer, and then pick through and remove as much wire and rebar as you can find. Then cover with several inches of crushed rock to avoid flat tires.

 

[MikeMustang]

My driveway is aproximately 1/4 mile. My contractor put down what we call crush and run. Looks similar to what was posted earlier. It compacts to a very hard base. After 2 years of driving on it we put in a 4 inch concrete driveway with fiber 200 yards) and haven't had a single crack. Concrete has been in place for 2 years now. The crush and run was 6 inches.

 

[bookman51]

No such thing as "no metal" recycled concrete in my experience. The stuff around here has a ton of wire from mesh in it. Spread and track down with a dozer, and then pick through and remove as much wire and rebar as you can find. Then cover with several inches of crushed rock to avoid flat tires.

I will second that. I have had several loads of crushed rock put on my driveway over the past few years. I run over it with a handheld magnet sweep a few times and always get some metal. And then later I get more metal. So far (knock on wood) no flat tires. The crushed rock last better than gravel or road rock, but it all eventually sinks down into the ground in my driveway. Looking for a longer term solution.

 

[BillK]

Skip,
Might be a regional thing but another possibility is using asphalt millings. It is what they get when they mill the top layer off a road to resurface it. Not sure of the cost. A good friend of mine did his driveway and the one at his business with it. It packs down almost like a road.

 

[stikman56]

I would imagine the fabric would be helpful only if your subsoil is unstable. It would be a waste of time and money if you have good soil conditions.

I've found that here even where it's clay, it still goes down and down and down without the fabric. We get a lot of rain.

 

[boiler7904]

Skip,
Might be a regional thing but another possibility is using asphalt millings. It is what they get when they mill the top layer off a road to resurface it. Not sure of the cost. A good friend of mine did his driveway and the one at his business with it. It packs down almost like a road.

It also doesn't produce as much dust when you drive over it.

 

[Oldmaple]

Asphalt millings is what I'm going to try for my drive. I've talked to several people who have used it for their drives and my excavator. All have said good things about it.

 

[Moose02]

I did my 360 ft driveway with asphalt millings it has been down for almost 2 years now. I do have some ruts in it but for the most part it stayed as laid. I did around 16 dump trucks full and got it all free from the county as they were working locally and cost them less to go to my drive to dump than back to their work yard.
think I'll need another load to fill in some of the ruts