new driveway time

[87GN]

The township is replacing all the curbs in the 'hood. They'll give me 3 extra feet of opening at the street without applying for a permit. So, I decided it's time to do the driveway. What should I be looking for as far as type of stone, how much, how thick, and what kind of macadam and how thick? Is the stuff they use on highways available to the homeowner? Thanks.

Mark

 

[Kevin54]

Not sure what macadam is but i am assuming asphalt. If it is, then driveway mix is different than road mix. But you would want a good compacted base with crushed stone probably along the size of No.8 (approx. 3/4" in size) The depth of what you would need depends on what type of soil, what is already there, etc. If you are going over an existing drive, then the base that you have (if gravel) may just need scraped somewhat as it would be compacted, then just add to the edges. If it is concrete then you should have a good base under it, but it will be disturbed tearing the old out so should be recompacted. The tighter the base the better. If there is no drive at all where you are going to put one, you would want base stone ( not sure of the number but the size of a tennis ball) put in first, compacted down, then 8's over the top of that.

 

[87GN]

Thanks for the reply. I'm replacing and expanding the current driveway and not sure what to ask for as far as materials.
Mark

 

[Non Member]

Now I know who took my screen name....www.turbobuick.com

 

[john56h]

Unless you have muddy conditions or poor soil, such as clay or spongy organic type stuff...I would imagine 6"-8" thickness of subbase gravel would do. You would definately want to strip off the topsoil and compact the sub-grade before placing and compacting the subbase gravel. There are many different versions of subbase gravels available. Some are "run-of-bank" materials straight from a good natural sand bank, while others are man-made mixtures of crushed stone, sand and stone dust that packs well. If you call a quarry or sand bank and ask about subbase roadway materials, you'll be going in the right direction.