Why do I need gravel again?

[tomplum]

My big driveway turn around area up top is compacted, no pot holes but a lowish spot on the driver's side of where my lovely wife gets out of her car. During heavy rains, her foot can find a 1" puddle in a low spot. Early fall I took my DR grader that I use on my three point, stir gravel up and nudging the low area w/ extra mix. Still.

So my middle of the road option here is a big old truck of gravel. It's probably been 5 years, so probably 1200$ Should I err on a finer grind? Not that they have much variance to offer. At least didn't in the past. 5/8" minus, maybe 3/4" minus. I haven't called. Am I on the right track? Working it w/ the DR, is maybe not aggressive enough or maybe it's just time for gravel.

My other options I've pretty much discounted. A new purple pair of water proof shoes for her on the low end or replacing the wife. I can't afford that, nor I guess would want to.

 

[34Willys]

Was there a tree stump or large rock dug out from that area?
You may need to dig that spot up and fill with gabion, then smaller crushed rock, then top with your 3/4 fines. Road filter fabric helps, but not very practical to small patch with.
I've covered small tree trunk holes with 3/4 minus, and the mud always seemed to work it's way up while your tire or boot sinks down.

Patrick

 

[Cycledude]

Maybe pour a nice concrete slab for your wife to park her car on or even cover the entire driveway with concrete.

 

[oldnslo]

How long had the driveway been there? I had a sinking spot in drive that was a few years old. Finally grabbed a shovel and started digging. Found was clay goo down around 1 1/2 to two feet. Dug through that and refilled with rock then road mix gravel. Never had a problem in 10 years lived there after that.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I'd dig or scrape out that spot and put in 4"-8" rock, then put your gravel back on top

 

[Shawn T. W.]

To expound on my previous post ... This is what I did . . Just after my house that I ended up buying went on the market, the sellers were informed that there verbal right of way over there cousins private road did not convey ... They put in a hasty, but "pretty" new driveway through the front hayfield ... Come rainy season it turned into a swamp ... As they just skimmed off the top 4"-6" of sod, and sprinkled on some 1" base, some would call it 1" minus ...

I was planning on widening the driveway anyways, so I scooped off the top layer of sod near the county road, discovering how close the water table was, and hence why it was so swampy?

This is from just the UPS truck!

I pulled the T-posts, and dug out the multi-flora roses ... See the water?

I got stuck a few times with my Little Baby Fergie ... !

So I ended up scooping up some of that 1" base to dump in the area I was getting stuck! (As I was planning on putting down bigger stuff there ...)

Added 4"-10" rock ...

Then it rained overnight ...

I told the rock/gravel guy to just keep bringing me rock until I couldn't see any more water! Then we brought in the smaller 2" rock and spread down 4" over the top of the roughly 16" - 20" deep of the big rocks ... I packed and smoothed that all down with my little TLB, then my pickup, brought in another 4" of of the 2" clean rock, spread it out.

And eventually brought in my semi-truck to pack it in ... Notice how much this 50,000 pound load was "sinking"!

Then I brought in some 2" base, put down a 4" layer, packed that in, then another 4" layer of the 2" base ...

It was starting to stack up!

After a couple of months ... I added another 4” layer of the 1" base ... And kept after it with my land plane, and it turned out very good, but notice I didn't really do much to the original problem area that the seller didn't put down a good base/foundation, I simply added the 2" rock ON TOP OF the original little 1" base ...

 

[Shawn T. W.]

With all that said ... The point I'm trying to make, is the original area didn't have the "big" rocks, just the pretty 1" base (which I added the 2" on top of! - big rocks should go on the bottom!) ... Over the course of the next two years I noticed it started to settle ...

Since I had been screening some dirt for my garden, I had acquired a "few" rocks!

So ... I set about to scrape out the stuff I put down on that side where the original new driveway they put in was ...

I scooped/scraped out a good amount!

Then ... I bought in the other rock I had salvaged from my screening ...

Then spread the other gravel back over it!

Two years later, it's still holding up!

I knew in my heart when I was doing the original expansion, that I "Should" dig out and put the big rock down first ... But I was in a hurry, and the gravel guy said the 2" rock would be fine ...

 

[Rockbadchild]

Its settlement, the weight of the gravel and vehicles push the material underneath down and out, you must have a soft spot there from ground water retention or organic material or simply settlement. Unless you dig and put a foot or two of gravel back on top which is expensive to do it's inevitable depending on original ground composition... I would simply keep putting gravel on top, it's certainly annoying but the cheapest and easiest option at this point and yes 3/4 inch minus is the best material for that.

If you want the problem to be fix for ever and have a bunch of money to spare then yes scrape your good material out, dig original ground down 12 to 16'' and put 12'' of 2'' minus and put 4'' of 3/4'' minus back on top.

 

[tomplum]

The drive has existed pretty much for 30 years as it sits now. I never really thought about a tree previously being there or that it has been soft due to something decomposing. But that makes sense. It's pretty much in the middle so it isn't like the gravel is getting pushed off to the side. I've expanded the top area a little over the years and even that seems fine, though not really any traffic there.

 

[tomplum]

Maybe pour a nice concrete slab for your wife to park her car on or even cover the entire driveway with concrete.

Now, that would be too nice

 

[paulsharvey]

Maybe pour a nice concrete slab for your wife to park her car on or even cover the entire driveway with concrete.

$1200 buys a 9x28 ft, 6" thick parking pad. if you shorten to 21 ft, you can get 12 ft wide.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Shawn T.W., you really should consider buying a tractor.

 

[Rockbadchild]

The drive has existed pretty much for 30 years as it sits now. I never really thought about a tree previously being there or that it has been soft due to something decomposing. But that makes sense. It's pretty much in the middle so it isn't like the gravel is getting pushed off to the side. I've expanded the top area a little over the years and even that seems fine, though not really any traffic there.

When I said the weight push the material underneath down and out I mean depending of the type of soil what happen is the downwards pressure from the gravel and vehicles over the years push the softer soil in and it curve outwards and back up literally lifting the ground next to the road.

 

[Rockbadchild]

$1200 buys a 9x28 ft, 6" thick parking pad. if you shorten to 21 ft, you can get 12 ft wide.

without a proper base it would still settle

 

[paulsharvey]

without a proper base it would still settle

Unless you are on expansive clay, or organic muck; its normally poured on compacted clean fill (sand). If he had gravel there, I kinda assumed he had a decent base

 

[Rockbadchild]

Unless you are on expansive clay, or organic muck; its normally poured on compacted clean fill (sand). If he had gravel there, I kinda assumed he had a decent base

Since he currently have settlement my assumption is he doesn't have a descent base.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, if im reading this right; its a reoccurring, 1", area? How big of area is it? Im thinking it might not be settlement, but from wheel turning?

If it is settlement, mark out the area with some paint, square it up nice, and loose the material up about 3" deep, and add about 2" of loose material too it; and recompact. Don't loosen the entire parking area, just the area with them problem. Should be about 1000-1500 lbs of material (i figured about 8 ft x 8 ft) so a pick up load, if there is a source local that you can pick up small homeowner quantities.

lengthxwidth/9=square yards. 100#/inch of thickness per square yard

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Shawn T.W., you really should consider buying a tractor.

I tried! But back 4 years ago there were no TLB's available other than this and a BX23! And couldn't even get a contractor to call me back to get this driveway project done, so I could get my semi-truck into my yard ...

While it doesn't have a loader, I got this last summer ... It doesn't crab walk like my Little Baby Fergie!

I'm looking into buying a smaller house for retirement ... Depending on the actual property ... I've been looking at something like a little Cat D3 ... A little dirt pusher! But still keep Little Baby Fergie, and maybe this one too!

However ... As pictured above ... While it took longer, My Little Baby Fergie was up to the job! I used what I had ... Much better than a wheelbarrow and shovel!!!

 

[yanmars]

If that is a MF it does not look like a baby

 

[Shawn T. W.]

If that is a MF it does not look like a baby

I have 2 tractors - my little overgrown lawnmower a Massey Ferguson GC 1725 MB pictured doing the driveway work in posts #6 & #7 then just recently got the Kubota L5030 pictured in post #18 ... And here ...