Driveway gravel

[jfsawatzky]

This would be my preference also. I put snow tires on both mine and the wife's car every winter, so it's absolutely no issue for either of us to break trail and march up the hill to the road in 4-6" of new snow. But then an amazon van comes down the drive, or grandma picks up my kiddos from school, or a stranger is lost... and they get stuck fast.

But even more than that - if I leave too much snow on the driveway, it eventually compacts into an ice sheet up here in colder Michigan. Like, a literal 2-3" thick sheet of glare ice. Again our snow tires can pretty easily drive uphill on it still, but it's deadly for anyone venturing down on all-season tires.

I'm probably going to start keeping a sand/gravel mix pile under a tarp or crude roof, so that it can stay dry and still be scoop-able in late winter.

To expand on this a little… do you drive and pack the snow to create a firm base before plowing early in the season, so that you are not constantly digging into the gravel? That should help to minimize the gravel that’s pushed off your drive. It gets a bit more challenging when you have melts part way thru the winter like this year. The flip side of this depends on the vehicles and tires you use in the winter. All season tires could lead to other issues.

 

[dberkes]

 

[CaptFerd]

I use a 2 stage blower that is set with 1" wide feet 1" above the gravel. Dont plow down the middle if its higher there. No gravel issues. Truck packs the 1" snow just fine with no slip sliding issues.

 

[LHoyer]

For small jobs and smaller rock, use sweeper attachment for string trimmer, either brush or paddle type.

 

[FERLING]

I use a landscape rake angled for my 1/2 mile driveway and just try to get them the best I can. That is mostly 1-2" crusher stone so they are larger pieces. My parking area near the house is smaller gravel and I just started using the broom/sweeper attachment for my Stihl Kombi system. It puts it al back in the driveway in about an hour or less and keeps my grass where it was.

If the snow was still mixed in you could move the pile back to the driveway and let it melt so the stone ends up back on the drive.

Smart Smart Reply. It works like a charm on your gravel driveway to raise packed gravel back to the surface. Saves me from buying gravel a lot of years. I do 45 degree angle scrape rocks from side to middle. Then no angle and level center from 45 degree scraping. Creates a nice crown effect for rain water run off. Get a 7 or 8 ft width so at 45 degree it will cover tire tracks.

 

[Tony H]

With the snow piles melting, I'm now seeing the gravel that got picked up and left on the grass. Here and there, with a few "piles".

Anyone have any tricks/tips to share on how they put it all back on the driveway, where it belongs? Picking up individual stones (put into a bucket or tossed back) gets tedious FAST.

https://www.stihlusa.com/products/multi-task-tools/kombisystem-attachments/kwpwrswp/

My neighbor use to Leaf Rake it in piles, on and off, for weeks. He bought this attachment for his Stihl power head and now it's a few hours on a 400' driveway. Of course the best way is to plow high in the beginning of the season until you get a super packed base of snow. The rest of the winter your stones are covered. If the snow piles are still there and not too icy. Backstage them onto the driveway and let the stones melt back on the driveway.

 

[Tony H]

I bought a Stihl Yard Boss power sweeper a few this years ago to clean up the grass around my gravel road. I know they are a little pricey, but I have tried most everything and they work the best!View attachment 735794

This is what I mentioned in my Post. They truly work wonders on #2 stone (about 3/4" to 2" sized stone)

 

[Buggs67]

I plow the melting snow back onto the driveway. And then I use the backpack blower along the edges after all melts but before the mower pushes it into the lawn.

 

[Tony H]

That’s funny. But some folks actually believe child labor laws apply to one’s own kids at home.

Dad used to pay us 1 penny per fly swatted.

My dad used to say " you living here for free? You need to pitch in when you are told" now finish you bottle, get you diaper changed and get outside
Ok the last part. I made up. I was out of diapers before he put the lawnmower in my hands

 

[tpaulson]

We rent a pull behind power sweeper from our local rental place for about $100 for 4 hrs. We pull behind the mower or atv. It works pretty well to get the bulk of the rocks picked up. It does pick up dried grass clippings with the rocks too, so we usually dump somewhere not on the main driveway that we want a little bit of gravel but don't care if it has some grass mixed in.

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[deezler]

To expand on this a little… do you drive and pack the snow to create a firm base before plowing early in the season, so that you are not constantly digging into the gravel? That should help to minimize the gravel that’s pushed off your drive. It gets a bit more challenging when you have melts part way thru the winter like this year. The flip side of this depends on the vehicles and tires you use in the winter. All season tires could lead to other issues.

Yes, when it works out that way. We only get 40-60" of snow every winter, down here in the southeast corner of the mitten. Often in fits and spurts, with occasional thaws.

But yes, when I see a strong stretch of winter coming and the driveway is bare, we let the first 2-4" of snow get packed into the drive. I was able to have a few very efficient plowing sessions this year when I could go full speed and not even think about the blade behind me doing any damage.

But now it has been above freezing during the day for most of the past couple weeks, and I still have solid ice chunk sections of my driveway. We got iced up pretty dang hard this year; never melted off completely, since new years.

 

[FROGSTEPHEN]

I have a big heavy Rhino rear blade. Offset, angle, tilt - brings the "lost" gravel right back up out of the ditches. The only grass I have is right down the center of my driveway.
View attachment 735817

Wife drives normal in driveway, I drive to the right going & coming, helps keep grass down in middle.

 

[BLKDOGFARM]

I bought a Stihl Yard Boss power sweeper a few years ago to clean up the grass around my gravel road. I know they are a little pricey, but I have tried most everything and they work the best!View attachment 735794

Agree Power Sweeper is the way to go. Maybe you can rent one from the local small engine shop or Grand Rental if you only need it 1-2 days per year.

 

[ruffdog]

Wife drives normal in driveway, I drive to the right going & coming, helps keep grass down in middle.

^^^Same here. It also keeps it all packed down evenly.

 

[STAYSAFE]

The Amish method $ave$ and gives you free exercise. With gas over $4 now.........

 

[gstrom99]

The Amish method $ave$ and gives you free exercise. With gas over $4 now...

by pulling the sweeper with a horse, but then they could leave other piles to pick up...

Update...
I actually just spent an hour out there. Seems the worst of it is/was what the loader bucket scooped up, when I was clearing add'l piles. Seems the snow piles melted a bit and left the stone on top. There were piles of stone, that I could scoop up with snow easily. Some was still ice encased though. The blade only scooped a fairly small bit, to the side of the drive. Still more work to do.

 

[mkendrix]

That’s why my driveway( almost a half mile) is processed road gravel. The little bit plowed off into the pasture doesn’t hurt the grass. I top coated it about 12 years ago and it’s just now getting to the point of needing it again.

 

[gstrom99]

Update... The big shop vac is working well, albeit slow. Early now, there is not much grass/junk and it also picks up even the little bits of gravel that nothing else would. The cyclonic action in the tank separates the grass pretty well too.

 

[bigtiller]

Did any strangers wave at you as they drove by?

I know it looks odd, I have seen a couple drivers point and wave at me while I vacuum the lawn.

 

[gstrom99]

Luckily, no.