Gravel Driveway using Grid products to reduce washout

[jyoutz]

Yes. As someone who has ridden trails for a long time and made some miles of them on my own. You know you’re riding and older trail if it has water bars. The new trails are designed with smooth rolling dips, the trail holds up better and I think it’s more enjoyable also.

Unfortunately with driveways you don’t always have freedom to do the dips and don’t forget straight down is less distance and less gravel

We use water bars on logging skid trails and temporary roads that are intended to be closed. Rolling dips are used for open, drivable roads.

 

[jhendric]

Folks, thanks for all the replies and I apologize for not being more engaged on the thread I started. To fill in a bit more detail my driveway is a quarter Mile long with about 200' being on a steep incline with a curve. I do feel it could benefit from cutting my ditches a bit deeper/more defined, but I am limited in doing so on the uphill side as ATT laid fiber on that side. I am WAAAY farther than ATT's standard distance so I am very unwilling to give them an excuse not to replace the fiber (frankly I'm not sure why they laid it in the first place). THe Crusher run was laid on thick when the drive was built 5 years ago, but with any hard rain it gets rutted to where a box blading is necessary. I though about the grid stuff on the hill and am also thinking about the Highway guard rail channel drain idea. The other Idea I have is scraping a berm of crusher run on the uphil side of the drive to create a better ditch (aka building up versus digging down). Thoughts?

 

[2manyrocks]

Using crusher run to avoid digging is a good idea when you already have washing and dont want to make it worse by loosening the existing material.

 

[jyoutz]

Perhaps building the road surface up with a larger heavier rock, then topping with crusher run.

 

[2manyrocks]

I haven’t added larger rock on top of an existing gravel road to know what it will do. I have put down larger rock on dirt on a hillside drive as base. It seems to be more resistant to washing out than smaller rock or crusher run.

If you posted a picture, that would help the rest of us see what you are dealing with.

 

[D&D]

Looking at this another way. What is the cost for a 4 inch thick concrete slab at 9 feet wide based on concrete material only.

If your going to excavate 12 inches to build a base for the plastic grid, why not excavate 8 inches and put in 4 inch gravel base and then add 4 inch wire reinforced concrete?

To build the plastic grid surface requires 12 inch deep stone base at 9 wide by 3 running feet of driveway is one cubic yard of stone, at a delivered cost of $40 ( approx) and add the plastic grid which is either $2.89 of $4.38 per square foot according to their web site. Larger quantities are quoted.

Presume concrete price is $150 a yard. A 4 inch by 9 foot wide by 9 running feet slab of concrete is a cubic yard, so $150 divided by 81 square feet yields a price per square foot of $1.85 for material.

The concrete will require a 4 inch base at approx cost of $0.50 per square foot

Sum of concrete base plus concrete slab per square foot is $2.15 or less than either one of the grid costs for grid only.

I've not included labor or machine time cost for either since presumed roughly equal so a wash.

Am I missing anything?

I wish, locally gravel is $65/yd and concrete is at $220/yd. One of the drivers told me last week they’re talking 300 by summer. 80 lb bags are 5.50 each x 45 = 247.50

To the OP, there are a few geo grid products out there. Some come in rolls for large format jobs

 

[paulsharvey]

I wish, locally gravel is $65/yd and concrete is at $220/yd. One of the drivers told me last week they’re talking 300 by summer. 80 lb bags are 5.50 each x 45 = 247.50

To the OP, there are a few geo grid products out there. Some come in rolls for large format jobs

At $65/yard, I would Not do a gravel and geogrid, over $220/yard concrete. Just materials alone, that grid isn't cheap, and concrete, typical is 6", but for residential, I wouldn't feel bad about doing 5", or maybe a True 4" (not 3.5") with wire. The gravel and grid, the grid originally linked, i belive called for a base of 6" of rock, then grid and 4" of rock. So, I think our OP said 300ftx12×0.5=1800cf=67 cy concrete=$14,740

300x12x0.8333=3000 cf=111 cy=$7215 in rock, plus atleast $3600 in grid=$10,815.

We can decrease our costs in several ways; drop 12 ft drive to 10 ft or even as low as 9 ft; we can do 2 each, 30" wide tire tracks; we can go to 4 or 5" of concrete; and we can likely get the cost to below the gravel and grid....

 

[paulsharvey]

Actually, so... I went back and reread your original post, and you installed a good base material originally, pretty thick, and erosion is most of the issue, correct?

Double Application Chip Seal, you can likely have the entire drive double application chip sealed, all 1360LF, 12 ft width, around $7500,

 

[D&D]

At $65/yard, I would Not do a gravel and geogrid, over $220/yard concrete. Just materials alone, that grid isn't cheap, and concrete, typical is 6", but for residential, I wouldn't feel bad about doing 5", or maybe a True 4" (not 3.5") with wire. The gravel and grid, the grid originally linked, i belive called for a base of 6" of rock, then grid and 4" of rock. So, I think our OP said 300ftx12×0.5=1800cf=67 cy concrete=$14,740

300x12x0.8333=3000 cf=111 cy=$7215 in rock, plus atleast $3600 in grid=$10,815.

We can decrease our costs in several ways; drop 12 ft drive to 10 ft or even as low as 9 ft; we can do 2 each, 30" wide tire tracks; we can go to 4 or 5" of concrete; and we can likely get the cost to below the gravel and grid....

My answer was in two parts, hence the separation. I was not suggesting what he should do. I was just letting him know there are different geo grid options available.

I would not advocate for a 4” or less concrete drive.

My area there is no one that does tar and chip.

IMO, the OP has a drainage issue allowing the sub base to move. IME, until that is corrected anything applied on top will be just a Band-Aid.

Again IMO, I would hire a civil engineer to see what the source problem is. This may very well involve moving the crusher run, regrading, adding a geo product and moving the crusher run back. The OP could also do some soil sampling and moisture testing to try and resolve how much water and why/where before spending a bunch of money on a Band-Aid. Of course they would have to find a lab that could help.

 

[paulsharvey]

Folks, thanks for all the replies and I apologize for not being more engaged on the thread I started. To fill in a bit more detail my driveway is a quarter Mile long with about 200' being on a steep incline with a curve. I do feel it could benefit from cutting my ditches a bit deeper/more defined, but I am limited in doing so on the uphill side as ATT laid fiber on that side. I am WAAAY farther than ATT's standard distance so I am very unwilling to give them an excuse not to replace the fiber (frankly I'm not sure why they laid it in the first place). THe Crusher run was laid on thick when the drive was built 5 years ago, but with any hard rain it gets rutted to where a box blading is necessary. I though about the grid stuff on the hill and am also thinking about the Highway guard rail channel drain idea. The other Idea I have is scraping a berm of crusher run on the uphil side of the drive to create a better ditch (aka building up versus digging down). Thoughts?

So, there can be a couple issues. Forgive me, these driveway thread details blend together... So, we have an uphill and down hill side of the drive. We have a fiber along the uphill side, preventing a meaningful ditch.

So, is the driveway tilled towards the hill, and the water captures there, and follows the drive down hill on the hill side? Or does the water sheet flow from the hill over our drive to the downhill side? Are there any hill side seeps, with water leaking out?

If the water is captured on the hill side, and drive is tilted that way, do you have cross drains to get it from the ditch to the downside of the hill?

Is our erosion straight line, just water getting on the road and flowing With the road, and building up speed? Is the erosion on the hill side-fiber side ditch, or in the down hill, embankment side? Those are 3 different problems, and 3 different solutions.