I need gravel bad!

MrJimi · Feb 27, 2008

I'm wonder if this gravel will sink in the ground like stepping on a golf ball in the mud ?

Podunkadunk · Feb 27, 2008

slowrev said:
I would put larger gravel than the crush mix you mentioned. At least a 5-7 size, called 57 around here. Then after that is stable add the crush mix on top if you want.
Not a pro at it , but the way I would do it.

I agree with slowrev about the #57 rock, but I didn't use any crush stuff atop mine and it's good to go. I have about 120 tons of #57 rock from Auburn, Alabama on 600' of my driveway. The #57 is awesome if you are going to drive on it, it's big enough that it won't disappear over time and at the same time, it packs nicely. I put some fill clay in some really low spots before he dumped it, but for the most part, it's poured atop soft sand. I've had no washouts or other problems since laying it!

I paid $650.00 per 28 ton load on a 14 wheeled dumptruck in November of 2006. I'm sure the price has gone significantly higher, but that will "ballpark" you.

I plan on getting more in the next few months for a road to my pole barn. Won't do any site prep-work for this...just have him lay it directly over the dirt.

Be sure and lay it a little thick. You said you have a hardpan under the mud, so that's good. You can always hook up the box blade and play on the tractor a while

Podunk

jeffinsgf · Feb 27, 2008

MrJimi said:
I'm wonder if this gravel will sink in the ground like stepping on a golf ball in the mud ?

One golf ball gets squished into the mud. A bucket of golf balls starts bridging the mud and elevating the grade. The most solid section of my drive was a soupy area that we spread 4 x 6 crushed limestone in when it was a total quagmire. Stands up to heavy truck traffic even during heavy saturation periods.

MrJimi · Feb 27, 2008

jeffinsgf said:
One golf ball gets squished into the mud. A bucket of golf balls starts bridging the mud and elevating the grade. The most solid section of my drive was a soupy area that we spread 4 x 6 crushed limestone in when it was a total quagmire. Stands up to heavy truck traffic even during heavy saturation periods.

Thats what I was thinking, It would take a bunch to make it solid again

jeffinsgf · Feb 27, 2008

MrJimi said:
Thats what I was thinking, It would take a bunch to make it solid again

Doesn't matter. If you let it dry out before you spread the gravel, the gravel is going to sit on top of the soil until it rains. When it rains, it is going to settle in to exactly the same point it would if you spread when it is muddy. You have to allow the gravel to settle in and bridge the soil at some point. If you wait for the ground to dry, you end up with a false sense of project completion.

jeffinsgf · Feb 27, 2008

Thought of another way to explain it.

Place your golfball on the mud and step on it. It sinks.

Place your golfball on the same spot, but when it is dry. Wait for it to rain. Step on the golfball. It sinks just as far. Unless you can stop the rain forever (which I don't think you would want to, even if you could), it isn't going to matter in the long run whether you spread the gravel when the ground is dry or wet.

ray66v · Feb 27, 2008

The gravel will continue to sink and the mud will continue to come up, every time the ground gets soft, no matter what size you use. Geo Textile Fabric is the only way to keep the clay from coming up. It will create a barrier between the stone and the gravel.
I would remove 4-6", put down the fabric. Put down two, 2-3" layers of #304, or #411, moisten and compact between layers. Then cap it, (optional), with a thin layer of #57. This will provide you with a good looking drive that will not get muddy. The money you spend on the fabric will come back in gravel savings.
I have 300'+ of this and most of the year you can jack up a car on it.

jeffinsgf · Feb 27, 2008

ray66v said:
The gravel will continue to sink and the mud will continue to come up, every time the ground gets soft, no matter what size you use. Geo Textile Fabric is the only way to keep the clay from coming up. It will create a barrier between the stone and the gravel.
I would remove 4-6", put down the fabric. Put down two, 2-3" layers of #304, or #411, moisten and compact between layers. Then cap it, (optional), with a thin layer of #57. This will provide you with a good looking drive that will not get muddy. The money you spend on the fabric will come back in gravel savings.
I have 300'+ of this and most of the year you can jack up a car on it.

That's a valid point in a great many soil conditions, and I wish I had known about geotex when I built my road. I have some projects coming up this spring that would benefit greatly from geotex material. Where does a regular guy find this stuff for sale?

Highbeam · Feb 27, 2008

Schmism's situation is somewhat unique in that he has a good and solid road beneath the thin layer of slime. Ideally, remove the slime and dress the surface and you're done. Second best is to add large clean rock without fines which will make the slime ooze into the voids between the rock. The rock will eventually sink to the old road grade and then no further. The trick and key to this situation is to know that at some point the existing slime will be absorbed by the voids of the new rock and that the rock will stop sinking. Then top dress as desired. The most common rock in my area that is big but not too big is the 1.25 to 1.5" crushed washed rock which is known to lock together and firm up muddy spots. Much bigger and you can't hardly walk on it, and much smaller and it flexes so much to allow the mud to pump more quickly.

deereguy · Feb 27, 2008

That was my point, my experience has been from a 100+ year old barn yard we use.

Schmism's situation is somewhat unique in that he has a good and solid road beneath the thin layer of slime. Ideally, remove the slime and dress the surface and you're done. Second best is to add large clean rock without fines which will make the slime ooze into the voids between the rock. The rock will eventually sink to the old road grade and then no further.

I didn't bring up geo-tex because I thought it needed to be deeper than 2"-3" to be effective, more like 10"-12".

Geo-tex can be purchased from a pavement or large ashpalt company, usually comes in 12'-15' widths.