New driveway

[millwrightdude]

I live about an hour south of Dallas. After installing the new barn and carport it is time for a new driveway. I'm not sure where to start and what materials to use. I was thinking that I should dig down a few inches and then put down some kind of gravel. I thought I should ask here first, I know alot of you guys have installed new driveways. So I was hoping I could get a little education on building my new driveway.

View attachment 79998

 

[VABlue]

Not that I've built a driveway before, but... I would dig it down and backfill with blue stone. The bigger stone won't tend to bury itself so quickly and will provide a solid bed to drive on. You could cover it with a couple of inches of a smaller stone for a smoother ride.

 

[millwrightdude]

What I thought I would do is dig down about 6in then put down some kind of gravel. I wanted to keep it level with the existing dirt so the water would run off. But I have never done anything like this before so I thought I should ask

 

[kwolfe]

I have read a number of posts where folks lay down a layer of fabric in order to keep the gravel from sinking into the dirt beneath. .

 

[dtd24]

Definitely use filter fabric. Use the road stablization fabric. It comes in 12'-6" by 432'-0". I just paid $400.00 for a roll. Remove sod and top soil. Box blade (or hire dozer as I did) the area with pitch for water removal. Lay down fabric, lay down minimum of 6" crusher run, compact with tamper(or hire roller as I did). Pavement?

Check out my post......just finished up this project. I may pave, but gotta get my boss to advance me a bonus or two!!!

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/96911-driveway.html

This link should help!!! Check out the pictures!!

 

[Egon]

There are many a way to construct a driveway.

The first consideration involves determining the loads expected and make plans accordingly. Next think about positive drainage. After that one should remove the topsoil and organic matter. Then the ditches would be cut. This would be followed up by laying in and compacting suitable subgrade material. Next is choosing the finishing material and applying it. Cut corners on the steps and you will be reminded at a later date usually during inclement weather.

 

[millwrightdude]

The carport and barn together are 60ft wide. I want it 60ft coming out then going down to about 25ft. The total distance is 146ft from the barn to the street. I'll need a new colvert which I have. I'll be using (2) 25ft colverts. I had plained on removing the top soil but not sure what to put back in its place.Should I use a large gravel base then put down a pea size gravel base on top of that? I'm just not sure. After the new driveway is installed I'll need to remove the old one.

View attachment 80094

View attachment 80095

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm confused. That last picture looks like a driveway already in place. Is that yours, or your neighbors?

Most people don't realize that allot of us here in Texas have very little to almost no topsoil. If you have topsoil, then you should remove it. More then likely, you just have the grass growing on clay and rock with nothing else.

Just scrape off the grass and have some gravel delivered. It might be called limestone, cleachie or road base. The main thing is that it has rock in it that's several inches large down to fines that are the size of sand.

You need a minimum of four inches of rock for it to lock together and become solid. A little thicker is better, but not a huge difference for residential use. Less will mean potholes and movement that will lead to issues and failure.

The county, or whoever owns the road in front of your place will decide what sized culvert you need. Bigger is better, but also more money. You didn't say how big the culverts you have are, just how long. The important number is how wide the hole is in the culvert. 12 inches is the minimum, with 15 and 18 being able to handle allot more water. I had to put in a 24 inch culvert at my place.

Depending on who you get the rock from, you might also see if they have clean fill dirt. Put the culvert in place and just dump the fill dirt over it. Build this up until you get the slope you want for both the road and the sides so you can maintain it.

Before putting rock on the fill dirt, be sure to drive over it allot to compact it.

Eddie

 

[millwrightdude]

Yes thats is the old driveway. I will be removing it after I get the new one installed if front of the barn. I will be installing (2) 12in culverts. The ditch is wider than it is deep, It is around 15in deep but about 40in wide. . I have a guy that lives down the street that will bring me some road base for $100.00 a load. He has a big trailer, but cant tell me how many yards it is. He is also limited to the weight of the load because of the county roads. He said that I should dig down around 6in and then back fill with the road base. He also thinks that 5 loads should be more than enough. Then I should put down a pea sized gravel on top of that. As you stated I have very little to almost no topsoil. I just have the grass growing on clay and rock with nothing else.

 

[Egon]

Have you considered using the existing driveway material on the new driveway?

 

[millwrightdude]

Yes I have thought of that but it is in really bad shape. it is just a clay type of soil with very little pea gravel on top. I think when I remove it I will use it around another barn I have.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm not sure what the pea gravel will do???? The road base, limestone or cleachie will lock together and give you a solid surface. Adding another layer on top of that just seems like something that will move around and either end up in the grass, or get mixed into the limestone. The only time I can see where peagravel is needed is a parking area or for cosmetic uses. On a driveway or road, it's just a waste of money.

A good rule of thumb for buying rock is that 25 tons will give you 100 feet of road four inches thick and about 10 feet wide. A belly dump or end dump will hold around 27 to 28 tons. A standard ten wheel dump truck will be around 10 to 12 tons. I paid $14 a ton two years ago for limestone, but really think it's gone up with the price of fuel, but don't know any actual numbers that are current.

With your type of soil, there's no reason to dig down any for the road. Just scrape off the grass and stary laying rock. Be sure to have the rock higher then the grass so that water will run off of it and into your drainage ditch. Roads can be fairly complicated, but in your case, it's really a simple job. Don't overthink it or waste allot of time, effort and money removing dirt that doesn't need to be removed.

Eddie

 

[ToadHill]

I put in a 500 ft driveway about 4 years ago. I scraped off the sod, filled some low spots with large stone, put down fabric and had the delivery driver spread the topping over the fabric. I then dressed it up with a York rake.

The material I used for the topping was a product the quarry has mixed up for the local highway departments for making dirt roads. It's a mixture of several size stones and clay. The clay holds the stone in place and a quick dressing with the York rake a couple times a year keep it looking good.

The fabric keeps any deep rooted plants from growing in the drive, what does grow is removed when I rake it.

 

[millwrightdude]

Is there a reason not to dig down before laying the rock. Should I do anything else.

 

[KAB]

The carport and barn together are 60ft wide. I want it 60ft coming out then going down to about 25ft. The total distance is 146ft from the barn to the street. I'll need a new colvert which I have. I'll be using (2) 25ft colverts. I had plained on removing the top soil but not sure what to put back in its place.Should I use a large gravel base then put down a pea size gravel base on top of that? I'm just not sure. After the new driveway is installed I'll need to remove the old one.

(later post)

He said that I should dig down around 6in and then back fill with the road base. He also thinks that 5 loads should be more than enough. Then I should put down a pea sized gravel on top of that. As you stated I have very little to almost no topsoil. I just have the grass growing on clay and rock with nothing else.

Working on driveway myself right now (actually next week), I called around to the local rock/gravel/road base supply houses and they recommended (for NE Ohio) dig down to the clay base. (about 9" where the driveway is going) Use #1 - #2 stone (1"-3" in size?) (6" deep) and then top with a 304 or 411 (either 1.5" to fine or 3/4" to fine).

What I have been told looks close to what you have been told. Now based on your sizes I would have to estimate that you will need about 135 ton or 105 yards of base plus a topping to smooth things out a bit.

Also, keep in mind that you will have a lot of dirt from where the driveway is going in at.

The best price that I could find in my area was $6/ton pickup for crusher run sandstone and $8.5/ton 1-2's. Best price delivered was 11/yd for 1-2's / 304 +$60 delivery charge and that was a recycled product.

You do not want pea gravel, it will just move around (Run-Away truck ramp). You want a product that has sharp edges so it will lock in and not move.

Kurt

 

[EddieWalker]

Is there a reason not to dig down before laying the rock. Should I do anything else.

The reason to dig down is to find a solid base. Topsoil is not solid and you cannot compact it. Since you don't have any topsoil to speak of, and it's rare to find it here in Texas, there's no reason to remove good, solid soil.

For every yard of dirt you remove, you have to buy another yard of rock to replace it. If you decide to replace your already solid and compacted soil with other soil, then you will have to pay for that, spend time working it and compacting it. Sounds kind of silly, but I've seen people do exactly that.

Also, don't confuse advise and methods from people who live up North, or where they have much colder winters then we do. They have allot of thing to deal with that we don't. You can always build your driveway up to standards for New England or the other Northern States, but all you'll really do is spend allot of money.

Eddie

 

[millwrightdude]

Where can I buy the road stablization fabric?

 

[beeforty]

I can buy it from the local pipe and sprinkler company that sells drain pipe and septic tank parts. It is often made by the same people who make filter fabric for drain lines.

 

[ITHINKICAN]

I live about an hour south of Dallas. After installing the new barn and carport it is time for a new driveway. I'm not sure where to start and what materials to use. I was thinking that I should dig down a few inches and then put down some kind of gravel. I thought I should ask here first, I know alot of you guys have installed new driveways. So I was hoping I could get a little education on building my new driveway.

View attachment 79998

I have a few questions - hope you have the time to respond - hope you can help.
Did you build the barn, watch it get built or was it built before you became the owner? The reason I ask - Did the lean too come with it (designed by the metal building company) or was it built/added afterwards? The reason I ask - we have a new metal building and I would like to add lean too's. I wanted to talk to someone who has experience and familiarity. I wanted to learn how it was affixed to the building and maybe see some closeup pictures where it connects to the roof/wall.

Regarding the driveway; Approx 5 months ago I removed the vegetation and then several inches of soil with the intent of building a driveway. I made the mistake of doing it just before heavy rains. And since I removed soil I created a low area which then became a place for water to collect. It was lower than the street. It took several weeks to drain out. Kinda funny. Kinda not. A few weeks ago I put all the soil back where it came from... problem solved.

I am going to take another run at a driveway as soon as Little League ends later this month. I will do what you are hearing - only remove the vegetation and not remove any soil. I dont have money to burn replacing soil with trucked in materials.

I will need the fabric too. Please let me know where you get it and the approx price... so I have a starting point for my shopping journey. Good luck! :thumbsup:

 

[millwrightdude]

I built both the barn and lean too myself. The barn is a kit. A few years after i built the barn I decided to add the lean too. It is not attached to the barn. I use 4x4 posts that are 3/8 thick. The I beams are 8in beams.