The new 700ft driveway

[rogerius]

I started the summer weekend job on my property and the first project on this year is to put a 700ft driveway from the entrance gate to the site of the future house and barn. The driveway will have a portion of 250ft on a small hill with approx 8-10deg slope. I used so far my tractor with the box blade to dig out around 2" of soil; it is a hard soil and very compact, so I'm planning to remove just 4" of it. I"l use the 200lb geotextile material and then compact 6 of gravel. Do you see any potential issue here? I checked in one spot how deep the soil goes and just after 18" I found some layers of gravel/sand. Here are some pictures.

 

[Kyle241]

Looks like a good start. Not sure where you are in Ontario but I'm out East past Ottawa. For our driveway (300ft or so), we dug down deeper and removed all the topsoil/soil and laid down pit-run on top of that and then eventually a finish of fine gravel. I believe we dug down 18-24" however we did not use geotextile material which will help you if you do not dig out all the topsoil. Personally I would remove all the topsoil and have it placed close to the future house site and use it to finish off the area around the house if possible. That's just my personal choice and what has been recommended to me by several good excavation/driveway guys. Did the same thing at our vacation home in Maine when we built a 700ft drive.

 

[s219]

Funny thing, when I put in my driveway entrance and culvert, I dug out all topsoil down to about 12-16", then brought in rock and crusher run. When the pro crew put in the full driveway (600 ft) about 6 months later, they decided the topsoil was firm enough and just put down fabric and rock. In the end, it came out just as good. I had to add rock in one soft section, but that's it. Saved a lot of work and expense by not stripping all that topsoil for the whole driveway, and used a whole lot less rock.

We did dig about a 18" deep ditch on each side of the driveway to enhance drainage, which surely helps.

 

[rogerius]

Looks like a good start. Not sure where you are in Ontario but I'm out East past Ottawa. For our driveway (300ft or so), we dug down deeper and removed all the topsoil/soil and laid down pit-run on top of that and then eventually a finish of fine gravel. I believe we dug down 18-24" however we did not use geotextile material which will help you if you do not dig out all the topsoil. Personally I would remove all the topsoil and have it placed close to the future house site and use it to finish off the area around the house if possible. That's just my personal choice and what has been recommended to me by several good excavation/driveway guys. Did the same thing at our vacation home in Maine when we built a 700ft drive.

I was thinking to dig more but my concern is to not transform the driveway in a long French drain (French drain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and also keep the cost and time down. I almost spent more then 30 hours just to dig and haul 4" of soil.

 

[rogerius]

Funny thing, when I put in my driveway entrance and culvert, I dug out all topsoil down to about 12-16", then brought in rock and crusher run. When the pro crew put in the full driveway (600 ft) about 6 months later, they decided the topsoil was firm enough and just put down fabric and rock. In the end, it came out just as good. I had to add rock in one soft section, but that's it. Saved a lot of work and expense by not stripping all that topsoil for the whole driveway, and used a whole lot less rock.

We did dig about a 18" deep ditch on each side of the driveway to enhance drainage, which surely helps.

Did you dig the ditch after the driveway was done or before?

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

Dig the ditches before you lay gravel and lay a layerof gravel in the ditch to slow runoff/erosion ,Everything attachments has a video on how to adjust your box blade to trench the sides of your drive , I wish I had a flat field to build my driveway I had to go up alot more than 8-10 degrees and built it with a little John Deere 855 and cleared the trees and roots first

 

[Ken45101]

Some years back I did a 900' driveway. The first part was already dug out and I continued that for a distance. But I noticed that I was digging a water holding trough. The last several hundred feet, I just laid down #2 crushed limestone (4") on top of the ground, then smaller stuff. The construction trucks packed it down good and tight.

IDK, it's not "the right way" but it seemed to work just as well.

 

[s219]

Did you dig the ditch after the driveway was done or before?

During. Once the path was cleared through the trees of the right width, the went down the length with a track hoe (wide bucket) and formed the ditches. Then the rock was brought in after that.

 

[deezler]

I agree that it looks like a good start. $700 ft of geo-textile has got to cost a good chunk of change, but if you aren't removing all the top soil, it's a good idea. I agree also that you wouldn't want to simply make a french drain by filling a giant trench with loose rock. Ideally you would have thinner top soil, or an abundance of sand nearby to work with.

Those stakes and strings would really tick me off after a few passes though, haha!

 

[Dan Hunter]

View attachment 324077

That path has the promise of fun built into it. Great!

 

[deezler]

Another thought.

I know you probably thought pretty hard about how you wanted the drive to be laid out, hence the string/stakes and dead straight lines. But if you were to instead sweep it in a curve up the hillside, you could bench cut it into the dirt, and probably get down through the top soil - Hopefully getting you to a better road base and potentially avoiding needing to use the costly geo-tex fabric.

This would also lower the grade, making winter driving easier, and add some aesthetic appeal (subjective).

 

[rogerius]

Just a quick update of the project. Taking the good advice from you guys I asked my neighbour to came with his toy and dig out the entire top soil. He worked for all day digging out 12" or more in some spots, so now the driveway is ready for the geotextile and gravel. Also, I got a quote for gravel (up to 6") at 5.5$/tone delivered.
My son is very happy as he already started to laydown the trailer bike with soil removed. I attached some pictures for reference.

 

[oosik]

You sure have some beautiful land. And so much dirt!! My drive is a mile long and may have as much dirt as in one of the piles -thumbnail, far right. I have rock & gravel resting on basaltic lava. Makes for interesting drive construction and maintenance.

 

[Egon]

Looks good. Got any side ditches in mind? Or will you keep a trench for water.

 

[dragoneggs]

Just a quick update of the project. Taking the good advice from you guys I asked my neighbour to came with his toy and dig out the entire top soil. He worked for all day digging out 12" or more in some spots, so now the driveway is ready for the geotextile and gravel. Also, I got a quote for gravel (up to 6") at 5.5$/tone delivered.
My son is very happy as he already started to laydown the trailer bike with soil removed. I attached some pictures for reference.

Yes beautiful looking land and by the way... where are the rocks???

 

[MotorSeven]

$5.50 a ton delivered? wow that's cheap. I just paid $14.00 a ton for #57 and hauled it myself.

 

[rogerius]

$5.50 a ton delivered? wow that's cheap. I just paid $14.00 a ton for #57 and hauled it myself.

These are the prices around here: "pit gravel" type at $3/tone which will be used for base and the top layer will be "Gravel A" type at $6/tone. The guy with the track will charged me $2.5/tone based on my location (I've got just 4miles to the quarry).

I think I'll need around 450 tones just for base.

 

[Diamondpilot]

$5.50 a ton delivered? wow that's cheap. I just paid $14.00 a ton for #57 and hauled it myself.

Same here. Its $15 per ton plus delivery for 2, 10, or 57's

Chris

 

[lilranch2001]

Same here. Its $15 per ton plus delivery for 2, 10, or 57's

Chris

I think I paid $220 a dump load last year for #73's limestone
Right at $1100 for 5 loads to top off my driveway
typically 20 ton per load
12-15 miles from the quarry depending on which route is taken

 

[EddieWalker]

$22 a ton delivered if you get a big truck with 22 to 24 tons on it. $40 a ton if you buy it at their yard and have them load it.

Eddie