Top Dressing Driveway - Gravel or Crushed Concrete

[Xfaxman]

Crushed Asphalt, not milled, is what I recommend.

 

[deezler]

Maybe crushed concrete for a lower layer with a gravel topping?

Bruce

A third nomination for this idea. Basically how I built my drive. 2-3" crushed concrete makes a very sturdy construction driveway. Get the dirt base properly crowned up with ditches on each side first. Then 4-6" thick of this layer. Top with a nicer, natural stone to finish. On my driveway, I went with 3/4"-minus CLEAN limestone, mixed with some 3/4"-minus clean Natural (mixed colors / rock types) and NO FINES. I know everyone here just loves their fines so that everything locks together like concrete. You know what else it does? holds water, doesn't drain, and makes rigid pot holes that splash brown water onto your cars. My driveway surface might be kinda loose, but I can still rip 15 mph without spinning out or tearing it up. Even have a good 30' of hill to climb to get up to the road, no problems. Zero pot holes, zero water splashing or mud. I just have to dress it up a few times per year, an easy 10 minutes of fun on the tractor.

 

[ddbackhoe]

Crushed Asphalt, not milled, is what I recommend.

Probably a local terminology thing. We use milled (right off the road) has bigger chunks for base and reground (seconds) has been passed through the grinder a second time. Seconds contain small aggregate and fines. Some of the guys here are laying out with a paver and rolling em in. Right now, local price is 175 for first and 250 for second (20ish ton loads) trailer load runs 325 (25ish tons). At the plant, you get 4 scoops (20ish tons) on a triaxle, a trailer gets 5 scoops.
I dont prefer recycled concrete because of the metal bits.

 

[Xfaxman]

Nope, two different things. The guy that did our driveway repair said he had better results with crushed than milled.

 

[herm0016]

it all depends on the material. the recycled concrete i get around here is fantastic for my drive. i can run the ripper over it to rough it up and then drag it to bring up the larger stuff. after some driving over and a rain storm, i dont have to touch it untill the next spring after we are done plowing snow. only time it rips up with the plow is when its warm and saturated under a heavy wet snow, like this spring when we got 30 inches after it was like 70 degrees for 3 or 4 days.

 

[meackerman]

I've used crushed concrete on my 1200' long driveway. went down and looked a lot like the gravel roadbase I was getting but less expensive. Haven't run across any metal in the couple of transfer loads I've put down.

Unlike what Eddie sees in Texas, it seems like it breaks down faster than 3/4 minus, maybe our 3/4 minus has harder rocks than limestone. There doesn't seem like there are as many rocks in it and as we drive on it the concrete chunks seem to be grinding down. Course I wouldn't be surprised if it varies somewhat from load to load. the place near us that crushes the concrete has a huge pile of uncrushed concrete that's gotta vary somewhat.

 

[RancherGuy]

I think the realistic answer is that the answer depends on the material available and your ground conditions.

I have a "clay gumbo" that has some bentonite. It is hard as concrete when dry but will absorb water when it can. I recently added a 1,000' road stretch to the barn over my soil. It was crushed limestone. That limestone was not soft; it was very hard rock. It contained mixed sizes up to 1" at a depth of maybe 3-4". It worked well for a years and the gravel seemed to act like it was locked as a solid sheet. But with some wet weather, I noted that it started holding water in the tire paths, then some areas seemed to break down into holes where there was no support. I then ordered load after load of crushed concrete (19 yds at a time). It did not seem to lock like the gravel, but when there was enough, it finally started supporting heavy truck (dump truck delivery) traffic. I also noted that there was high variability in how much concrete "gravel" vs concrete "sand" was in each load.

Note 1: Crushed concrete can be very dusty in very dry weather.

Note 2: be sure to have a good crown and good drainage plan to keep water not only off the road but away from the road.

 

[piper184]

Another consideration is your freeze/thaw cycles. If the concrete is wet and freezes the ice will shatter the cement that binds the aggregate. This causes it to all reduce to the mix that made the concrete in the first place, only smaller. I put crushed asphalt on 400' with a good slope 20 years ago. It has finally reduced pretty much to sand. Lasted twice as long as I expected and would have lasted longer if the lawn didn't eat so much of it each winter.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I like crushed concrete!

BUT, you have to get it from a good supplier, that has a good magnet to get all the metal out, and we do have a good supplier here that brings it without metal...

SR

 

[EddieWalker]

Slag, if you can get it.

Around here, slag is a byproduct of a smelting plant that is a glass like material. It's shiny, but it's very brittle and it does not lock together. It also sticks to your shoes, so you are always tracking it into the house.