Best gravel for a driveway? I am wanting to get someone to get me some?
Question:gravel for my driveway. It is so muddy when it rains and I get stuck. I dont have a tractor to spread it out with. I need to know what is the best gravel for driving on when it is muddy. thanks
Answers:
Had the same prob...
I use to have this place in the mountains of New Mexico
we had the red clay mud that sucked everything down...
anyway here at least there use to be people with dump trucks the hung out outside the gravel yard. you drive up to one and ask "How much a load"? if you dont have that go inside they will know who does that and will have their favrote people.
If you get a good dump truck driver you don't need a tractor see the gate on a dump truck should have chains so you can set just how far they open. in other words you set the gate to just crack open as the driver slowly pulls forward...as he drives the gravel spreads out behind him! the slower he moves the thicker the spread,,,get it?
Anyway ask the people local to you what works best but dont get anything bigger than inch and a half and nothing as small as pea sized (roofing gravel)... good luck
Why have used something called river bed gravel, which is made up of the little stones taken from the bottom of rivers and streams; but it is expensive. This stuff does not seem to break down. The regular crushed stone is cheaper, but gradually breaks down.
I don't know the grades of gravel where you reside?But don't get anything too fine or light. You will have it all over the place otherwise.You need to get gravel which is denser and heavier. You don't need a tractor, unless of course your driveway is very long? Easiest way to smooth gravel. A board , say ten inches high by 2 and a half inches thick. Drag board along gravel base. You can drill holes in board either end,and put rope handles in,if your fussy. Then do other side of drive etc. Fill in holes as needed. Then you either need to hire a Compactor from a Hire center. This is a machine which will tamp down gravel making it very hard and immovable. Or you could get heavy garden roller. Either way you need a strong person to assist. Good Luck!
The best route to cure the muddy conditions you describe is a product called "crusher run". This is a number 5 or 7 gravel with the "dust" from crushing left in it. This dust looks like a yellow dirt. When it gets wet, it compacts and gets very hard, almost like concrete. The more you run over it with your car or truck, the harder it gets. Depending on your area, expect to pay around $40.00 to $50.00 a ton, plus hauling.
you should start with 1 1/4" crushed rock to get a good base...then spread out 5/8th Minus over the top and compact in..this is the best way about it
If you go to your local soil/gravel yard they will have both of these as they are standard use.
The 1 1/4" is a little hard to spread by hand.but if you skip this step it will take MUCH more gravel to do your job.
Good luck!
get pea gravel , its better and attractive
We used slag, don't exactly know what its composed of but local stone companys have it. We had very long driveway, truck would adjust dumping rate and drive and dump at same time. We then did some hand leveling, it wasn't to bad. The more you drove on it, the more it packed down, lasts for a long time.
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