5 TIPS FOR GRAVEL DRIVE MAINTENANCE, IS ROAD FABRIC WORTH IT?
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- We read another article, this time on gravel drive maintenance. We'll walk you through those tips today as we think they're good tips, and we'll flesh out some of the ideas with the experience we've gained putting in the last two gravel drives last year and this year.
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I’ve given up on stone. I started using asphalt millings. Spread it and pack it down when it’s moist and it’s almost like a blacktop driveway.
Got that going in at our shop in paw paw
I have been concerned about long term effects of the oils
@@beaushirley4668 The asphalt has already crystallized and hardened. There shouldn't be much of that left
Great timing! I’ve been on the fence about adding lane fabric down, at least in the areas that wash out frequently. I look forward to hearing about your experience with it.
I’ll keep you updated!
Awesome video thanks for sharing buddy 👍
Great video.
Good info. I put fine ground road millings on my driveway. Packs tight and looks like it's paved,very little maintenance.
We’re doing that at the shop right now, 8”
I have a 3/4 of a mile driveway gravel and I just use a TR3 attachment on my tractor. They work great I only need to do it 2 times a year and my driveway looks brand new. I even have an area at the bottom where it floods over the driveway for almost half a month and lots of pot holes appear once it's clears up I just go down there and do the hole driveway and it looks great like we just put fresh gravel down.
Hi, an old school way to make a base for a driveway is to remove topsoil, spread road gravel base, rowtotill cement into gravel base, back blade to smooth, water for hardening. If desired, lay down black top for a finished driveway look to compete. I helped my Grandfather do his driveway 50 years ago and it is still in good shape in Northern Michigan 🤠
Whew, lots of work, but sounds like it lasts!
I've got about six inches of 3" recycled concrete for a base, when ready thinking about adding six inches of slag stone. Really liking that cover crop...that's happening next year!
You've got a deep road base!
I did a driveway up at my hunting property and used road fabric. And class 5 gravel, once this stuff packed down the dump truck hauling 26 tons at a time didn't hardly leave a track.
True comments about pot holes
The only thing I can see that you are forgetting is coming over and doing mine!
Haha, it seems I’m never done with my own projects!
Good morning!! I’m liking the Summit tractor but will wait on the 35hp You surely have a farm tax number for your property so you could save sales tax on all that gravel. Really enjoy your content!! I always start sat morning with good works tractor! The fabric really does prevent growth from coming thru the gravel I installed it on my limestone drive and love it. 👍👍
Morning Gene, yeah I need to apply for my exemption still. Can probably get credit for it on taxes if I apply in time. Have a good weekend!
Need way more of these videos. I had a quote for my driveway.. It wasn't 12 grand, but something like 4 grand.
So I bought a tractor instead. Just have a box blade.. having that crest in the middle is the hard part, having more in depth videos on this would be awesome.
You need a scraper blade now. You will have to adjust the angle so you get a crown in the middle. It will take you a few passes before it looks good.
Hey Adam,
Yeah a box blade is probably the hardest tool to learn to crown with. Other tools are much easier, but can be done with anything with time.
I grade in the spring. Drive throughout the year to compact. Let it go until spring again or stone ends up all over the lawn from plowing snow.
We install dozen of driveways each year. Fabric on new drives is a must. You can usually purchase the material for about $1.25 or less at you ETNA dealer here in Michigan. Rolls are about 250 feet I believe Great video
It is crazy how folks that do it for a living are on both sides of the fence on fabric. Thanks for your input!
I am doing a similar project. Make a new "road" into the field to a planned hoop house and cold storage building. Got the same product from Vevor, so I hope it works well. I am also doing a drainage ditch upgrade that runs along my driveway using the same Vevor product but 6' wide to put into the ditch and then put 3" rip rap on top.
Good idea, hadn't thought about lining the ditch with it too
Excellent video!
I have never used fabric....
But it may be well wourth it?
And I do like the look of a gravel
drive way . I'm looking at working on my driveway next year. So this was very timely, that you.
We’ll find out if it was worth it or not. It did seem to make prep work easier by not having to remove as much top soil.
Always crown your drive so the water runs down the sides. This will minimize the dust and reduce pot holes. Dress the road after a rain with a box blade down on the right tilted forward left side up so the rock moves to the center. Finnish grade by tilting the box blade down in the back up in the front to smooth. The steeper the grade the more you'll need to crown. Drive on right side going out and the left side coming in. Here in east central Missouri remove top soil, layer of 2" clean, 1" minus, 1" clean limestone is popular.
Thanks for chiming in Gary!
Landscape rake works good also
It does not matter how packed. I have a limestone driveway been down for 25 years and grass still grows through.
Bummer
The only thing I've seen to stop grass is a concrete slab.
I had 80 tons of #57 stone brought in about 1 year ago on a well used already packed driveway that was needing fresh stone. So far it’s holding up good without using fabric. If it was a fresh driveway without being packed I definitely would have used fabric. Once these stones start disappearing in several years I’m going to switch to fine screened millings.
I do like the look of gravel more than millings.
We did asphalt milling for 800 ft but now we need to finish 150' in gravel. What fabric did you use on Amazon?
I’ll have to look it up, ended up being Vevor brand, although I was trying to avoid it. Thicker mil stuff
I hate fabric under stones!!! When you go to maintain the gravel driveway with your landscape rake and box blade, it always turns into a total mess. Esp if you need to cut for a crown ect. No fabric for gravel drives... Really enjoyed this video!
Wtf are you talking about? Fabric is an absolute must. Without it the stone will always push down into the mud, essentially creating a bottomless pit that requires regular additional stone. Properly done, a fabric equipped drive should only ever need a light skim with a land plane every couple years, which would never even come close to hitting the fabric.
Yeah, I’m going 6” thick so I hopefully avoid that problem or at least minimize it
@@GoodWorksTractors we use "crusher run" here in TN. 3/4 down to dust. Fabric down, 4-6 inches of stone, then most importantly, roll it with a smooth drum vibratory compact. After the first rain it'll pretty much set up like concrete.
@@jeepinass okay, calm down... if the stone gets pushed down, just box blade it back up, rake and compact. Fixed plenty of driveways where potholes needed scarfires all the way down to remove. No need for fabric, but you got this, you do you!
Imagine you want a driveway through a swamp. You put rip rap down and then you lay the fabric over it and you can put #2 stone on top of the fabric. That’s what it’s made for. So the smaller stone doesn’t fall into the holes made by the gaps in the rip rap. Unfortunately contractors like to use it now as a gimmick to charge more money on jobs. When you lay Fabric on the ground, it prevents stone from doing one of it’s most important tasks… drainage. Water will run under the fabric and wash out the dirt under it. If you don’t use fabric, the stone can mash into the ground and force the water to run over it. all the edges and angles made by the stone slows down the water and allows it to escape slowly and evenly.
Asphalt is probably the easiest way to go but in my opinion a stone driveway done and maintained right looks the best by far! Good video! Excellent editing as always too!
I agree, stone drives just look nice
Asphalt is the easiest to maintain, but is so expensive. I got quotes to cut in a new quarter mile driveway in 2016. They ran between $28-34k for gravel. $34-41k for reclaimed asphalt (millings). $38-$44k for concrete. $72-86K for asphalt. Concrete was the clear winner at half the cost, less maintenance (no resealing every 3 years like asphalt or annual raking like gravel), and it could be dyed and stamped to look nicer than a long black/grey slab.
replaced gravel with screened rota mill - about 8 years and just had to skim the edges slightly. But it is 150mm thick, no snow and slope. You need to dig the soft stuff out before laying which is a pain but lack of problems is worth while. It was run over with a vibrating compactor and an insane amount of water to pack it.
We’ve got 8” of asphalt millings going in at my shop right now
You can also use them as a shed base instead of concrete where the cost of concrete isn't justified and everything else is well rubbish - just hit it with a vibrating plate.
Great video Courtney! Those numbers seem high to me too. Maybe $2-3 per lineal foot is what they meant?
Yeah I’m thinking it may have been a typo!
Good morning. Everyone has a different application and money situation.
That said, how about rough it in and finish it.
Final run with a self propelled packer with or without a sheep foot roller. Smooth roller works as well.
I am considering renting a packer
Im a contractor here in Central Illinois we're getting around $1/sqft for flat drives. Highly dependent on site conditions. Drives on a hill would be more. Got to cover load and unload time, drive time, fuel, insurance, equipment rental or cost and so on.
Lots of overhead most don't realize
Definitely, lots of other costs to consider!
Geo textile fabric does work. Especially on clay soils. Good red gravel once it given a good packing rolling and just being able to naturally season will make a good drive way. If possible recycled crush and run concrete on top of of the gravel will help too rain will wash the fines from the crushing process into the voids and will not track on your tires or shoes when wet like crush and run limestone will retain fines near the surface and will track on vehicle tires and shoes when it rains making a mess on vehicle carpets and in your house or business
Hey Courtney: well I bought a land plane and had my first go at using it. The drive was full of pot holes. So I put down the scar fires and tore up the pot holes. I the pulled them up and used the land plane to smooth things out. QUESTION: how do you pack down the now loose gravel and dirt drive? It did rain that night so that helped, but if rain wasn’t present, what do you use. The vehicles run up and down the street but not nessarly down the middle.
Suggestions please.
i think the best to do is and yes it is extra work, dig out your road, then place used tires with the side walls cut out ,you dig a few inches deeper than the width of the tire , you nail the tires together, then pour the gravel over the tires, the tires keep the gravel in place for like forever, you will not get pot holes or ruts, and the water drains /drips through the gravel into the ground,
That truck driver knows how to tailgate material! You barely need to touch it
He's really good!
3yrs ago I built a corduroy road through a swamp. By useing tree tops and digging ditches along the side topped with road fabric and 6in of stone. If it wasn't for road fabric all that stone would disappear. We have since had many trips over it with a 10ton stone truck. Road fabric from the local stone, landscape and bulk material place was $1linear foot, its 12-13ft wide. Use road fabric if the stone isnt free.
Perfect application for it!
I install gravel driveways, I do not use fabric as it usually gets ripped up by snow plows and blowers down the road. You end up having it sticking up and have to cut it away. Roads departments don't use it. My personal driveway is .6 mile long, I box blade it every spring and its perfect. To be fair though we are in an area that is 2 inches topsoil then sand and rock under.
What size tires did you fill and how much was it?
For me, IF I don't deal with the weeds when they are small, I will be spending more time, energy and money trying to deal with them after they get established with roots. This is especially so and predicated on the type of weed.
An example might be comparing a 3-in tall maple to a 3in tall oak and then when they are 10 to 20 inches tall...
I haven't tried to soap and vinegar mix yet but have been really diligent staying away from the Roundup type chemicals...
Being convinced dandelions are weeds and wands when I was younger seemed natural to want to get rid of..
Knowing they are nutritious and make for a nice salad along with purslane and other so-called weeds saves me money and there's a little bit more healthier and satisfying knowing where it came from.
BTW, the driveway looks great!
haha, good info Bill, but now I'm hungry!
Ditches,,,,, wherever you can, especially if you have a lot of moisture or runoff,,,, (we don’t have a ton of moisture, but loads of runoff).
Take that water completely away from the road surface if you can. Some areas, it’s not worth it, or too flat for ditches, or too wide. Ditches can be quite expensive if you are contracting someone, but if you have the right soil conditions and not too much topsoil, the dirt from the ditches will build up your road!!
Where I leave we have deep clay (not red clay, but grey almost like potting clay, it doesn’t pack) that doesn’t perk, only 8” of top soil on average, but gravels and sands in between. It is a great option to build the roads. When the clay is too close to the surface though, you absolutely need road fabric. Some areas you have to dig way down (4 ft or so) bring in river stone or pit run that will lock in together, then gradually reduce the size of stone for the road. Before the final 8” put down fabric, then finish with a good quality gravel in the 3/4 crush size range. It’s expensive work, but beats the large to enormous frost heaves we get. Some of our ranch had some very heavy equipment running over it every day in the feedlot portion. The frost heaves would get so bad a 300 Hp John Deer front assist drive with radials all around couldn’t pull a single axel feed trailer weighing about 12 ton. The feed trailer was running on 16 ply ballon tires, but they just dropped out of site!! The ruts would be 4 feet deep. Once we rebuilt the roads in the feedlot at great cost, we were able to run a slightly smaller single axel feed truck, rear wheel drive only, year round!! This is an extreme example granted, but it shows how effective a PROPER BASE can change the road quality immensely!!! Like was said in this video, get the information you need form the person hauling in the product/s for your road. If it’s just cars and pickups and nothing much heavier, you definitely don’t need to go to the extremes we did. We had lots of yard area roads that were just dug out (maybe 18-24”) filled with normal gravel 3”, then road fabric placed before the final 8 inches of 1 inch to 3/4 inch crush.
It’s a lot of work, but better than constant maintenance.
Great video, as always. I know this was about driveway maintenance but I have a question about the screen grass you grew (end of video). I contacted Northwoods but didn't get a response. My question, if you know, is that grass invasive, does it spread through seeds? I planted mecantheus (sp) and that product produces seeds but they are sterile. Any info you have would be great!
Morning, that's a good question and I can't say I've got the answer yet. Hopefully Northwoods gets back to you soon.
I'M ON THE FENCE, MY DRIVEWAY IS 18' X 180'. NEVER USED ONE BUT CONSIDERING A LAND PLANE?
I don't have a land plane or box blade, or the experience to do it correctly, so I had a contractor do mine. I'm not sure what the driveway length is, but it took 3 tri-axle loads of crusher run (53.97 tons) and 4.5 hours of time on a skid steer with a 6-way blade. The gravel was $1442.78 and the skid steer time was $427.50, making the total project cost $1870.28. The drive is 23 feet wide where it hits the road, then narrows down to 15' or so. I'll have to borrow a roller wheel and get the distance, but it's at least 500'. They also re-ditched the sides that were in rough shape. I would have liked to have done it myself, but I needed it done correctly and in a reasonable time frame, neither which I think I could accomplish before winter.
Sounds like that wasn't a bad deal at all to me, did it turn out well?
I'm quite pleased with it. I'll shoot a video of a walk down it and post a link a little later.
Are you seeing any difference between the fabric part or the part without the fabric?
I noticed some cat tail weeds in your video. Did you put your drive thru a wet area? If so, I advise mucking that area and install a lift or two of structural fill. If the water flows, add a culvert or two. After this, add road base-gravel, limestone etc
Culvert and base was already installed before I owned it. I don’t believe that area had fabric which was probably the most important area to get fabric. May need a major overhaul down the road. Time will tell.
Husband orders 10 - 12 yards of 'driveway gravel (Technical Jargon: same kinda stuff used on the roads). It gets dumped in a low area in comparison to the general topographical driveway surroundings. Weather permitting, daily exercise regime; fill the flat free wheelbarrow about half way and dump it where gravel is needed; where animals dig under the out buildings, low spots in drive way etc -- pretty much twice a day, then use a hoe or rake to smooth it out. We might use some for mixing small batches of concrete in the mixer for one project or another. When the pile is gone (after a couple-a years or so) order another 10 -12 yards. Not a big deal. Regarding an under garment for the driveway; in my book it's unnecessary. Yeah, it'd be faster work with the tractor, but wheel barrows, shoveling and Total Gym is just part of livin' the good life. 😉💪
Hehe, I know I could use the exercise!
@@GoodWorksTractors If each wheel barrow load weighs 50 pounds, and I spread 2 loads each time for 180 days each year -- 18,000 pounds of driveway gravel can be spread annually. Inch by inch everything's a cinch. The rabbit and the turtle -- slow but steady wins the race -- what race? Good question. ✌🧘🌞
Crush and run recycle concrete is best for topdressing is best for clean surface the fractured aggregate will key together and allow rain to filter through it and settle the fines in. IN ARKANSAS MOST CRUSH AND RUN IS
CALLED CLASS 7 if limestone it virgin if concrete its recycled.
Could a 4 in 1 bucket on a loader be used to renovate a driveway, digging out pot holes , the lumps and clumps, then putting down bigger stone and then laying down smaller material on the stone? This is what I’m thinking of doing on my farm’s drive way. I don’t have any rear implements to grade but I’m thinking of buying a grader blade to do work on the farm, this would happen in the future.
I think so Karl, but would take some practice to do!
Get it wet, and pack down. If you can get hold of roller, use that. The water, clay/fines with bind together with compacting. Once it's compacted and had a chance to bake out and dry. It should be hard as a rock.
Roller would be nice...not sure it's in the cards for me though
I’ve had a few different people in to do my driveway a few times I paid the stone company for stone and then the contractor hourly for his time and equipment around 40$ a hour is what he charged for each piece of equipment
$40 an hour isn’t bad at all, pretty cheap really
1-3$ a sqf is probably a new construction driveway
Hi Courtney, I've been watching your channel for a year or more. Great videos. Thank you.
I have questions about the Summit tractor. Does the front loader have a quick disconnect like the 1025r and do they offer a non-self leveling loader? Do they offer a list of dealership service centers. Thanks
Good Morning, it has a skid steer quick attach at the bucket and has a quick release parking system similar to the Kubota Standard L Series. No non self leveling loader, they will show all service centers on their site as well.
Thank you for the reply. We really like the looks of the Summit tractor and all of its standard features.
Looking at the cat tails I think drainage should be your main concern at your entrance.
Yep, that's why I've built it up so much
How do you clear potholes with fabric down?
Potholes should be minimized with fabric as nothing can sink through. Plus, I will have 6"+ of material for plenty of scrapping depth.
I live in an area that has access to Clam and Oyster shells does anyone have any thoughts on using those products? 🤔
Hmm, can’t help ya with that one
That is some of the best roadway base you will ever use.
@@vincentsaladino9207 Shells are used in quite a few parking lots here in southern NJ, curious about home use, thanks.
@@ronaldharmon9891 They should work well if being used for driveway or foundation base. The material compacts very well.
I was quoted $19,000 for about 600ft of driveway.
Use 21 AA limestone. The stone you're using looks like small river rock it will never lock together if you can walk through it and kick it up or pick it up by hand it won't be very good when you plow the snow even with runners or snow skid shoes. The limestone packs together like concrete. I can pull my 600 lb rear blade down my driveway and I only get up maybe a 5 gallon bucket of limestone in about 200 ft if I need to fix my driveway I have to go over at several times with rippers on the box blade to tear up enough material.
I’m using 21aa, the exact stuff you say should be used. I do mention this in the video too.
@@GoodWorksTractors 21AA is just the size you can get 21AA crushed concrete or other stone the rock you have is more round looking in the video. If you look at crushed limestone it's very rough and jagged and really helps lock together. You might not have it in your area as you mentioned in the video. I would ask you guys if they have crushed 21AA limestone.
@@simpleman4196 it is not round in any way. It is definitely crushed stone. I showed closeups and also explained how well it locked together.
@@GoodWorksTractors 21 AA limestone is 21.50 a ton delivered by me but I am on the east side of the state. Crushed limestone is what is used in all the big construction projects in the state under larger building pads or parking lots and roads. Not trying to argue with you at all just trying to help. Iam an operator and do lots of work all over the state and all the projects are engineered with 21AA limestone to be used. None of the stone has dirt in it either it has a powder called fines which is the dust from crushing the limestone that also really helps to bond everything together.
@@GoodWorksTractors sorry I guess I am blind 😂. Good video and info. Thanks as always for the time you put into your videos.
Im guessing they mean that price per linear foot… not sq ft
How are you going to use a land plane with scarifiers to maintain your driveway if you used that fabric? You will tear up the fabric.
Scarifiers don’t go 5-6” deep and I wouldn’t put them that far down even if they did
@@GoodWorksTractors If you are trying to remove a pothole. Like you mentioned in the video, you need to go below the bottom of the pothole to properly correct it. That would end up being more than 5-6".
The whole idea of road fabric is to prevent those. The fabric prevents material from sinking down.
@@GoodWorksTractors It also prevents it from binding with the soil. It's akin to putting marbles atop a sheet of paper. I've been in heavy construction of roadways and bridges for 45 years and we do use fabric for certain situations. In my opinion this is not the right application for fabric.
Landscape cluttered with equipment!! Not a poor!!
The 3 dollar guy probably subs it out to the 1 dollar guy.
Haha mama didn’t raise no dummy!
What up
Yo
science experiments
unfortunately, eventually the fabric will come up...then you will have gravel, ripped fabric....and weeds. Trust me
There’s two polar opposites on this topic. Some love it, some hate it. My first time with it. Time will tell.
Well...it's done, so nothing you can do...but live in the Phoenix AZ, im a landscape contractor, in the past, a lot of people landscaped their yards with plastic and gravel, years later, the plastic would eventually show up due to foot traffic. So now many homeowners association's prohibit the use of plastic. Weed control is done chemically with pre emergent or post emergent with Roundup.
I hope the best for your project