Big trouble with Driveway.....

[LynnHamm]

We have recently moved into a home in Shallotte, NC (near Wilmington). The previous owners only inhabited the home for 2 months a year and our driveway is a mess from our vehicles. It is about 40' long by 15' wide and, as most of the driveways here, it was just a path in the lawn over topsoil. However, with the frequent traffic (2 vehicles about 4 times a day) and excessively wet summer/ fall our vehicles have torn up the grass and it's now a big mud pit- we cannot even use it, we park on the road.

We are going to have someone come look at it and give us an estimate but my hubby and I are hard workers and wouldn't mind tackling it ourselves if possible....

The advice I've been given is to lay down #5 gravel first, then cover with #2... Any ideas? I cannot even imagine the cost if we have to have this done professionally....Or should we just concider it an investment? Help?

[muddstopper]

forget the #5 stone if it is washed gravel. You need something that will bond together. Crusher run is the common for road beds. It contains stone and stone dust and will pack together to form a solid bed. As for you doing this yourself. All the gravel hualers I know will spread the stone as they are dumping. It wont be perfectly smooth but depending on the truck driver, you should be able to drive over it after it is spread. If you need it smoother and will be doing so by hand, dont drive on it first, it will pack hard with just one vehicle driving over it. If its to much for you to rake by hand, then get the local handy man to recommend someone with a small farm tractor and scrape blade to smooth it up for you. Most rock quarries have dump truck drivers to hual the stone for you. Just give your local quarry a call and they should hook you up. Just for info, 15tons of crusher run around here is about $200 delivered and spread. some places are cheaper and others higher. A lot depends on how close the quarry is to your site.

[gene gls]

As Muddstopper recommended, but first remove all the top soil. Road base will pack over time and be almost as good as blacktop. I added a 15'x100' section on my driveway back in October using this method.

[Dreams To Designs]

Mudstopper has it it with the road base suggestion. Sometimes know as crush & run, 3/4" minus, recycled concrete or asphalt millings. Check with your local suppliers for their recommendation. Best to remove about 8"-12" of soil, below the existing driveway level. Fill with the local road base material and compact to within about 2"-3" of the current driveway level and top with a nice decorative driveway stone. A 3/8" or 3/4" driveway stone will create a nice look and the base material will keep it from sinking and disappearing over time. You can just spread the material out and drive over it for compaction, but you will still get settlement. If you can spread material and use a powered compactor, the base will be tighter and more even with less chance of settling. When I spec this type of drive, I usually recommend leaving the finish stone off till the spring to allow the base to become firmly compacted before adding the decorative layer. You can use road base for the entire project, but a decorative stone layer on top will give your project a finished look.

Kirk

[therainman]

I agree with the above posts. This will compact to give you the best results for long term use. I would say make certain to use the clean rock over the base. The base rock will stay "dirty" all wet season.

Shawn

[dcondon]

Take the top soil off and fill in with crushed concrete, best way to overcome the problem. we had to do it this fall.:waving:

[sheshovel]

that is wrong above, you will loose your investment right into the mud..
Do as mudstopper advises he should know he's muddstopper is he not?
We call it roadbase here.

[dcondon]

that is wrong above, you will loose your investment right into the mud..
Do as mudstopper advises he should know he's muddstopper is he not?
We call it roadbase here.


what??? crushed concrete??? we sure didn't and it was on clay.

[General Landscaping]

Did my own driveway with washout as base material.
It's the stuff that gets washed out of the concrete trucks at the end of a run.
It's costs a $5 tip to the loader operator for any size trailer.
Some big chunks; but if you are building a 6" base, everything levels out as long as you don't try to spread it thin.

I was advised to topcoat it with something, or it would be incredibly dusty.

[MarcusLndscp]

1st thing...how big of a driveway is it?

[sheshovel]

what??? crushed concrete??? we sure didn't and it was on clay.

You musta missed it he was talking about useing crushed gravel and that is what my reply was aimed at

[gammon landscaping]

ok there are several ways to handle this
1. cheap; because it is muddy start by spreading 2 inch rock on it and let that press down in to the mud as you drive over it it may take more than one application to make a road bed then cover it with a 1/2 or 3/4 stone
this is not the best way to stabalize a drive but is the cheapest and easyest way
2. the correct way; start at the road with a skidsteer loader and cut everything out that is soft (if you can stomp your heal in it and it goes down more than a 1/2 inch cut it out) and get rid of this material, if you can get a shell or slate put this down as a base layer of at least 6 inches, walk this in with the machine then cover with a graded rock (1/2 inch or 3/4). if you can not get shell/slate, crusher run will do but it will become dusty with time and during really wet weather still may get soft. but the BIGGEST thing you need to do is when you grade the drive way put a crown in it. make the center higher than the sides so that when it rains the water goes off the sides and not set on you drive or washdown you drive way. if you have water that washes across you drive you need to pipe it under never let water run across or down your drive

crusher run is really good if it is sealed with tar or asphalt on top to keep the moisture out

[blaze347]

I have a drive about 250' x 12', here's what I did (it may not be the correct way, but it worked)
-"cut" down to the clay base
-installed a few drainage pipes across the drive(just in case)
-l had several dumps of #2 gravel several inches thick
-grated all of that down even except for a small crown in the center
-finished/graded it off with several loads of #53

I get a couple loads of #53 about every 2 years to maintain a nice look.

[YardPro]

i used to race motocross at a track there... about 2.5 hrs south of me....

the crush & run is the cheapest and best way to handle the situation