Since this drive up is kinda steep and rain makes it hard to drive a car up, I wanted to pour 2 gravel tracks where the tracks are in the grass, I don't wanna do the whole width in gravel. Is this a good idea and do you have any advice on getting this done the most evenly and easily? I was gonna make a sort of jig out of pallet planks I'd just pour gravel into, and drag the whole thing downwards as I go
Won't the gravel slowly work it's way down to the bottom of the hill?
Yes, the gravel will work it is way down the hill a bit, but it should do what OP wants it to do.
I'm fine with doing maintenance on it from time to time. I already figured I'd need to do it as the gravel spreads to the sides and creating a concave look in the shape of tires.
I don't care about the grass, just increasing traction for driving uphill on wet terrain with wet tires.
Thanks, I'll keep all that in mind
What is the point? Is it an aesthetic thing? Because you just poured it like a normal non-gay person would, and waited a few years then grass would naturally grow exactly like you're hoping for. Just seems like it would be way too much work to actually achieve this, when you could just let it naturally happen. I really don't like you, man.
I bet that turns into deep mud tracks after to much rain gravel will fix that to an extent
Poison the strips first. Use a strong herbicide.
Then just throw down a small course aggregate mix. Usually gravel with crusher dust in it. Wet it down and Drive up and down the driveway a dozen times. The more weight the better
Aren’t you overthinking this
Dig the channels where you at same width and depth
Put a mark every few feet
Pour one bag of gravel at every mark and smoothen in one direction
Or if you’re buying bulk gravel, use a snow shovel and do x shovel loads per mark
And as wrote, make sure you compact it well. I’d disagree with the herbicide because grass and plant roots are pretty good at holding the gravel in place
Alternatively you could use grass pavers or gravel pavers (pic rel)
If you're super concerned about your gravel walking away, pour sand down first.
I'd do what I do and call in two dump truck loads of milled/crushed asphalt (not at the same time if spreading it manually which is surprisingly easy) and have the drivers lay it down the then rake (as in heavy steel rake) it to suit. I've done several truckloads for my driveway and parking areas. Grass grows through it so it drains decently and stays cool.
I'd also ditch along the left side if it gets really wet. Wife and self did longer than that with trenching shovels for the exercise (tip, sharpen your pioneer tools with an angle grinder and flap disc) but a rented small trackhoe/backhoe/crackhoe would make very short work out of that and spread your load. It's surprising how a little drainage adjustment pays off.
just get the cheapest recycled dogshit you can find in a tri-axle truck
and rent some sorta loader to spread it
Nothing complicated to it
compact it by back dragging with the loader
that dog is making me uncomfortable
thats a sheep
Why?
OP should dig the grass out and destroy that track with chemicals before poruing gravel, a few inches of indent should do. Otherwise the gravel will just slide down the hill
grass holds it together and stops it from washing away
Or maybe the road is too steep.
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I've heard that psyllium husks mixed into aggregate can help stabilize it. Might help keep it from sliding. The parks department in my area uses it for keeping dirt trails from washing out
Unless you want to redo it every year, you should do it right. Dig out the road at least a few inches to get the grass out of the way. If you can get past the topsoil, all the better, but that might be too deep. Then put down some geotextile. at least 6 inches of 4 inch rock, then a couple inches of 2 inch minus, and then 3/4 minus. Do lots of compaction between layers. Make sure that the final product is above grade, or it'll turn into a river when it rains and wash everything away.
and then upkeep the gravel every year as it washes away from rain and forms pot holes...
It depends on where the water is coming from. Properly compacted, a good gravel driveway should last for several years with minimal maintenance.
yea, if its flat and higher than the ground... which as you can see from the image, is the opposite
1) Bulk ABC Road Fill => $50/yard
2) #2 Gravel => $50/yard
Order bulk, spread with rake. ABC will make that incline stable, gravel will make it less fricking ugly.
The underlying soil will likely not be consolidated under the new fill + being driven over, especially if there is a high sand or expansive clay content or the organic matter diminishes over time. You'd have to dig a trench down to bedrock and fill with compacted clay layer by layer. At that point, you might as well just move the road where it'll act as a dam for an irrigation reservoir.
At the site I worked at they have very absorbent clay and tons of rain, so we had a b***h of a time compacting to meet the strict inspectors standards. Ironically the preivous builders had the right idea, using cement treated earth to form a layer of non absorbant base.
So even though the morons made us rip it out, we put cement treat back in and that solved our issue for the road.
We tried sacks of lime(the big white ones with lifting straps) but that didn't do diddly squat for us.
Just blogposting. I hope it works out OP. Spreading gravel is comfy.
Seems like the lowest work way to do this would to not worry about getting gravel in the middle, order a load of gravel from the local stone company, and have a friendly chat with the delivery guy to feather dump it as he drives up the driveway
Some road base spread into the mud should help. As it sinks in from getting run over you can spread more if needed until things firm up
this will work, but after the first rain, all the gravel will go into the ground. We'll have to pour gravel again, and then pour more. If you do it, then do it well! it is necessary to strengthen the slopes, lay geotextiles, pour coarse gravel, pour fine gravel on top. Ideally, remove 50 centimeters of soil, lay geotextiles, pour sand and compact it, pour coarse gravel, pour medium gravel, pour fine gravel.
But the slopes must be strengthened!
I used railroad gravel and that shit stays on top and locks together, hence use on rail beds. Shit's tough and importantly, drains very well.
go from functional zero maintenance road to something you have to frick with every year... good plan..