?s on cheap ways to glue the gravel in a gravel driveway together

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I have a couple of ideas on binding the gravel in a gravel driveway together so it doesnt get rutted and wander out of the driveway. I wanted to bounce them off of you all and see what you think.

Currently all I have is a dirt road thats about 400 feet long that is full of potholes, dust, a few rocks and, when it rains, a whole lot of mud. I can get riverbed gravel (the gravel is round pebbles of up to 1 inch across) for free all I need to do is load it and haul it away.

Im thinking of renting a little bobcat dozer to dig out a 8 foot wide by 10 inch deep trench and filling it with that riverbed gravel, trouble is that the round gravel like that shifts around and ruts up really easy. I've also got to deal with frost heaves.

I've got a couple of ideas on how to stick it all together: the first is to get old enamel paint (the kind everybody has a can or two of around the house), thin it down by half or so and spray it onto the surface of the gravel, spraying enough to get the top three inches coated (be a little colorful though...).

The second and third are pretty much the same: Using straight concrete with no sand, super thinning it and spraying it down. The last one is to buy an actual waterproof adhesive, thin it down and spray it.

That do you think, would any of the above work and do you have any other ideas? I'd love to hear them.

Thanks

Dave

-- Dave (Ak) (daveh@ecosse.net), October 05, 2000

Answers

Dave, the town I live in uses a gravel/mix named or called 'Item 4' for temporary patch jobs, the stuff sets up like cement after a few days/weeks of rain/travel. Apparently it is a less costly alternative to anything else, especially in the winter months (water main breaks) or when a road needs a quick fix, but is slated for repaving in the near future.

-- Kathy (catfish@bestweb.net), October 05, 2000.

My uncle tried to make a driveway out of something similar. It looked real pretty for a few weeks, but two years later it was half mud again, and a lot of the rock was pushed either up inthe middle between the tires ruts, or waaaayyy off to the side. I'd use QP or quarry process (or even have heard it called shoulder stone by some), as it's basically unwashed gravel, and it packs down and sets up hard. Washouts could be a problem though, if you'd have running water across it during hard rains.

-- Eric in TN (ems@nac.net), October 05, 2000.

Dave, May I ask why you chose 10 inches deep?

Ours was originally a gravel drive, we had the gas company add to it (they brought in BIG equipment and were required to repair it) and we have added from the pile of rough rock we found here from prior gravelling (about 2 inches in size, not rounded). The rock has embedded itself and there is no slippage on the rock, only in the snow. Periodically (18 months or so) it needs re-dressed on the one turn. Other than that it is fine.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), October 05, 2000.


Dave, I did my 1000' driveway with a couple of loads of a mixture that our local quarry calls crusher run. It appears to be a mixture of gravel about 3/4" and sand. After a couple of rains, it gets very solid and will not shift around. Mine has been in for six years on a fairly steep grade with no maintenance.

I have seen driveways wash away that were covered like mine, but they were either on extremely steep grades or lacked adequate ditches for water runoff. That is a must for any gravel driveway.

Good Luck with it.

-- Jim (catchthesun@yahoo.com), October 05, 2000.


Kathy's got it. Our county has gravel that packs so tight water has a hard time soaking through. They mix it with so kind of binder but I don't know what it is....Kirk

-- Kirk Davis (kirkay@yahoo.com), October 06, 2000.


I vote with the others - go with crusher run gravel. It will cost more, but last a whole lot longer in better condition. If the gravel company can tell you how many square feet in a ton, it will be fairly simply to calculate how many tons you will need. Once a load is spread, it doesn't go far.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 06, 2000.

you would not need 10'' of road base unless you had heavy duty trafic .i would warn against using old paint due to polution and the legal cleanup problems that could result ,a cold mix asphalt will give a servicable road just enough tar to hold the agrigate together ,if you can find flyash it could be mixed with the gravel and some cement to make a soft concrete.oh and if the soil in place is soft you might consider a woven Geotextile to prevent the soft soils from intermixing with the gravel talk to local paving companys for sources,oh i have seen old carpet used for this purpose

-- george darby (windwillow@fuse.net), October 06, 2000.

Dave, see if you can make friends with someone who works for the highway department, or for one of the heavy construction outfits that do road work, etc. (I think you are too far from Tok for it to do you any good, or I could put you in touch with some people!) The geotextile fabric may be available, I know in some test areas on the AK highway between Tok and the border they used it to try to prevent frost-heaving. My husband picked some up here (in NH) but I don't remember where he got it. You might be better off to buy crushed gravel, which stays put a little better, than any of the improvisations you mentioned. Or, pour a real concrete driveway, a few feet at a time. That way, you can spread the expense -- and the work -- out over a period of time. Check with builders in your area, though, to find out how durable the concrete will be. My dad has a concrete walk from driveway to house (in Tok) and it is doing fine after about twelve years, but of course it doesn't get the traffic a driveway will.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), October 07, 2000.

Thanks for the responses! Sorry it took so long to get back to you (nasty thing called work).

Kathleen, if you could let me know how to get in contact with your friends in Tok I'd really appreciate it. I chose 10 inches deep to give the water under the drive bed a place to expand to when it freezes without causing severe frost heaves.

I never thought of geocloth under the driveway, I'll have to look into it. I'll call a local quarry about the quarry process to see how much it costs to buy and have delivered, unfortuneatly Im in the middle of nowhere so the delivery may be too expensive...

Thanks again!

-- Dave (AK) (daveh@ecosse.net), October 08, 2000.


Dave, get some "class 5". You should be able to order it from a gravel company. You could also ask for some "3/4 minus". The class 5 has gravel and fines, a binder in it. I put tons of this stuff down when I worked in the excavating/construction business. Binds hard, will wash in a very heavy downpour, but is about the best stuff you can get for a drive without paving.

Steve

-- Steve Collins (collins@cpinternet.com), October 09, 2000.



PLEASE, don't go spraying paint all over your driveway! Many of those older paints you are talking about contain lead and some contain mercury! Not really what any person should be spraying around let alone directly onto the ground. Think about the ground water, animals, and kids that one day may play on the driveway or wherever the paint ends up. This site is from the UK but has a lot of usefull info; http://www.pavingexpert.com/gravel01.htm . Crusher run sometimes called slinger stone is super cheap and is recomended, and where I live is around $5.00 to $8.00 a ton.

-- john kirkpatrick (john@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.

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