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Cruiser
Posts: 77
Virginia Beach, Virginia | This will separate the men from the boys. I am about to get my driveway re-surfaced, and I am too cheap for concrete or asphalt, as I have two long driveways. So in terms of what is the best gravel surface (yes, I know "none" is the most correct answer) I need to know which gravel (I am on the Mid-Atlantic, so don't offer up shale or volcanic, etc. as it is not available) makes the best driveway for a motorcycle. On the back driveway I have an incline to go down, so I don't want to go nosefirst into a soft pile of stone. I believe that "crush and run" is probably the right answer, but thought I would ask men that are "mui macho" than I. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 741
Central New York | Crusher run is good if you have it moistened and rolled. A good option if your lucky and know a hot tar roofer, if you can get the old tar and stone from a roof being redone, make a good solid drive if rolled. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 126
Meadow, Texas | I saw this done back when I was living in NM. Very cheap way to give yourself "pavement" but it works. Get some bags of regular cement and walk it over your driveway - spreading it thin. Then spray some water and let it set. This is a cheap way to hold your grave together.
The hardest thing is to make sure you spread it evenly because if you get too much in one are - it doesn't look good.
Just an idea is all. But the best for that is either crushed or very fine pea gravel.
Good luck.
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Cruiser
Posts: 126
Meadow, Texas | oops - not "hold your grave together" but "hold your gravel together". And "in one are - " in one area". Spell check and stupid check isn't working today.
Also highly suggest you "tamp" your gravel down with some sort of heavy roller before you add the cement.
"O"
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Cruiser
Posts: 204
West Knoxville TN | buy recycled concrete and roll it out. It will compact almost like solid concrete. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 152
Litchfield Park, AZ | Do NOT, I repeat do not use pea gravel.....I work in the underground utility industry where I deal with crushed rock and traffic loading a lot. Pea gravel will not lock together. For a good binding rock you want an "angular cracked face rock" This will allow the stone to "lock together" as it is laid in place. How much base are you laying? If you are laying more than 5" total, then go with a larger rock as a base (1.5-3" rock), then put 3/4"-1" rock on top of that. The perfect rock will have a heavy lime content....this will be called "fines". The lime powder will act much like cement and bind the base together over time. I also like the idea of using a cement mixture spread evenly over the top to bind the rock....wouldn't do that on a commercial application, but would work well on a small residential application such as what you are describing.
Remember, round rock (river rock, pea gravel...etc) is the worst possible rock you can have. Angular crushed rock.....and if it has "fines" that is good in your case. (3/4" "minus" is good, don't need to pay more for the clean stuff as you WANT those fines). Angular crushed rock (class 1) will have 90-95% compaction just dumped and so the rolling or compacting is very minimal.
Edited by phoenix9 2010-09-27 4:28 PM
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Tourer
Posts: 390
| phoenix9 - 2010-09-27 4:23 PM
Do NOT, I repeat do not use pea gravel.....I work in the underground utility industry where I deal with crushed rock and traffic loading a lot. Pea gravel will not lock together. For a good binding rock you want an "angular cracked face rock" This will allow the stone to "lock together" as it is laid in place. How much base are you laying? If you are laying more than 5" total, then go with a larger rock as a base (1.5-3" rock), then put 3/4"-1" rock on top of that. The perfect rock will have a heavy lime content....this will be called "fines". The lime powder will act much like cement and bind the base together over time. I also like the idea of using a cement mixture spread evenly over the top to bind the rock....wouldn't do that on a commercial application, but would work well on a small residential application such as what you are describing.
Remember, round rock (river rock, pea gravel...etc) is the worst possible rock you can have. Angular crushed rock.....and if it has "fines" that is good in your case. (3/4" "minus" is good, don't need to pay more for the clean stuff as you WANT those fines). Angular crushed rock (class 1) will have 90-95% compaction just dumped and so the rolling or compacting is very minimal.
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Iron Butt
Posts: 619
Southeast Iowa | +2 |
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Tourer
Posts: 523
seattle, wa | Over here on the west coast I have used 5/8" minus. It packs down nice and tight. On my last driveway I used some crushed asphalt that was recycled from I-90. It packs down nicely as well and when the weather gets got again, it will bond together.
Whatever you do, make sure you get the stuff with the "fines" in it. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 77
Virginia Beach, Virginia | Great response. Thanks for your help. Going with your suggestions. |
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Tourer
Posts: 401
| I have a gravel driveway, but it is also a BMP that is dewatering my property. Hence it is deep with gabion for the base with a mix of pea and #1 stone on top.
Crush and run the best base for this area, but it can get muddy. So you will need to put a shallow top coating of #1 stone (pick your color), sand, and pea stone (these help fill in the stone gaps). Good compaction is the most important part here, without it the surface will break apart. You may need to rake it out and compact it again next spring.
Don't get your stone from a landscaper or nursery, go to Vulcan in Norfolk (Westminster Ave) and pick the colored stone you want, and have them deliver it (not sure if they still deliver any more). They are not open on the weekend, so you will have to go during business hours.
Edited by sgiacci 2010-09-28 12:04 PM
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Tourer
Posts: 401
| phoenix9 - 2010-09-27 4:23 PM
Do NOT, I repeat do not use pea gravel.....I work in the underground utility industry where I deal with crushed rock and traffic loading a lot. Pea gravel will not lock together. For a good binding rock you want an "angular cracked face rock" This will allow the stone to "lock together" as it is laid in place. How much base are you laying? If you are laying more than 5" total, then go with a larger rock as a base (1.5-3" rock), then put 3/4"-1" rock on top of that. The perfect rock will have a heavy lime content....this will be called "fines". The lime powder will act much like cement and bind the base together over time. I also like the idea of using a cement mixture spread evenly over the top to bind the rock....wouldn't do that on a commercial application, but would work well on a small residential application such as what you are describing.
Remember, round rock (river rock, pea gravel...etc) is the worst possible rock you can have. Angular crushed rock.....and if it has "fines" that is good in your case. (3/4" "minus" is good, don't need to pay more for the clean stuff as you WANT those fines). Angular crushed rock (class 1) will have 90-95% compaction just dumped and so the rolling or compacting is very minimal.
Agreed if the application is purely commercial. In this area that type of gravel looks very out of place in a residential area. Most of that rock is bluestone brought in from the western part of the state, but the ground make up here is mostly tan sand with almost 0 mineral content.
If you mix #1 stone with sand and pea stone you will not get as good results as you can with the blue stone, but if you have a crush and run base and compact the decortive stone mix into it, you will come close.
Again, compaction is the most important step here.
phoenix - Unlike the rock and fines you have out there, this area's make up is mostly clay and sand, so the ground will swell and shrink a great deal. Crush and run is a composite of cracked rock, fines, and binders. It is a base material that requires you to pick a decoritive material to be compacted into it. The only time I have seen it fail is when it wasn't compacted properly.
Edited by sgiacci 2010-09-28 12:29 PM
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Iron Butt
Posts: 742
North Orange County CA | Had crushed limestone on my drive in Tennessee, only comment I have is I hated mowing it after the Bermuda grass took hold between the wheel tracks. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 51
Ennis, Tx | My driveway is 150' long and I use 1" to 1 1/2" riverbed rock.... Locks into each other well and doesn't move around much... My F250 diesel packs it in really good... Wife wants cemet but I don't want to spent the $$$$$$$ for that... |
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Pretty sure this has not been asked before-driveway gravel
