gravel driveway - michigan

Herbert Johnson · Dec 28, 2011

Our house was built 9 years ago and our driveway was regraveled (limestone?) about 5 years ago. It is now in bad condition and I need advice as to what is the best gravel to apply.

showcrop · Dec 28, 2011

This topic has been covered extensively here in the past. Many recommend applying limestone but it depends on what is available in the area. Before a recommendation can be made more information is needed about what the ground is like there and what "bad condition" means and if drainage is adequate.

JML755 · Dec 28, 2011

I'm in SE Michigan. I use crushed concrete. About half the cost of limestone. Packs well. Make sure you keep the water off by providing good drainage. I crown it.

MarkB_MI · Dec 28, 2011

You can't do better than crushed limestone. You do need to bring more in from time to time. A york rake with wheels will do a good job of maintaining it. I'd suggest you wait until spring (if your wife will let you); this time of year it's likely to disappear into the mud before you can get it packed down.

Gun guru · Dec 28, 2011

I also live in Michigan.
I built my home 11 years ago and I had an excavator dig out the top 6 inches of soil and then lay in 4 inches of fill sand then the heavy 1x3 limestone rock. After 2 or 3 years of drving on this then I bought about 60 yards of crushed limestone (small gravel) to "cap" the driveway. Propane trucks, dump trucks, you name it no problems. You have to have good drainage so that standing water doesnt make it a soupy mess. My driveway costs about five or six thousand total. I still would like to get another 20 or so yards of stone put down to even it out. BTW; my driveway is 850 feet long.
My MIL has an old friend that had a gravel driveway and they hired a guy to come over with a tractor years ago and grade/churn the gravel up and get the ruts out. Then they bought 100 bags of concrete, then they just dumped the bags on the gravel and used a hand rake to spread the concrete (dry at this stage). Then use a garden hose to wet it down and it is still holding up I am told. 100 bags of concrete might cost $400, but worth a shot.

Herbert Johnson · Dec 28, 2011

The 2nd application was crushed limestone and that was 4? years ago. Over time it seemed to bread down and my drive is now smooth and kind of mushy most of the time.

Paul from MI · Dec 28, 2011

As others have said, a good base is the key. Because I am on clay, I have 1 to 1-1/2 feet of pit run gravel under mine, never had a cutting in problem under any conditions. Crushed limestone is a great top coat because it doesn't roll when you drive on it, and as it wears away it gets more solid.

showcrop · Dec 28, 2011

(quoted from post at 06:07:30 12/28/11) The 2nd application was crushed limestone and that was 4? years ago. Over time it seemed to bread down and my drive is now smooth and kind of mushy most of the time.

"Mushy most of the time" means unstable due to water under it. This can't be fixed by spreading money on top. You need to ditch along the high side to exclude water. Can't see your drive from here to have any idea of slope or length but a culvert or two may be in order.

chevytaHOE5674 · Dec 28, 2011

UP here we use crushed mine rock as it is cheap and over-abundant.

D7fever · Dec 28, 2011

dig it dpwn about a foot, put in geotextile , then fill it with good gravel, road will always be stable, you may have to grade it now and the

Rick Kr · Dec 28, 2011

Sounds like a drainage problem, unless you built your driveway across a wetland.

We cut 1 1/2 feet of topsoil out of my drive. Then we began filling with clay. Built the driveway up 3-4 feet. As we dumped the clay, leveled it with the dozer, and continually drove over it with a 6x6 off road dump truck to pack it. Sloped the sides for drainage. One load of 3-5 inch rip-rap. Topped it with limestone.

I just added a train of limestone this year, after 8 years.

My driveway is solid as a rock. It gets soft for a week or two when the frost comes out of the ground. Run the landscape rake or backblade it with the dozer and its good to go.

I would guess you need better drainage or the base was not good when you started.

Hope this helps.

Rick

DoubleR · Dec 28, 2011

I put my 300 ft. drive in 22 years ago. I'm 50 miles North of Detroit. I dug it down and brought a couple of train loads of crushed concrete in and topped it with crushed limestone. It seems like I was always grading it and adding more limestone yearly. It was built up and crowned so water would roll off. Ten years ago I had it paved and it was the best money I've spent since I built my place. I do have to seal it every other year at a cost of a couple hundred bucks and my labor. I never did a thing to the farm drive and around the farm buildings I built and don't seem to have any problems. I add a few yards of crushed limestone to the soft spots on it now and then. I also try to stay off it when its soft in the spring. My ground is mostly sandy around my house and building with helps with absorbing water.

Jim in Ma. · Dec 28, 2011

Sounds like a drainage problem here.
I would look at ways to improve that first.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 28, 2011

We put our driveway in 32 years ago. We took 2 feet of top soil and 1 foot of sub soil out first.I then put the two pads of concrete our mobile home set on in the bottom along with all the field rocks we could find in fence rows. The neighbor let us have his old 40 foot silo and used for fill. We finished it off with 3 semi loads of 3" limestone and topped it off with 4 semi loads of what they call 1"to fine limestone. The drive is just now getting at the point it needs chipping.

Blackhole49 · Dec 28, 2011

I agree with DoubleR. I"ve lived in our house (SE MI) since 85. The first 9 years, added crushed stone twice (drive is 300"). When it was time to do it a third time (94), I put in 42yds of concrete. Hasn"t even cracked. The stone made a great base. My neighbor has done his drive twice in asphalt since I poured mine. If you can afford cement, do it.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 28, 2011

eo fabric is well worth the time and money ,,, that road will last

tractormiallis · Dec 28, 2011

So the limestone has broken down into finer material and is mushy? Mushy just after a soaking rain, or all the time? Sounds like its a drainage issue.Crown the driveway with a backblade, if the drive is below the outer grade on the edge water cant get off. Gotta be sure water runs off the edge when it rains. Many drives need to be worked with a backblade once in a while. Might need more stone in a few spots.

rrlund · Dec 28, 2011

My brother delivers what we call a road gravel. It has a small amount of clay mixed in and packs down like concrete. He has some asphalt that has been torn up too. I have that in my west driveway where all the heavy truck and tractor traffic is as well as out around the feed bunks. He dumps that,then runs over it with the dozer to break up the chunks and pack it in. That stuff packs in like new asphalt,except that it's usually thicker than a new layer of asphalt.

onefarmer · Dec 28, 2011

I wouldn't put more gravel on it. Instead add a layer of crushed rock. Im in Mich and in a house that has been here over 100yrs, but the driveway still gets soupy in the spring. But not since I added a 2-3in layer of crushed rock. I think adding it now would be just fine, it will work in every time the ground is wet or thaws over the winter. Might find you need to add some more by spring but it will be much more solid.

Gun guru · Dec 28, 2011

Where are you located? I am 40 miles north of Detroit.

Geo-TH,In · Dec 28, 2011

I have a 100 ft drive for a dumpster. A heavy trash truck drives on it. Had the trash truck move the dumpster each time he picked up the trash so he would drive on a different part of the road. His front wheels would put groves in the rock. After a few years, the rock finally got pushed into the dirt and stablized. Used 40 ton of #4 white rock. The key is to have drainage. Keep water from collecting on the drive. Where water collects, you will have a pot hole.
George

gitrib · Dec 28, 2011

I had a driveway and yard that was subject to a lot tractor trailer traffic.called a local contractor and said "fix it". He pulled in with his motor grader and the trucks stated arriving with what he called grizzle rock.When he got it bladed down there was about eight inches deep after he rolled it down. Then the trucks brought in 3/4 inch limestone crushed rock Bladed it down about 4 inch, deep and rolled it. The final layer was 3/8 chips rolled. The first two layers had the dust in them so it packed. So we had ove a foot of packed rock. It is still in use forty years later. Yes it cost but per year was cheaper than doing a half job and patching it. It was bladed down level and smooth before we started so there was no place for water to stand, He had a man with a transit shooting grade all the time.
gitrib

jackinok · Dec 28, 2011

we use a lot of crushed granite here and it makes a pretty good road.it packs down and sheds water well.probably 25 years or more ago i had one place that was always a bog.was at a building site wherethey were removing the tar and gravel from a old flat roof.i took three or four pickup loads home and spread it by hand there and its stayed really well.just started this last year to get soft again. One of the neighbors just had his asphalted,they dug it out ,put down a few inches of packed gravel,then four inches(i believe) of asphalt.looks really good and the price was not too bad.Another old neighbor did his about 7-8 years ago and it has held up well.

Herbert Johnson · Dec 28, 2011

I really appriciate all the responses and I think I do have a drainage problem. You would have to see the lay of the land. I think, at this point, I will get some quotes on blacktop in the spring.

Geo-TH,In · Dec 28, 2011

In my humble opinion, blacktop will break up if there is water under it when it freezes.

Super Trucker · Dec 28, 2011

Where in Mich? I use a 21aa limestone [1 1/2 down to dust]for heavy use and for a good base. If the base is good and just has sink holes I would use 1x3 stone for the holes and 23aa to topcoat [23aa is 3/4" and down to dust]. I have been in the gravel business for 15yr and did many of driveway this way with great outcome. But it also dependes on the prep to [taking the topsoil off before stone,if this hasn't been done you are going to play catch up]. I'm from the SE part of the state prices for stone should be about $7 per ton for the stone and trucking is extra. Remember if you can get a gravel train in buy the train load verse just a lead the trucking is the same if I take the lead or train . If I can be of help let me know.

paul · Dec 28, 2011

Agreed, blacktop will be miserable if you have drainage issues.

--->Paul

Herbert Johnson · Dec 28, 2011

I am in the Brown City area.

showcrop · Dec 28, 2011

Don't spread more money on top whether gravel or black top until you have gotten the mushiness out of it for a year.

Brad Gyde · Dec 28, 2011

I too am in SE lower MI.. (Monroe Co.).. My house has been here 5 years, give/take.. Never had a driveway so to speak.. just a bit of limestone "screenings" and some of the leftover stone from the weep tile/basement floor pour, as well as the concrete truck "washings"..

The previous spring, we had a mess in our driveway and I was tired of tracking in the sand from the drive area (my house is on top of a sand hill, so I really don't have the drainage issues) so, I talked to my neighbor who trucks for the company I work for..

After lots of figuring and thinking, we had 2 "leads" of slag brought in from a nearby steel plant.. The product cost about 1.50/ton (64 tons was hauled in) and we paid about $175 a load trucking, as opposed to nearly $10/ton for the limestone, but a savings of about $50 for trucking as the gravel pit is closer than the steel plant..

I personally like the slag, it spread just as gravel, but has a darker (almost black) appearance.. It seems to pack far harder as well.

Brad

barnE · Dec 28, 2011

Think we use 3/8 down its called. Packs real good. 27 miles north of Toledo in Mich. Dave

Brian in MI · Jan 3, 2012

Limestone is a structurely weak rock, I will break down over the years and settle.
#1 remove all organic material (roots, top soil)
#2 sand class 2 6" thick
#3 Geo Fabric (keeps stone above sand)
#4 need a good base 1x2 or 1x3 (3"-6" thick)
#5 22A natural crush (3"-6") thick

showcrop · Jan 4, 2012

(quoted from post at 22:01:00 01/03/12) Limestone is a structurely weak rock, I will break down over the years and settle.
#1 remove all organic material (roots, top soil)
#2 sand class 2 6" thick
#3 Geo Fabric (keeps stone above sand)
#4 need a good base 1x2 or 1x3 (3"-6" thick)
#5 22A natural crush (3"-6") thick

Brian, You leave out the most important step; around here we call it dewater. The system of ditches, swales, underdrain and culverts that insures that water does not get under the road and destabilize the material. Public road specs require under drain in all cuts where the existing material will contain water.

Tim Barnes · Jan 4, 2012

You are lucky or I am getting ripped off. Reclaimed concrete, that is ground twice, is more expensive than 1&1/2" crusher run granite gravel by about $80.00 per 22 ton load. I put down 44 tons on the worst ( steepest ) part of my drive. The reclaimed concrete has stayed in place and held up better than any gravel I put down. That's all I will use from now on.

gravel driveway - michigan

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Similar threads