Primsong
Flower of the Shire
Joined: 15 Apr 2006
Posts: 1755
Location: Oregon (Map)
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:36 am Post subject: Gravel driveway maintenance |
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We have a 300-ft. gravel driveway and have occasionally put down fresh gravel and graded it via a sort of big rake contraption that pulls behind a vehicle, weighing it down with cinderblocks.
One question I would like opinions on is how to keep potholes from forming and getting deeper...
Mostly because I will rake out my plants and ferns along the drive and then my husband will go along and toss all the leaves I raked (those I didn't get in the debris can) back onto the plants because he believes "organic material like leaves will compact into the gravel and make potholes form."
Huh?
Anyone care to offer thoughts on the introduction of 'foreign materials' into the gravel? Considering we have deciduous trees all along it, this could be a bit hard to do.
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CritterPainter
Knows Their Stuff
Joined: 27 Aug 2006
Posts: 1128
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:46 am Post subject: |
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ugh, I have exactly the same problem, and I bring home gravel in my truck bed every now and then to fill those holes. I think it's just spots where the soil is a little looser, and I can see where large amounts of rotting organic matter could contribute to this.
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Mary
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bsewnsew
Knows Their Stuff
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
Posts: 1191
Location: Rural Western Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:49 am Post subject: |
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If you have stones available , smash up some with a hammer and put that in the holes before the gravel.
Or leave it large and gravel fill..
We have the same.
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petunia
Knows Their Stuff
Joined: 13 May 2006
Posts: 1018
Location: northern michigan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:07 am Post subject: |
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Since we have moved here in the northern mich 3 years ago, we've had sand/gravel driveway. Heavy rains make trenches down the driveway. we have tried filling with gravel even tried using left over blacktop. But because of the sand nothing seems to work with heavy rain. To this day we fight the trenches atleast until we find that golden $$ tree to get the drive paved or blacktopped the right way.
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Petunia
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Biita
Knows Their Stuff
Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 946
Location: Norway (Map)
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:38 am Post subject: |
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One thing i have found that works for us is we have a driveway down to the sea for the tourists,,we save our wood ash from the fire places all winter then into the summer (from tourists who have fires, and from cook outs)come fall when we know we are going to get a good snow fall, we spread that wood ash all up an down the drives. it not only stops all growth of plants an grass, but over time it makes the earth very compact an like concrete. we also have gravel on there, and the over wintering of both makes almost like a concrete drive. we need this because of all the vans and small campers that can get stuck in mud when trying to get back up the hill.
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crazy1
On The Way Up
Joined: 14 Jan 2008
Posts: 57
Location: SW Michigan
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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I'm with you on this one. Our driveway is 1/2 mile long and we also have a sand base on some of it. I've been adding culverts/pipes in the areas we have the wash out trenches.
Some of the areas I use large PVC pipes buried about 6-8 inches under the drive. Good packed stones or soil keep them from collapsing. But if you can find a steel/metal pipe I'd suggest that. As to the potholes, that's most likely from the ground sinking from not being drained off well. We had an ara that I finally dug up to find a broken tile under there. A sure fire reason for the ground to sink as the water ran into the ground instead of through it.
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trudy
On The Way Up
Joined: 14 Jan 2008
Posts: 185
Location: South Georgia, left at nowhere (Map)
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| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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Same problem here, just today we unloaded a truck full of crush an run. Before that though the heavy rains had made a gully down the driveway. I got some broken chunks of concrete (previous sidewalks type stuff) to fill the large holes so now its just a matter of topping them off.
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