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Re: Gravel/Dirt driveways

To: Mark Andy <mark@sccaprepared.com>
Subject: Re: Gravel/Dirt driveways
From: Jim Juhas <james.f.juhas@snet.net>
Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2005 22:52:46 -0400
I had a local excavator make me a gravel driveway to use to park my 18' enclosed
car trailer.  My conditions are very wet, mostly a swamp.  He dug pretty deep
and used a cheap bank run gravel, a composite of all kinds of sizes.  To keep it
from pressing down in to the soft subsoil, he put down a membrane to keep the
gravel away from the soil.  Seems to have worked; the driveway is still solid
after 4 years, including some years of lots of rain and snow.

Mark Andy wrote:

> Howdy,
>
> Ok, some questions for the ever-knowledgable folks here about gravel/dirt
> driveways.
>
> I've got some area that I want to make into a parking/turn around area for
> my truck/trailer, along with widening out the existing asphalt driveway.
> I'm planning on doing this with gravel vs. asphalt due to cost and the
> ability for me to do the work myself.
>
> I've got an older Kubota L185dt with a rear blade, dirt scoop, and
> landscape rake, along with a small 36" roller for our lawn tractor.  I'm
> also willing to buy other equipment up to a point.
>
> Whats involved with creating a decent gravel driveway?  I'd been figuring
> on roto-tiling the existing lawn in those areas and removing much of the
> topsoil (which we can use in other areas), then getting truckloads of
> limestone or some other material to spread around, then compacting it with
> the roller and possibly just by driving on it.
>
> Is that way too simplistic?  What sorta depth should the driveway
> typically be?  How about if I want to pave it later?  Anything special I
> need to do to keep stuff from growing in the driveway?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mark






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