Making a driveway/road on your property

lvshrs · #1 02/04/08, 08:14 AM

Okay I know this has most likely been disscussed but for the life of me I can not find a thread about it sooooo....

I've been looking at property seriously for about a month and have found several peices that are perfect....but they just have a "wheel track" for a "driveway". Now this is not a problem as we drive trucks(one of which is a lifted 4x4) so no problem getting in or out really but....I would like to have at least a dirt road for the few visitors we will have....friends/family... the UPS man with my Ebay winnings.

So we know that having someone do it for us will be out of the question for a while but we could do it ourselves I think if we had a clue what goes into making a road/driveway. We have access to tractors and implements or we can rent them and I have experience running large tractors....So where do we start?

What would be the best material? Caliche?

Do you just mark out where you want it and spread the material smooth?

What needs to be done to prepare the road before material is spread?

Most of the properties I've looked at are plowed ground so will that need to be compressed?

I know to watch out for running water marks where it might wash out and need to consider culverts for that area.

If I remember correctly the entrance to the property will need to be done to the counties standards and inspected? Is this right?

There are probably other things to consider so please pitch your 2 cents in!

SHELBY · #2 02/04/08, 08:23 AM

When we put our drive down to the barn, we used an existing entrance from the main road, Bulldozed off the topsoil and then put down big rocks ( think it's b2) then ran the bulldozer over it a few times, and let it sit, after it settled we brought in bank gravel and ran that over. We can now drive a log truck over it without it sinking.

PhilJohnson · #3 02/04/08, 08:29 AM

I had put in a driveway last year. Where I live it is super swampy in spots. The soil almost has jello like properties when it rains a lot. First I had a bunch of sand brought in. Then I had a bunch of large rock "breaker run" as the dump truck operator called it, laid down over the sand. Finally a layer of gravel was dumped. I have to say I am rather pleased with the results. The layer of rock is up to 2 and a half feet thick in some places, necessary in the thick clay type soil that I have. I never bothered to bulldoze the area before putting down the driveway. It was rutted in spots and bumpy, but with the amount of material that was laid down it wasn't necessary.

shakeytails in KY · #4 02/04/08, 08:31 AM

Remove the topsoil in some way (dozer or grader) and add gravel. I highly recommend using geo-textile fabric under the gravel if you can. I wish I had used it on my whole driveway rather than just the parking areas- it saves tons of gravel!

agmantoo · #5 02/04/08, 08:56 AM

The cheapest and the longest lasting product that I have use for the road base is recycled concrete that has been processed through a rock crusher. Looks just like quarry stone at 1/2 the price and makes a great base. As mentioned above, remove the topsoil and create a crown of the to be road base soil with the crown the highest portion of the road bed and having ditches/shoulders that are graded to take water away from the road. If you can avoid using the road until after a number of rains has had a chance to settle the disturbed soil you will have a much better road with far fewer potholes. I have not used the geo-textile fabric but I have been told it works great. I am uncertain about the price. On the last driveway I made I used 500 tons of the recycled concrete and the road remains sound and it gets a lot of heavy use as it serves a confinement chicken house.

ericjeeper · #6 02/04/08, 09:08 AM

no one builds a road better. Ditch both sides and elevate the roadbed. Place culverts where needed.

Wayne02 · #7 02/04/08, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shakeytails in KY

I highly recommend using geo-textile fabric under the gravel if you can. I wish I had used it on my whole driveway rather than just the parking areas- it saves tons of gravel!

I wonder if this is the same or like the material they refer to as "dryer felt" around here? Whatever that stuff is, we will not build another gravel road or driveway without it. We get a tremendous amount of rain here and parts of the property were quite wet, but the driveway with the felt under it has been incredibly stout.

Rowdy · #8 02/04/08, 10:02 AM

Around where you live flexbase(Caliche) is about the best that is easy to get for the price. I like a material that has a nice mix between fines and large bits, that will bond together (kinda like concrete.) Too many fines and the stuff is sticky, tacky, muddy when it rains. Too many large pieces and your road slowly spreads out over the pasture with nothing to hold it together.
However, depending on where you are buying around here, and how much material you need prices for hauling can be pretty steep. It is so much cheaper if you somehow have access to a dump truck.

Assuming you are buying around here where it is clay: Baiscally scrape all the living stuff off your roadbed, trying to get out all the big roots, if any. I personally build my crown in the subgrade, so at this time bring material from the edges of the road to the center so it drains off the road. It does not have to be a steep crown. Now here is the hard part... you really need just the right amount of moisture in the material to get it to bond together anywhere you are filling in (holes in the road, your crown, etc) Once you have that done, roll the crap out of it with whatever you have handy, the heavier the better.

Once you have your subgrade smooth and hard you are almost ready to spread the gravel (or whatever you are using.) First take what every attachment you have that has rippers (a box blade, shank plow, whatever) and lightly rip the roadbed. This will allow the material you are putting down to bond with subgrade. Spread the material in small, smooth lifts, keeping it the same thickness throughout the lift. Again, pack the crap out of it. Really a little water is needed to process the material, but if it has not rained in awhile (and it hasn't) we'll just have to do without it (Unless you have a short driveway and a long water hose :baby04: .)

As for the road entrance, they are pretty flexible around here, and if you are looking at places in taylor county, I know at least one precinct was putting in tin horns and such for people a few years back. I do not know if they are now.

I've sent you a PM, too.

DennisNYS · #9 02/04/08, 10:15 AM

The county in NY, where I live, DOES require their engineers approval before a driveway is connected/attached/whatever, to 'their' road.

I have an old, secondary, 'wheel-track' drive that I wanted to improve a little. Basically, just put a culvert-pipe in where the drive-way meets the town road, all at my expense of course. During heavy rains, and snow thaw, it gets messy. The town says NO because it is not a primary access route...????

More tax dollars have been wasted each spring when the road-maintenance crew come down my road retrenching, from run-off.

The maintenance crew told me I should have just put the pipe in and covered it with some gravel, and acted like it has always been there...hmmm. Too late now for that.

CJ · #10 02/04/08, 10:59 AM

The thought of just having a nice "trail" into your land is nice, probably much prettier that a gravel driveway, however... if you intend to build there, have propane delivered, etc, you will need a driveway capable of allowing heavy trucks and equipment to pass.

The 1/4 mile gravel driveway bid for our property, ditched, crowned and gravel and pipes included, is $12k. More fill gravel will have to be added after the trucks are done.

lvshrs · #11 02/04/08, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJ

The thought of just having a nice "trail" into your land is nice, probably much prettier that a gravel driveway

LOL this is what I was thinking....until I remembered that UPS might not think it's too cool...or my parents....or friends....even DH shot that plan down

Rowdy-(Howdy Neighbor!)Thanks for the info. It's exactly what I was looking for! I PM'd you back.

shakytails in KY- I looked at the geo textile fabric-that's pretty neat! If you don't mind me asking-what did that stuff run price wise?

agmantoo- I'll look into the recycled concrete. I'm not sure if they have that around here but I'll check.

Thanks everyone for the info!

Rowdy · #12 02/04/08, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lvshrs

Rowdy-(Howdy Neighbor!)Thanks for the info. It's exactly what I was looking for! I PM'd you back.

agmantoo- I'll look into the recycled concrete. I'm not sure if they have that around here but I'll check.

Thanks everyone for the info!

You're welcome!

I think Vulcan has crushed concrete at their plant on hwy36 (south of the abilene airport) but I am not sure. I do know they have asphalt millings there though.