gravel driveway

[wild bill]

my gravel driveway has been giving out the last couple years. spring and fall when the ground is wet the drive just turns to ruts and mud. without doing a total redo what would be a good option to firm it back up? i was thinking about putting a heavy layer of crushed concrete down and letting it work in with driving over it. with the recent rain i can feel it getting soft and if we get more rain throughout the week i can see it starting to rut up.

[slowpoke]

my gravel driveway has been giving out the last couple years. spring and fall when the ground is wet the drive just turns to ruts and mud. without doing a total redo what would be a good option to firm it back up? i was thinking about putting a heavy layer of crushed concrete down and letting it work in with driving over it. with the recent rain i can feel it getting soft and if we get more rain throughout the week i can see it starting to rut up.

I wouldn't put it down to heavy. Also there might be some wire in it. If you know a farmer you might ask him if you can pickup some field rocks from his fields, a lot of work but you will be doing him a service and get it free.

[harpo1]

Laying down even a heavy layer of crushed concrete will only get you a few more years of good use. In time, that will settle as well and you'll be back where you started. However, it'll still get you a couple years worth if you can't swing a total re-do right now.

If you can, my suggestion would be to scrape whatever gravel you can off the top and store it off to the side. Then dig out a good 12-16 inches and have some sand/clay mix brought in as a base. pack that down good and drive on that for a few weeks then push the salvaged gravel back on top. Then a thinner layer (3-4 inches) of stone crete should do the trick.

[trailwart]

crushed limestone mix and never look back. i did my drive 10 yrs ago and it still is like concrete drive. no ruts at all

[tednruthy]

First thing that comes to my mind is can you improve the drainage in any way?

[FREEPOP]

Limestone or the concrete every 4-5 years. Probably Joe and Griff making the ruts.

[ESOX]

I am a big fan of limestone. It even stands up to 16,000# Hilos during the spring thaw. Imagine the PSI those are putting down on 4 tires.

[mwp]

Initially put the larger crush down,then put the 21aa down.I added 30 yards to do my driveway this year.Now I do't have to mow my driveway.Here comes the "you know you live in the country when........" jokes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

[wild bill]

well the problem i have is the drive is 19 years old and there is no gravel left on the surface. its been pushed down over the years and i pretty much just have dirt over the top4 inches. im planning on building a garage in 2 years and i dont want to redo the whole drive now when i will be building over part of it and topsoiling over another good part of it to plant grass. so in a sense im just looking to buy some time till i build the garage.

[FREEPOP]

In two years there won't be anyone living in Michigan :p

They can scoop the limestone/gravel out when they level for the garage.