gravel driveway construction?

[newell]

i am looking at a property sw of calgary in the md of foothills and i am wondering the best way to build my driveway. i will be purchasing a used bobcat to have during construction and was hoping to use that. the road from the existing aproach to the house location will be about 100 yards. can i just remove decomposable material and bring in road crush to the existing grade or does it need to be built up with ditches on either side?

any advice from someone who has done this would be appreciated
thanks

[pikeslayer22]

When I did it I stripped the topsoil and hauled in clay for fill built up a couple feet above grade and then graveled. Clay was free hauled it from dugout that we built this way you can actually build a crown in the middle of driveway and water runs off. Good luck

[RLG]

remove all top soil and unsuitable sub grade, then you need what they call pit run, its large rocks and clay type, compact, then the crush, use at least 1 1\2" for the first couple years it tends to dissapear. Lots of guys will just throw crush done without the pit run, you can do it this way, but you will buy ten times as much crush.
whether or not you need ditches depends on water on the property, if your raising the driveway a bit usually theres no need.

[Homesteader]

I had great sucess on a couple driveways with using crushed concrete for the base. Make sure you get down to the clay, you don't want any dirt or decaying material. Then I put down the 2" crushed concrete, followed with some 3/4" road crush. To finish off I used asphalt grindings, it made an awesome hard, and clean driveway that was easy to repair if required. If you don't have pavement to your driveway skip the asphalt grindings.

[Todd]

It really depends where you are in the md of foothills; some spots have a higher water table, some areas have good sub grade under the topsoil and other areas have excellent gravel under the topsoils. So your location will determine what you need. i.e. ditches and raised grade or just gravel. If the sub grade is good and if you add 200 mm to 250 mm of pit run (pit run is not great to work with, I prefer 75 mm crush but it is usually a couple dollars more a ton ) with 50 mm of 25mm crush you will have noroblems. If you need to raise the grade due to moisture then get some good clay first(if you can find some) if not you might need some filter fabric first if it is really soft and wet then place your granular structure.

[canuck]

You could do it with your skidsteer but it may not be cost effective, and it does depend on the ground you are working with.
My buddy/contractor built my 1/4 mile road (2 yrs ago) by pushing off the topsoil with a small cat, using a track hoe to dig out clay/subsoil alongside the roadway and built up a road base with it and then pushed the topsoil into the excavation.
He then laid a layer of 1.5" minus onto the base.
I need to regravel this year, but it made for an excellent, lo-cost road with good ditches (to get rid of water) and no spoil piles to deal with.

[dale7637]

I have built a couple of driveways, and my suggestion would be to make sure you get good compaction.

I would strip topsoil to suitable base, compact, and build in 6 inch lifts of good clay, cimpacting between lifts. I would also use put run on top of the clay. I prefer a 3" minus for the pit run. After the pit run is down and packed, add a crush.

In terms of ditches, it will all depend on ground conditions.

Spend the money and do it right the first time, and you wot have any trouble.

[newell]

Thanks guys I appreciate all of the great info

[roger]

Originally Posted by Homesteader

Then I put down the 2" crushed concrete, followed with some 3/4" road crush.

I bought a new skid loader/attachemnts and 14k dump trailer myself for doing just those kind of home projects..(makes some cash on the side too)
i go to the concrete plants and get what they call 'washdown' or washout, it is a the dried slurry mixture of gravel, fines, portland chunks, and dried kernals of concrete that is from the leftovers from the daily plant cleaning process.
best of all..it is free....at least were i get it.
i dont suggest using it as a topcoat, as it gets annoyingly dusty when dried.
but as an underlay it is perfect.
this way you spend good money on a road crush to cover, and your burying good money.
key word here...free and suitable
dont forget about culverts or burying electrical (its called NMWU) wiring for lites or gate power. that is classy

[Jims71duster]

Lol,,,not a one of ya mentioned first call.

[Drewski Canuck]

REALLY think about a build up and a crown. Winter it gives a chance to push the ditch full of snow, and in the spring you won't have melt pooling back onto the road, making it soft, resulting in ruts, etc. You see where I'm going with this? Drainage is everything when the water is standing on your road for weeks at a time.

Drewski

[lrb537]

Hi guys, I'm looking at building a driveway in Wheatland county east of Strathmore and was wondering if anyone had any recomendations for a contractor to do this type of work. This will be a fairly long driveway so we were hoping to find someone who won't charge an arm and a leg. Thanks

[dodgeboy1979]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

REALLY think about a build up and a crown. Winter it gives a chance to push the ditch full of snow, and in the spring you won't have melt pooling back onto the road, making it soft, resulting in ruts, etc. You see where I'm going with this? Drainage is everything when the water is standing on your road for weeks at a time.

Drewski

Totally agree, build proper ditches to divert water away from the road and a crown to shed the water off the surface. I have also used the crushed concrete to build roads. Works awesome as the jagged edges of the concrete seem to lock themselves into place.