The picture represents the worst part and it’s probably 2,000 feet long plus some large parking areas.

I’ve got a 20 gallon tow behind sprayer I’m going to use to kill the weeds.

Besides the sprayer, I have a Polaris Sportsman 800 ATV. Kubota RTV900 UTV, and a propane powered weed torch. I’m thinking I can burn the weeds when they dry out after the weed killer.

I’d like to smooth things out from the crown to the sides and fill a few low spots.

I’m thinking about a tow behind grader like this: Link.

Or should I rent a tractor and a box blade?

What’s the cost effective way to tackle this?

It didn’t look this bad last year and looked a whole lot better than this after I sprayed the weeds.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
What’s the cost effective way to tackle this?

Not sure what prices are like down there, but up here there really isn’t a cost effective way to tackle it.

The best/easiest way is to hire it out. Grade it, lay a few inches of 3/4” crushed down, water it, and roll it. My roughly 1000-footer quoted at $6500 to do that. I’m going to attempt it myself with my box blade. The upside is I have a dump trailer, so I can get the gravel myself which will save me ton on truck/delivery fees (often more expensive than the gravel load itself).

As far as the weeds, yeah, some permanent weed killer and burn after is what I do.

quote:

Not sure what prices are like down there,

Sorry, I didn’t mention it and it probably doesn’t make a difference, but this is at our place in Michigan above the 45th parallel. There’s a gravel pit 5 miles away, so maybe the delivery charge wouldn’t be that bad.

I definitely have to get different weed killer. I used up the last of the 50% super concentrated Round Up before we left last year and when I came back in November, it looked good. I planned to come back up in April and spray some 6 month killer, but that didn’t happen. They said it was a mild winter and it sure looks that way to me.

A tractor and box blade would probably be the most cost effective.

It doesn't appear that you have any serious potholes, but if you do, filling them is NOT the answer. You need to rip the entire surface below the bottom of the pothole and re-grade.

You know about the need for a crown. Tilt the box and cutting the edges, dragging the spoil towards the center, then level the box and drag the center out to get the crown.

The secret to getting good results with a box blade is adjusting the top link properly. Shorten the top link (tilting the box forward) to get it to cut and move material, lengthen the top link (tilting the box rearward) to level and smooth.

I've had a hydraulic top link on mine for several years, makes it easy to adjust fore-and-aft tilt on the fly. This year I spent the time and money to fab up an hydraulic side link so I can tilt the box side-to-side for cutting the crown without having to get off the tractor and crank on the manual adjustment.

If you can kill the weeds effectively and cut the sides enough to put a good crown in it, you may find that you don't need much (if any...) extra gravel.

Blacktop would solve all of that

Or you could buy a Kubota.....

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...330043774#4330043774


PHP seems to have the process down pat...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: HRK,

Love Andy Griffith!

Not potholes, yet, but spots in the shade where water is starting to pool and not dry right away.

I just drove on over 300 miles of blacktop in Michigan to get here. No. Every year it’s the same: the parts they redid last year are good, the parts they are redoing this year will be good next year, and the rest is shit. No wonder Road and Track bent 6 wheels on their 40,000 mile long-term test Corvette Grand Sport. And I have a Kubota, mine just doesn’t do much more than get the mail.

More specificity is required when talking about "gravel." This can be anything from round river stone to a substance similar to sand. Looks like what you have now is pea-sized marble chips, nice and clean looking, but not the ideal material.

What is best for most unpaved driveway applications is usually called "crusher run," that being the raw unscreened output of a rock crusher. Get it from a quarry rather than a "gravel pit." Because this product has a range of sizes of rocky material, it compacts far better than any uniformly-sized "gravel" product. And, because there is no after-run processing, it is usually far cheaper the most products sold as "gravel."

You want to spread it about 2-4" thick over your existing driveway, level it, then compact it, preferably with a vibrating roller or vibrating plate compactor. No need to remove weeds before hand (but it wouldn't hurt to mow it down tight). Renting and running the compactor is going to be the hard part assuming the use of appropriate power equipment for hauling, spreading, and leveling (loader, grader, and screed). An experienced operator can do a half-decent job of spreading and leveling with a loader bucket, but, as usual, use of the proper tools results in a much nicer finished job.

A thicker coat will require multiple layers to get the compaction needed.

A properly compacted crushed stone driveway looks and lasts almost as well as asphalt with far less preparation and maintenance.

I don't know if it's available but crushed Limestone is the way to go . It's pretty much universal around here . It packs down like concrete and does not move around like gravel . Whatever you use , hire it done . Somebody with the right skills and equipment can do it in a fraction of the time you can with rentals .

Now that architect mentioned it, the original portion of the driveway, installed in 2005, was crusher run and has held up better than the second portion installed about 5 years ago. That material was some sort of reclaimed/recycled stuff that was supposed to be just like crusher run. It was compacted and rolled as well and looked good for a few years, but the areas not driven on are loose and soft now. I bought the property from my dad last year, so I’m going off what I remember him telling me.

There’s a limestone quarry about 20 miles down the road from here. Here’s a NASA picture of it from the International Space Station (Link):

They say it’s the world’s largest. We’ve toured it and they have dump trucks that make my pickup look like a Matchbox car. One tire costs 50% more than my entire truck did new.

So A) In your climate, definitely stick with gravel.

(You probably already know that.)

What is your base like? How badly do you want to fix it?

The real way, scrape it out, barrier, larger rocks topped with gravel, etc does a great job, but costs quite a bit more.

Those plastic grid products may be a cheaper way to do a good job.

What weight vehicles go down it?

PHPaul has the answer for the most cost effective way to make grade. I know a nice clean gravel driveway with no vegetation looks better (and is easier to touch up when needed), but I’ve found that vegetation grown in our asphalt grindings covered roads tends to help stabilize, especially on hillsides.

Only thing I’ll add is that sorting out your drainage (no water crossing the road, no water running on the road, and as little as possible running beside the road) will pay huge dividends in getting your hard work fixing the road to last. The two biggest enemies are volume and velocity. If you can do you grading such that any water than land on the road sheets off and then glows away from the road and no water that didn’t land on the road flows on, to, or near it, you’ll be much happier with the result.

You’ll want something with dust in it like 304 etc to fill in pot holes, low spots etc and water and roll it, then top with something like 57s. If you just blade the top gravel you have into the holes etc, it’ll just get rolled out eventually by just driving over it. It’s hard to tell exactly what you have there so take what I said with a grain of salt. There may be enough base under there to rough it up and get what you are after but probably not likely. You’re on the right track by wanting to crown it or even tip it where it’s can be tipped to shed water. You can probably do it with a box scraper . I’ve done a lot of roads and getting a good base is the number one objective. If you have access to a skid loader, you can do wonders with one of those also.Stone went thru the roof down here so you really aren’t out anything attempting to straighten up what you have first, it’s always easier to add some where you think you may need it then to get too much on the job. If I was closer or gonna be up north soon, I’d offer to swing by and do it or get you headed in the right direction, let us know how it turns out! A grader will do wonders but I understand it’s not always practical or feasable

If you’ve never used a box blade, it’s not something you can just go out and do, you may doing more damage to the underlying road bed.

I’ve used one , but it’s been 20 years ago and I’d hire it out.

I've found that long term, paving is the most cost effective. Another benefit is my cars stay much cleaner and we don't track so much dirt inside after walking.
Also make sure the drainage is good first and there's not soft sports.
My driveway now is about .25 miles and its still looking decent and 16 years old.

It’s not a year round home for us, the car sits on a concrete pad in front of the garage. Dirt trackage is minimal especially compared to sand trackage:


Drainage is not an issue as the drives and parking areas were put in on the preexisting high ground that don’t interfere with the natural flow of snowmelt or rainwater. All of that water flows naturally into a really nice, big lake.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
I've found that long term, paving is the most cost effective. .

Ummm...no. Not even close. I was quoted $53,000 for my driveway vs. $6500 as described above. Would I do it if I had FU money? You bet I would, but since that'll never happen....

Hell it looks fine to me the way it is. I'd just mow the weeds every week or two.

Most quarries contract out hauling although a few have their own trucks.
Call the quarry and tell the dispatcher you want a driver that knows how to spread his load. When he gets there have him spread it about 2” thick and drive over it a few times (most will do that if you ask nicely). Then use a blade on a tractor, not a box blade unless you know how to use it and Bob’s your uncle.

You will probably have to get several loads of stone to accomplish what you want.

When I lived in the Yoop I was fortunate to have a paved driveway. My neighbor did not but as a logger he had all the associated heavy equipment. Did he use it to clean up his driveway after the spring melt? Nope, he had an old queen sized bed spring that he weighed down with a couple of logs that he towed behind his four wheeler. Leveled out his driveway nicely filling in the ruts and potholes. Gravel as it’s called in the western end of the UP looks like pea sized crushed orange rocks mixed with clay like particulate. It compacts nicely but easily washes away without adequate drainage. He was a thrifty guy who said his method was easy and cheap and it wasn’t worth his effort or expense to use his big boy toys. It may not work for you but that was his solution.