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Mid-Missouri | I will soon be berming up a driveway that is a few hundred feet long off of a county road. My plan is building a road up from the black field topsoil. From there I will lay likely 15' wide geotextile fabric. I would like opinions on what gravel to put on top of the fabric. I am thinking 3" road base for the entire gravel layer. I like how it packs together instead of clean gravel but is that going to be a bad thing? The geotextile fabric can filter water, so maybe the road base on top is a bad idea. I don't need gravel below the fabric correct?
Thanks.
Edited by seedcleaner 2/8/2012 16:31
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MO | I was told you need somewhat of a base before you put the fabric down. I put a pretty hefty dose of 3" road base down on top of a small crown I made with a scraper. So far it is very solid, I'm thinking about just dressing the top with 1" and calling it good. |
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Mid-Missouri | You haven't used fabric? How long has it been built with what type of traffic? |
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NW Washington | I think that coarse rock like the 3" base you mention should go down on top of the fabric and it should be followed by a layer of finer stuff like 3/4" minus. A good compacted and well drained base is key to making any road or foundation. The fabric keeps the rock from disappearing into mud when things are wet. I am not sure that top soil is the best soil for base material. |
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MO | I haven't ever used fabric, I like the idea though. It's only been built a year though. It's had around 150 yards worth of concrete trucked over it and I ran several loaded hopper bottoms over it. I had the first layer down before the concrete trucks, then I put another layer in after they smashed it down. A concrete truck WILL find the bottom. LOL. It is pretty smooth even though it is all 3". What I'm having trouble with now is the fines in the rock and mud is making it nasty on top. Maybe I should put the fabric down now? |
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| I am wondering if you should lay the big sharp 3" rock directly on top of the fabric, as it may tear it and start putting holes in it. Maybe a good idea to talk to the vendor or mfr.
of the fabric, to find out for sure. |
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North West IA/western AZ | I didn't remove any topsoil when I built the drive to my new finisher in 1997. Layed down the fabric then the 3" rock (I used limestone) then I used unscreen 3/4 on top to tye everything together. After many loads of feed, potloads of hogs, and tankers of manure, it is still holding up like new. |
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Macon, IL | I have 2 driveways-both built on formerly farmground, first one was just clear 5" of dirt and dumped in CA6. Had to bring in CA6 every spring for next 7 years before it was finally stable.
2nd one I cleared about 3" and put down geo fabric and dumped rock on-have never had to add anything to it.
If I were doing it again and could afford it I would remove 4" of soil, put down fabric, cover with 4-6" of 3" rock, then put CA6 over the top of that. The driveway would be a little above grade so drain well, and with that 3" would be room below. You may have to add some CA6 2nd year but bet you never would again. |
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So. IL | What ever you do, make sure the base is solid before putting down fabric and rock. I have seen way too many people think fabric replaces a base, but it won't. Then the drive mixer trucks down the road and it pushes up the fabric in the middle and along the edge. What a mess, can't even grade it down after that. |
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North End I-15 | one thing I have found that really helps,I'd to contour the yard/ road so that it drains . I also use a harrow to move the dirt down and the fine gravel up . I don't have a lot of gravel but the yard and road into it stay in good shape . The harrow is a spike tooth lindsay . |
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West Central IL | I just did this last year at the new house,we put fabric down over ground I had scraped corn stalks off of then put 1" that wasn't clean over that. When they started coming in with heavy trucks we ended up putting 2" over all that and after it settled all summer put 1" clean over it to finish the driveway and it's really nice now. |
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Clearville, Pa. | Seedcleaner, do not be tight with the stone,put fabric down 3to 4 inches then use a product called geogrid,looks like saftey fence but should be 12 ft wide,put 3 to 4 inches on that it will not go any place. |
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Triplett / Brunswick MO / Brookfield | I would remove the top soil and replace it with clay. I would raise the road bed higher than the ajacent ground............Why waiste good top soil, especially when it makes a poor base..........................At our old dealership we had several acres of lot with a 3" base under 1" surface rock. WE HATED the 3" BASE. Did I mention, that we hated the three inch base? Our lot stayed in very good shape as for as being hard; we spread 3/4 clean on it every once in a while. We had to be VERY carefull whe we would drag or grade. Even though the base was put down 30 years ago it would still migrate to the surface. Just barely grading it sometimes made a big mess. One more thing, did I mention that we hated the three inch rock? |
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Mid-Missouri | I would prefer something like clay mixture for the base but it may be hard to come by in that area. The topsoil should pack good and with a berm, drain well enough.
We have applied 3" base to several locations around the yard that was once yard without geotextile. I really like it, as the fine limestone mixes and ties the 3" rock together. It almost makes concrete. Hard tired forklifts even get along pretty good there. I don't understand the issue you have had, as well as others? What kind of mess did you have to deal with? |
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W.C. Mo. | Had a city person buy neighboring ground. Tried to build road across field with 30 inches of black topsoil. By the time they got done shaping it they couldn't even drive a 4x4 pickup down it as it was tooooo spongy. With the drives I have been involved with, we always remove topsoil and build a good base with clay or rock, then either rock or fabric depending on traffic. Even then, if loaded trucks travel the same path continuously the fabric can push up the edges and middle. Personally for the price of the fabric, I would rather have extra rock. |
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Nwmo | We put some fabric down on bare ground around a new bin sight. We then put 2in rollstone base down which is just 2 inch rock with fines and some mud in it. We then put clean chat and 1 inch on top of that. We have since put the same thing down around another new bin without the fabric and so far no difference in how much rock it took to make a base. I can say that he fabric covered ground stayed wet and mushy a lot longer than the ground with out fabric. If I had to do it again I would try to make a base with rock before I put down the fabric. |
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mora | i think you are making a mistake with using the black dirt for a base, especially if you are going to have heavy trucks on it. you might get away with it if it is only small vehicles. we built a house in 99 an 1/8 mile off of the gravel road. we built a road along the edge of the hayfield, actually some pretty good dirt for our area. the guy that dug my basement convinced me to cut about 10-12" deep and build it up with gravel. we put a 3" base, one trip, one trip with 2" over the top of that, and let the cement trucks and construction stuff mash the stuff in good. later come back with 1" road rock creek gravel. never had a problem with it. have semi's going out loaded on it all the time. i have seen county roads get soft in the winter time and my lane be fine. i think you will regret building a road on black dirt. we ended up using our black dirt around our house for the yard and stuff. if you dont want to do that, you can always sell it to help pay for the gravel.
kevin
Edited by kevin wcmo 2/8/2012 21:47
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Iowa | Fabric is the key. I bet you would have had similar results with smaller limestone. Anyway, it worked well and that's all that matters.
To OP, If spot is "high and dry, I'd just "fabric" it and add limestone w fines. After that packs, if dust is a problem, put some "CLEANED" over it.
We do driveways all the time on top of virgin soil if site is well-drained. Fabric is the key. Unless strictly residential, we use the heavier "truck" grade (vs. the "car" grade).
Fabric provides extremely good value. No annual $$ for more and more and more and more rock, no "bottom falling out" each spring for the first several years, etc. Limited or no washboarding, no potholes.
Good call on the fabric! |
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East Central Ia | When I built my house 5 yrs ago I just dumped a couple loads of 3/4 road rock and smoothed it out with a blade. Worked great, doesn't get soft and have only added to it once. This only gets a couple semi trucks on it a yr. We put down a good base of 3-4" rock at our bin site and have fought it ever since. The guy who did it didn't dig down enough and put it to wide. We have put endless truck loads over it and it still works its way up making grading a PITA! And we can't mow along the edge unless you like replacing blades. |
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nw mb | we call it cbase, its got a high clay content when 1" or less stone works well, packs like a dream make sure you have a good crown and no low spots since it doesnt absorb water all that well |
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Building a driveway on geotextile fabric...what gravel?
