A couple of hard rains caused a bit of a wash-out in our driveway, the rut is about 6 - 8" deep at the deepest spots. Have a box blade for the BX, looking for suggestions on the best way to tackle this and fix the issue, rahter than making it worse. The run-off issue has been dealt with, so HOPEFULLY I won't have to do this again! Pics are attached, thanks in advance for the help!
Driveway - big mess!!!!
- Thread starter mike-o
- Start date
Yea we had the same problem here too with the rain we have had. Rare for us in August here in Ark. I have to just back fill with top soil and a lot of gravel and hope to pack it down enough to stay put for a while.
Have been looking a Chip and Sealing the road. Have you thought about doing that?
Have been looking a Chip and Sealing the road. Have you thought about doing that?
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armylifer
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
BX1860, FEL, RCK54P MMM, BB1548 Box Scraper, Quick Hitch, Piranha Bar, BX6315
I won't even pretend to know anything about grading a road but I think that I would attampt to crown the road. It seems to me that you need to get some more crushed rock or gravel too.
To keep on top of the wash outs I think that you would need to make sure that you fill any pot holes as soon as they appear.
Maintaining a road on a slope has to be a real pain. I do not envy you at all.
You should be able to use that LandPride box scraper that you have to do the job. That, along with your FEL, if you have one would do wonders. My driveway is level and I do not have anywhere near the problem that you have but I do get pot holes and I fill them ASAP when they appear.
Maybe some others on this forum with more experience will chime in. I know that I will be reading any post concerning this. Good Luck!
On a hillside like that for a driveway you want to go with a larger stone then what is typically used for driveways, which is commonly known as 57's. Ideally something like #3's which is a 2'' to 3'' stone in size and holds well on slopes and works great to control erosion. I know its pricey to get new stone trucked in but it will be a permanent fix to washouts.
Easiest way to fix the driveway is to start at the bottom and drag all the rock back uphill and cover the hole. Maybe take long shallow passes with the grading box so you don't pull all the rock from one end and then have a bald spot at the start line.
To give you an idea on what #3 stone looks like, here is what my local quarry has.
http://www.luckstone.com/products/1-2-3-rail-ballast
Easiest way to fix the driveway is to start at the bottom and drag all the rock back uphill and cover the hole. Maybe take long shallow passes with the grading box so you don't pull all the rock from one end and then have a bald spot at the start line.
To give you an idea on what #3 stone looks like, here is what my local quarry has.
http://www.luckstone.com/products/1-2-3-rail-ballast
armylifer
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
BX1860, FEL, RCK54P MMM, BB1548 Box Scraper, Quick Hitch, Piranha Bar, BX6315
Your problem is common to everyone here in E TN where there effectively is no flatland.
Use your box to accumulate the run-off and refill the rut. Concrete is your only other option. Just part of maintenance round here.
Our dive is 1 mile long and 3/4 of it up hill. My brother and I spent 2 days last week with two tractors fixing it after all the record breaking rain. We just box blade the gravel back up the hill and get new gravel every few years. Been maintaining it for over 20 years.
"record breaking rain"
Same here- anybody want to venture a guess on what Winter is going to bring?
My driveway does that, too, when it rains heavy. I have a fireroad that goes from my upper driveway up and around a ridge behind the house. I cut breaks in a couple of places on the fireroad, which greatly diminished the amount of rain that washed down the driveway. I take my scraper blade and fill it all back in, then pack it down. It holds fine until we get another toadstrangler. If you are going to have gravel, you are going to deal with it.
Welcome to OTT, mike-o.
Same here- anybody want to venture a guess on what Winter is going to bring?
My driveway does that, too, when it rains heavy. I have a fireroad that goes from my upper driveway up and around a ridge behind the house. I cut breaks in a couple of places on the fireroad, which greatly diminished the amount of rain that washed down the driveway. I take my scraper blade and fill it all back in, then pack it down. It holds fine until we get another toadstrangler. If you are going to have gravel, you are going to deal with it.
Welcome to OTT, mike-o.
Mike-o, my lower drive going to my shed is about like what you have and I had the same issue as you do right now. Looking at your pics it appears the water tends to run toward the bank so I would help it out. Start right at the top of the hill and put a small speed hump of gravel at a slight angle so the water will run over to the bank. About every 20 or 25 feet another speed hump and again turn the water off the bank. Continue this all the way down the hill. The trick is to slow the water down and turn it off the side where you no longer have to deal with it. It will take a few times to keep them in place and the fines to settle in where the humps will get packed hard. Don't get them at to sharp of a angle or the running water will wash your humps away and then you have another issue to deal with. Once you get them in place about the only thing you'll do is clean out the fines that will settle in front of the humps.
I know this sounds like a PIA but it's not that bad. The hump just needs to be a few inches high, just enough to slow and turn the water. That is the trick to keeping a gravel drive on a hill like what you have. If you slow the water down the rest of the road will stay in place. I haven't had to put gravel on my driveway in 4 or 5 years. It's hard to tell how much slope you have but mine drops about 15' every 100' of driveway.
I know this sounds like a PIA but it's not that bad. The hump just needs to be a few inches high, just enough to slow and turn the water. That is the trick to keeping a gravel drive on a hill like what you have. If you slow the water down the rest of the road will stay in place. I haven't had to put gravel on my driveway in 4 or 5 years. It's hard to tell how much slope you have but mine drops about 15' every 100' of driveway.
We had some luck long ago on a similarly problematic drive at my grandfather's place in N AL. From what I recall, it was done by using "chirt" to build up a bed, and covering that with coarse crusher run. It was shaped with a slope biased moderately to the high side. It was then was compacted in using a track dozer, and a ditch was formed to carry runoff from the high side to the culvert at the bottom where it went under the drive. According to what I recall, that turned a constant big problem into a seasonal touchup. The only time I remember it ever having a problem after that was when we got a hurricane spin-off (with tornadoes and torrential rainfall) that overwhelmed the ditch that had not been recently cleared.
Thanks everyone for all the sugestions!
A couple of more questions before I get to this task. First, the drive is actually very well packed, and gravel wash is surprisingly minimal, other than this wicked rut. Should I use the scarifier teeth to break everything up, especially around the rut, or just use the blade(s) to scrape & fill. I do have a good size pile of gravel at the end/bottom of the rut to pick up, thank heavens for the FEL!
Eric, considered larger stone, but not sure about that with the wife's car, might make the drive a bit rough for it.
Skeets, I'm down by Waynesburg about 30 miles south of you.
A couple of more questions before I get to this task. First, the drive is actually very well packed, and gravel wash is surprisingly minimal, other than this wicked rut. Should I use the scarifier teeth to break everything up, especially around the rut, or just use the blade(s) to scrape & fill. I do have a good size pile of gravel at the end/bottom of the rut to pick up, thank heavens for the FEL!
Eric, considered larger stone, but not sure about that with the wife's car, might make the drive a bit rough for it.
Skeets, I'm down by Waynesburg about 30 miles south of you.
Your rut is sort of like a pothole in a flat gravel road. If you just fill it with loose gravel, driving over it will loosen and displace some of it every time you drive over the rut. I would suggest that you get enough #3 limestone (approx. baseball size) to fill in the rut about 3/4+ full and then top it off with the smaller stuff that washed down. That will stabilize the base of the road and eliminate the worry about your wife's car.
I wouldn't dig the driveway up if it was me. If you turn the water off to the side I would just fill the rut in with what you have and just pack it in good. I you leave the water running where it will some #3's would be good to fill the ruts in.
If you can get the water under control you'll have it whipped for the most part anyway.
If you can get the water under control you'll have it whipped for the most part anyway.
Unless you really do an engineered job, you will continue to have to do maintenance.
The first thing that is required for a fixed job is keeping the water off the road with a change of cross slope and install collecting culverts. The hill side of the road then will be lower that the outboard where a ditch is dug at the hill side. The spaced culverts will take away heavy flows before the ditch gets so loaded that that is eroded. Ditch probably needs paving with rip-rap placed on geotech fabric.
Farther up hill, diversion ditches will help reduce the flows that you have to handle.
So a real fix takes a lot of work and expense.
Chip seal or blacktop paving will not solve things, unless water flow over the surface is controlled, especially at the edges. Fixing washed out paving is more of a job than as now present.
The first thing that is required for a fixed job is keeping the water off the road with a change of cross slope and install collecting culverts. The hill side of the road then will be lower that the outboard where a ditch is dug at the hill side. The spaced culverts will take away heavy flows before the ditch gets so loaded that that is eroded. Ditch probably needs paving with rip-rap placed on geotech fabric.
Farther up hill, diversion ditches will help reduce the flows that you have to handle.
So a real fix takes a lot of work and expense.
Chip seal or blacktop paving will not solve things, unless water flow over the surface is controlled, especially at the edges. Fixing washed out paving is more of a job than as now present.
I agree. Chip and seal will lead to problems down the road. Gravel can always be re-graded and repaired. Chip and seal cannot. I'm new to the board, but I've been in the aggregate business for a while.
As long as the boss lady does not fly up the hill at 100mph, a surface of #3's wont be to terribly rough of a drive for her in the car. #3 will definitely prevent further washouts and works great for erosion control.
And I would think if you capped it with some 2a modified with a lot of fines in it that might help with smoothing it out and sealing it too, and if you happen to change oil and the pan flips over spilling used oil and running down the drive way,,,, while not a good thing ,,, it helps hold things together
get a load of fines mixed along with your normal rock. the fines will pack the rock like concrete.
or
if you can afford it…
have the load blended rock/fines and cement. after smoothing, water it down or hope for a light rain…
you will end up with a hard surface, with enough grip to keep from spinning your tires in adverse weather...
or
if you can afford it…
have the load blended rock/fines and cement. after smoothing, water it down or hope for a light rain…
you will end up with a hard surface, with enough grip to keep from spinning your tires in adverse weather...