How To Repair A Dirt Road

T. - That tire solution is very cool. Looks similar it would work well where you lot have moving water hitting your roadway, to prevent it from getting done out. Maybe even crossing a stream, provided you lot put a big culvert through.

Hi Jami,

And then sorry you are feeling overwhelmed. I understand.

This is a long post, and then unless someone Actually wants details of what I already briefly described in a higher place, they may desire to skip over.

It is hard to picture your property, but hope I do enough to offer a few tips.

#1 - Don't rent your local road guy, if he puts small (less than two inch) stones down every year. He is running a dissonance. Or he is ignorant and doesn't know whatever better. Yous can be the general contractor and gear up this yourself. No need to spend many thousands to hire a pro. Just hire helpers if you demand aid.

#2 - course, grade, course. French drain (and sometimes ditches) tin plug up with leaves/droppings/nests and as well plugged with ice when the footing freezes. They also require ongoing maintenance to continue them clear and will eventually fill with dirt. So the best solution to water problems, is always to grade the land and then it slopes where you want the water to run. Every square foot of your property should have some place where the water can run all the way off without hurting anything (or into a property pond, terrace garden, field, etc).

Sometimes grading is not possible, as when your driveway is cut into the side of a hill. In this case, the h2o running downwards the colina will want to cross over the pinnacle of your driveway and wash it out. So y'all demand to dig a ditch between your driveway and the hill to catch the runoff, and install a culvert (usually 12 or 16 inch flexible plastic canal piping) under your driveway where yous want water to run out of your new ditch. Never let water to run OVER your driveway. If you lot have plenty slope and then your ditches slope a few inches every 10 feet, the water may move fast plenty that it keeps the ditches from filling with dirt for a long fourth dimension. More ditch and culvert details below.

#3 - ELEVATION. I likewise have flat country that is saturated all winter/spring and is flat with no place to drain, until the water gets deep enough to cross over onto my neighbor'south property and run off. Some parts of my property that my driveway crosses have several inches of standing water for iii or 4 months continuously (considering my neighbor installed a bloom bed in the runoff swale). So in this case, the key is ELEVATION, and KNITTED two-INCH stone. If you build upward your driveway 12 inches higher than surrounding soil, with a gradual slope on the sides of the driveway downward to basis level (or ditch) so you lot don't have mini landslides, information technology doesn't matter if the driveway is saturated at the bottom or not. Because the tiptop 12 inches volition drain after rain and provide a solid base (on top of the saturated mush subsoil) that will stay solid, provided y'all keep the water level always 12 inches below the pinnacle of your driveway. Don't let the h2o to build up forth side your driveway or everything will sink. This is why a culvert nether your driveway, from the ditch y'all dig between your loma and driveway, to the other side of your driveway,  is important: to go on the water level Ever 12 inches lower than the peak of your driveway. AT ALL TIMES, ON ALL SIDES.

You also are going to need a culvert from the ground in the middle of your round drive, to ground that will eventually bleed downhill exterior your round drive, even if fairly flat, then you don't cease up with a pond in the middle of your circumvolve subsequently a heavy rain. Even if the ground all around your property is level. Then, if you lot get 6 inches of rain, it will bleed out so yous have perhaps 1 inch everywhere (assuming some runs off somewhere), rather than create a 6 inch pond in the middle if your circle, that will soak through the bottom 6 inches of driveway and cause it to start sinking.

Make your driveway at least 13 feet wide so your vehicles are not putting pressure on the sides, and slop sides 40 degrees or less, from the bulldoze down to the basis (or ditch) forth side. The wider the drive, and shallower the slope, the more than it will stand up to weather. One advantage to making all slopes gradual, other than lasting much longer, is that information technology is easier to mow any grass that grows there.

#4 - KNITTED STONES. Stones smaller than two inches will not concluding very long in a driveway. A few big stones volition non last very long and will eventually sink. I put down some bricks in erstwhile pot holes and were sunk into the mud in less than a year. 12 inch chunks of concrete sunk here. If yous dump a pile of 2 inch or bigger stones into mud, and then volition somewhen sink.

The primal is allowing 2-inch stone to KNIT in large numbers, and create a matt to bulldoze on. If yous put 4 inches (or more) of two-inch stone on your whole circle drive, on pinnacle of a 12 inch base of packed dirt, the stones will knit together before sinking (provided yous put the stone on dry dirt base). Never dump any size rock on top of mud unless it is an emergency and you have deep pockets, considering information technology will sink. When the stones take time to knit together (on a dry base), there is a lot of friction between a stone and its neighbour on all sides. This side friction prevents the stone from sinking, and spreads the pressure level from your vehicle out over a very big footprint. The double layer (4 inches of two inch stone) has a second layer that volition spread that weight over an even larger area, and the 12 inches of packed dirt, even more than area. So by the time the weight of your vehicle reaches the mushy sublayer 12 inches down (actually sixteen inches if you count the 4 inch of rock), information technology is dispersed so much that nothing sinks. If yous can afford more 4 inches, and so do 6 inches of stone to be extra safe. I did 4 inches of 2 inch stone over a dry base of dirt, and information technology works fine. My driveway fill dirt, is by and large sand, which everyone told me would non pack well and my vehicle would sink into information technology when information technology rained. Merely with the knitted stone on peak, information technology is fine.

Here'southward what I would recommend you do, in exactly this order:

Footstep ane. - Call MISS UTILITY to marking buried cables before doing any digging. Rent someone to dig a 2x2 foot (or larger) ditch between your colina and driveway (cost maybe $200 for 100 foot long ditch dug by backhoe). And dig temporary trench(es) across your driveway at low spots to bury culverts (I paid less than $150 for a backhoe to dig my canal ditch, and expect an hour or so while I buried it so he could back fill it, washed in 3 hrs). Bury the bottom 1 or 2 inches of culvert below ground level. This will ensure your canal is not accidentally too loftier, causing a backup or dam, and volition provide a wider oral fissure at ground level to catch runoff. If the area is mostly flat, and not much water runs through that area, a 6 inch black flexible drain pipe sold at the home middle will piece of work. Solid pipe cannot be used for culvert (unless it is thick physical pipe) considering information technology will crevice as it settles. Every bit the culvert ditch is filled, pack it by stomping on it, or pounding with the end of a 2x4 after the backhoe dumps every 4 inches dorsum into the ditch.

If lots of water runs down the hill into your new ditch along side your drive, purchase a 10 or 12 inch plastic canal from a mechanical distributer for about $100 or then. They come in 20 foot lengths, simply I cut mine in one-half and used a "connector" to connect the two 10 ft halves dorsum together when I buried it, so it would fit in my truck for the ride home. I installed a 16 inch culvert piping to drain about 12 acres under my driveway, and information technology is about twice every bit big as I really need. Always get bigger than you need so your drive doesn't get done out during a hurricane or 100 twelvemonth storm. Keep in mind you volition need at least six to 12 inches of packed dirt on tiptop of a culvert, so in my case I built up my driveway over 24 inches above footing level (xvi inch culvert cached 2 inches + 12 inches of packed dirt = top of driveway is 26 inches above surrounding basis level at the deepest spot). So if your holding is very apartment, attempt several vi inch culverts/drain pipage instead so you lot don't have to build upward your driveway as much. The smaller the culvert, the more probable information technology is to get clogged with debris (leaves, etc.) so keep it as large as you can. It is better to bury 10 or 12 inch culvert, and add a lot more dirt to build up your driveway, but that will be more costly. Then again, how much will information technology cost if it gets plugged upward and the h2o rushes over elevation your driveway and washes it out? Your choice.

Bury culvert pipage in packed mud (Non STONE) thick enough to agree together when compressed in your hand, simply wet enough to push the culvert down into information technology to eliminate air pockets and settling. Slope 4 inches every ten feet if you lot tin, only if on apartment basis, just set up flat. Dirt will eventually make full in the bottom inch or so of the culvert piping and smoothen out the slope through the pipe. Extend culvert pipe iii or 4 anxiety further than you retrieve you need, and trim to size a few months after settling.

Fill in the temporary culvert trench so there is at least 6 inches of clay over the top of the culvert pipe. This might result in a bump in your driveway until you lot get to footstep 3, which is ok. Just drive over it slowly.

If yous are on fairly flat land, try to level your driveway from your house to the street and then at that place is no uphill/downhill. This will assistance keep the driveway draining well.

Step 2. - Wait for your drive to dry out before proceeding.

Step 3. - Call a local guy that hauls dirt and get him to dump lots of fill dirt on your bulldoze to build up to half-dozen inches above ground level. If you can discover a guy that can do tailgate spreading, there will be no manual labor involved. Otherwise, invite friends and neighbors to assistance rake. Or hire someone to aid for the mean solar day. Have the driver dump some dirt over your culvert before he drives his truck over information technology. Full trucks weigh x or 20 times more than a motorcar, so exist careful of your new culverts until you take half-dozen to 12 inches of packed clay over them.

Step 4. - Pack the new dirt past driving on it for a calendar week or ii. Or, if you are in a big hurry, or heavy rain is a few days abroad and y'all don't want it to launder away, rent a road roller to pack it, or just drive your car back and forth 50 times, or ask the truck driver to ride over it with a total load of dirt several times, then motion on to the next step. If the dirt is very dry and kicking upwards dust, spraying with a little water will help it to pack tight very quickly.

Step 5. - Get six inches more than dirt spread on your driveway. If the first guy did a good task tailgate spreading the beginning load evenly, telephone call him again. Otherwise try some other commuter. There are lots of independent drivers that haul stone/dirt for people/contractors/developers. Some are swell at tailgate spreading, and some are not.

Step 6. - Pack information technology similar you did the beginning layer.

Stride vii. Chances are, later on packed, you may need one more load of dirt to go 12 inches packed. Then do that now (i.e. repeat step 5 and half dozen). Make certain y'all accept at least 6 inches of packed dirt over any culvert. 12 inches is best.

Step 8. - Telephone call anyone you know with a tractor, backhoe, front loader, or bob cat, and go firm fixed-price quotes for grading your driveway so it is nice and shine with a 2 !or three inch crown in the middle. Practise NOT HIRE SOMEONE Past THE Hr, and exercise not pay in advance. Audit the driveway and go issues resolved earlier paying. Alternatively, if you want to have some fun, rent a bobcat for the solar day for about $300 and grade information technology yourself! At that place shouldn't be a lot of dirt to move, just shine it out to remove car tracks from packing and add together a crown. You may as well be able to exercise this by hand with a rake, only volition take a while, and will make you very sore, simply is an pick when you have a lot of fourth dimension and no money.

Stride viii. - The next day, or well before the next pelting, phone call your best truck driver, and become him to deliver enough two inch stone to encompass your bulldoze with 4 inches. Call the quary and so yous know how much stone you need, and how much it will cost. Then when you telephone call the driver to schedule, tell him how much stone you demand and how much the quarry charges, and negotiate a commitment fee. Then you lot pay for the stone + a delivery fee of less than $100 per truckload to the commuter. If he charges you by the truckload for the stone (non weight) yous are getting ripped off. Ask to see the quary scale ticket for each load he delivers so y'all know the driver got a full load and is non pocketing some of your stone coin. Ever pay truck drivers in cash if you can, subsequently each truckload, and give them a tip on meridian of their fee and they will go out of their fashion for yous and save you lots of labor. You will have chosen all your friends/family unit and asked them to bring a heavy rake to help rake out the stone so the drive is overnice and flat, crowned in the center. The amount of work required, will depend on how good your driver is at tailgate spreading stone. If he dumps it in big piles, you lot may need to rent that bobcat over again. Park on the street just in case he dumps information technology all in one bug pile, and so you can however get out to rent that bobcat.

Step 9. Drive on it for several months and then check it. Look at it closely and when information technology has a very, very flat surface with no stones sticking up (virtually like pavement). Every stone should be downwardly tight so you tin't wiggle them. Yous should non hear whatsoever stones moving as y'all drive on information technology. The stones should be packed tight. Then you are set up for the next step. After the first few dozen trips up and back in your vehicle to pack information technology a little, pelting won't harm it anymore so don't worry too much if it takes you several months, and several pelting storms to get it packed real tight. Just recollect, never dump stone of any size in mud, or it will sink.

Footstep 10. - Go 1/ii inch rock mixed with rock dust, spread 2 inches thick. Rake smooth once more but don't disturb and of the packed 2 inch rock. Now your driveway is smoothen and won't vibrate loose the fillings in your teeth when yous bulldoze on it. Past the end of the twelvemonth, most of this top layer will disappear down into the cracks between your stone, and so you lot will see the tiptop surface of your 2 inch stone again, only information technology will remain smooth driving and you are done with your driveway, never to have to work on your driveway again, so you can put all your time and energy into other projects.

Afterward a few years, when you tell your neighbors yous no longer have to maintain your driveway anymore, they will hire y'all to ready their'south!

Source: https://permies.com/t/53370/DIY-Dirt-Road-maintenance-improvement

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