# help with my new driveway



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

The drive is 16 feet wide and 300 feet long. I put a crown in the middle and ditches on both sides. I'm looking to do this as cheep as I can, stressing the I.

What would you use as a base material? Should I just put down crusher run? Around here delivery fees seem to be pricey, a 18 mile trip will cost me 120 bucks. As far as material, crushed concrete is $10, 34 stone is $24, crushed brick is $8 per tone. 

The grade is up hill, about 15 feet rise to the top. What should I do with the ditches? Fill with material? Rip pap ($33 per ton)? Grow grass?

Any help or experience would be greatly appreciated. 

I hope the picture attached correctly, and I hope to see your pictures. Thank you.


----------



## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

I like crushed concrete. It is a little dusty in the summer but after It settles it works good for me.


----------



## beenaround (Mar 2, 2015)

you want it to drain quickly (No dust/berm stone). Berm is the cheapest and packs well but doesn't drain. When water sits it causes holes to be created and the wash board effect to begin.

I put down large 1.5-3 inch stone as a based (great drainage). top it with 1" +/-. All clean stone. You'll have to move it back in place from time to time, but that's it. Keep the weeds killed that want to start in it.

Drainage is the key to stone drives.


----------



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

Thanks for the input. I had 40 tons of recycled concrete put down yesterday. I'll let that pack in and eventually put down recycled asphalt. 

I'm still wondering what to put in the ditches, to keep the water from cutting in and washing all the mud to the road.


----------



## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

plant the shoulders in KY 31 Fescue to prevent the eroding...


----------



## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

Related Q, how do you keep weeds at bay???
We have a tar n chip drive and the weeds instantly came up through the tar like nothing.


----------



## meiere (Dec 17, 2014)

Are the ditches too steep to mow?


----------



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

Ron, has planting grass in ditches worked for you? I have heard varying opinions on this. I have some incline up the drive.

It's been raining pretty hard in the last few days. I'll try to go out there tomorrow to see how the drive handled the rain.


----------



## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

who do you call for the crushed concrete? A dump load of gravel is $90 + and shale is $65 a load. and they just dump it so you need a bobcat to spread it I guess.


----------



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

It's a lot more expensive around here. Crushed concrete is $10 per ton (crush and run is $18) delivery costs me $120, and that's the cheapest I could find. I ended up getting 40 tons of recycled brick, only $8 per ton. 

It rained a lot this week and everything is starting to settle. Some areas only have a thin layer and will need more material. I hope to pack the product good in the next few months and get another 40 or 60 tons delivered. Once that packs in, I will go with recycled asphalt, $15 per ton. 

I think I will go with rip rap or railroad ballast for the ditches. There was some washout after this last rain. Anything to slow the water down I guess. 

Wish me luck and a lot of money, I'll keep y'all posted.


----------



## han_solo (Aug 31, 2014)

Could someone post a pic of the crushed brick and concrete? I was told a load of crushed rock is about $500.00 and that is 1 dump truck.


----------



## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

han_solo said:


> Could someone post a pic of the crushed brick and concrete? I was told a load of crushed rock is about $500.00 and that is 1 dump truck.


Ditto, didn't know that existed..


----------



## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

han_solo said:


> Could someone post a pic of the crushed brick and concrete? I was told a load of crushed rock is about $500.00 and that is 1 dump truck.


Here's one



http://www.greenwiselandscapeproducts.com/images/crushed-concrete.jpg


----------



## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

han_solo said:


> Could someone post a pic of the crushed brick and concrete? I was told a load of crushed rock is about $500.00 and that is 1 dump truck.


Yes it is one load but it is a 40' load not a 10 yard load on a small dump truck.


----------



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

Crushed brick is only about half red, rest is mortar and concrete. Works great and looks good too. I'll take a picture next time I go to the property.


----------



## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Things vary geographically, but the way we would do that in my neck of the woods would be to first place a base layer of about 8" of large #2 crushed limestone, then top it with about 4-6" of #53 crushed limestone which packs and grades a little nicer.

For the ditches, I would seed them with grass. If it has much slope some erosion control blankets, straw bales dams, etc. would help hold things in place till grass gets established. Then you could mow things and keep it looking nice.

Crushed concrete rubble is OK for a base material, but I wouldn't want it as the top driving surface. The crushing process uses a magnet to extract the steel and wire reinforcing, but from my experience it doesn't get it all. This leads to flat tires.


----------



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

That is what my driveway looks like after 40 tons of recycled brick. There is another 80 feet or so behind me, but for the initial spread, it has worked quite well. This will be my base layer, there was no fabric or larger stone below this. I do realize that the road would have been better with a better base, but that's all I could do and had to get something started. It has been a few months with several rain storms and the road has held up perfectly. We do not get a whole lot of ice in South Carolina so that wasn't a major concern. 

As you can see, there is a bit of grade up to the top, and the ditches are getting cut in. I like the idea of creating straw bail dams, might do that to get going. I still think I will place rip rap in the ditches to slow the water down, and plant grass along with it to prevent erosion. Has anyone ever done that? Any other thoughts?

The second picture is a close up of the material. It's $8 per ton, cheapest material available, even cheaper than crushed concrete, and without wires. I will probably put down another layer next year and later recycles asphalt for the finish surface. 

Thanks for all the input so far.


----------



## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

IF you can find a source of used vegetable oil.... my source fluctuates over the years, and most of the time, it was so nasty with burnt 'cornmeal' or flour, it was never going to be useful for any possible biodiesel project.... so I end up dumping it just for the nice buckets. One day, I dumped it on my road, on a very hot day... it soaked into the dry sand/clay/rock, and a few days later, had 'set up', almost like asphalt. So I started lining my road with the waste veg oil, and it waterproofed the road, and kept the 'fines' from washing out to the ditches. Lasted for a decade, till a tracked vehicle started driving over it...


----------



## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Nice color to those crushed brick !


----------



## Jolly (Jan 8, 2004)

texican said:


> IF you can find a source of used vegetable oil.... my source fluctuates over the years, and most of the time, it was so nasty with burnt 'cornmeal' or flour, it was never going to be useful for any possible biodiesel project.... so I end up dumping it just for the nice buckets. One day, I dumped it on my road, on a very hot day... it soaked into the dry sand/clay/rock, and a few days later, had 'set up', almost like asphalt. So I started lining my road with the waste veg oil, and it waterproofed the road, and kept the 'fines' from washing out to the ditches. Lasted for a decade, till a tracked vehicle started driving over it...


Didn't have any trouble with the road getting slick after a rain?


----------

