# Geotextile Fabric for gravel driveway?



## cast iron (Oct 4, 2004)

Curious if anybody has used this type of fabric when putting in a gravel road or driveway?

http://www.usfabricsinc.com/products/drivewayfabric.shtml

http://www.usfabricsinc.com/products/wovenstabilization.shtml


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## kreig (Apr 29, 2008)

I haven't myself but I have a good friend who works for the township and they use it alot on their drives and parking lots. He says it works very well and is pretty much the only base they use anymore.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

We've used it in our parking area. It works beautifully.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Geotextile fabric is is very commonly used below gravel and earthen fills placed over saturated, unstable soil. It is used where subsurface drainage is not an option to stabilize the existing soil due to landscape position and/or cost.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Geotextile, Typar is one brand, is useful on areas that develop soft spots. I've used it on a rutted area near the creek that's used for parking. That area used to turn into a mud hole when it rained. 

Lay the stuff down. Overlay if the 12' width isn't wide enough. I used #57 crush and run gravel on top. Crush and run will compact and give you a fairly solid surface.

If you're parking heavy equipment or larger trucks, you can use geogrid rather than geotextile for more support. It costs more than geotextile, but it will prevent heavy traffic from eventually flexing surfaces like asphalt enough to break them up.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

I've put it down over persistent mudholes, then cover with stone and fine gravel, and it kills the mudhole. Some holes I'd put yards into, and it just sank in the ground (sure some Chinaman is complaining of the gravel popping out of the ground on his place)... got a truckload of reclaimed fabric, and patched my holes with it, and I haven't had to do it again.

The stuff is like glass... your hands will be raw if you pull on it any... I'd not recommend it...


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## cast iron (Oct 4, 2004)

Darren said:


> Geotextile, Typar is one brand, is useful on areas that develop soft spots. I've used it on a rutted area near the creek that's used for parking. That area used to turn into a mud hole when it rained.
> 
> Lay the stuff down. Overlay if the 12' width isn't wide enough. I used #57 crush and run gravel on top. Crush and run will compact and give you a fairly solid surface.


Thanks for the replies everyone. In looking through some of the websites I'm still a little confused, is 'Geotextile' the generic version or is it a brand name? It looks like the stuff can be ordered online from supply companies but I'm wondering if there is a local retail outlet as well.

A 12' width would be fine. The quarry/gravel pit owner says his trucks dump to a 12' width for the most part and that the 8' blade on our dozer will work good for blading the material out to 12' width.

I'm also wondering if the fabric can be left exposed for a week or two before the gravel is brought in. Once we get the driveway bladed out and leveled and lay the fabric down we may have to wait until the following weekend to have the trucks start delivering the rock. My hope is that should it rain during the week the fabric may prevent deterioration of the prepared ground?


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## Navotifarm (Dec 16, 2009)

Your local forestry department may be able to help yoU with advice on this since geotextiles are uused in constructing woods roads. I was not able to afford them but fouund I could get discarded carpet and lay it before bringing in stone. It worked very well for my purpose.


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## davel745 (Feb 2, 2009)

We used it for our driveway. However you can&#8217;t do a hill. The trucks just slip on the stuff and if you put rocks on it and then unroll it up hill the next load will slide out from under. Worked great for the flat areas. 

Dave


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Geotextile is what the stuff is. Generic could be the term. Floor tile is floor tile. Armstrong is a brand name of floor tile like Typar is a brand name of geotextile.

Check companies that sell construction supplies like corrugated metal culvert and precast concrete manholes and drainage structures like drop inlets.

If you put it down without placing the gravel soon after the wind could blow it around. Anchor it with something like cement blocks to hold it in place.

I've never tried placing it on a slope. I've had problems with even graded gravel on a slope. The key may be using crush and run which contains fines and all the sizes up to the largest size. That stuff locks together.


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## Clearwater (Jun 3, 2009)

Geo-textile fabric will bridge some soft areas and will prevent mixing of the gravel with the subgrade. When designing street sections we assume that the fabric will preserve about 2" of gravel that would otherwise mix into the subgrade where it no longer adds to the strength of the street. For fabric to be effective in bridging soft spots it should be covered with 12" of gravel. If you are not going to put down 12" the soft areas will still pump and the fabric will be pushed to the surface and driveway/street will fail.

Fabric should be rolled out just ahead of the placement of gravel. Do not drive on the fabric - the gravel must dumped at the end and pushed ahead with a dozer. The fabric must be stretched taut to provide maximum benefit. You will need at least two people plus the dozer operator to install properly.

You should be able to buy fabric in 12 and 18 foot widths. In most applications you can roll it out length-wise. For really soft subgrades we lay it out perpendicular to the roadway, load the outside edges and then install the gravel. Pieces of fabric should be overlapped 18" to 36". Remember you are going to push the gravel onto the fabric, the overlap must be in the direction you are laying the gravel so it doesn't roll up.

If you have soft areas you are trying to span use a woven fabric. if you are just trying to provide separation from the subgrade a non-woven fabric works well.


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## cast iron (Oct 4, 2004)

> However you canât do a hill. The trucks just slip on the stuff and if you put rocks on it and then unroll it up hill the next load will slide out from under. Worked great for the flat areas.





> I've never tried placing it on a slope. I've had problems with even graded gravel on a slope. The key may be using crush and run which contains fines and all the sizes up to the largest size. That stuff locks together.


Hmm, well if that's the case I guess the fabric may not be appropriate for my application as it is up hill. This might be why the quarry guy said that he didn't think the fabric was needed for my application when I had him out to inspect, though the reasons he stated were the quality of the existing ground and good drainage. He did mention 10" of base rock and 6-8" of top rock which sounds like the crush and run from his description.

This is a picture of the application. We will widen and level it another 10' towards the up slope side (to the left in the picture) then ditch the up slope side and culvert to drain at the bottom of the driveway


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## cast iron (Oct 4, 2004)

Clearwater said:


> Fabric should be rolled out just ahead of the placement of gravel. Do not drive on the fabric - the gravel must dumped at the end and pushed ahead with a dozer. The fabric must be stretched taut to provide maximum benefit. You will need at least two people plus the dozer operator to install properly.


This is another issue that might make the fabric impractical in my application. I'm not sure how the trucks could get up and down the driveway without driving over the fabric in one manner or another. There is no access from the either side on this driveway, everything needs to be done going up the driveway or on the way back down once they turn around up on top.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I picked up a piece of heavy-duty geotextile from a local construction company to repair a large puddle in the middle of my drive. This is what he told me that might be pertinent to your situation.

Geotextile can be used for slopes if it is buried at least 18" & covered with "21A stone". This stone has sand in it and hardens like cement.


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