When putting stone down for a driveway or small parking area, what is the proper way to prep the ground? It's currently in sod with a large area of bare dirt (from parking my truck over it and killing the grass...doh!). I would imagine that I need to "cut" it down a few inches, put in some larger stone, then smaller stone on top of that?

I can't raise the "ground level" much because of the bottom of the walk-in door of the garage. I've got two, maybe three inches under there now. I know I can do the work, have access to the equipment (work at a Bobcat dealer.. ) I just need some info. So what's the right way to do it, and what's the way that will work okay ...lol

Any idea how many tons of what size stone it would take to do about 350 sq/ft??

I also have access to all the chipped asphalt I want (instead of stone). Anyone used much of it for a driveway? All I have to do is load it and haul it.

 

around here, they scrape the sod away, lay class 5 gravel on top of landscape fabric, and then crushed granite on top. Packs pretty tight.

 

If I had access to free recycled asphalt, I'd grab it.

We just had a big section of the yard at work prepped for a planned expansion. The expansion is still a few months off, so they put about 6" of surface on the area with recycled asphalt. We park trailer loads of structural steel there for now & have absolutely no problem with 40,000 lb+ loads sitting on the jacks.

 

Do you know a Civil Engineer that can take a peek at your ground? He can give you the best advice for your soil conditions.

 

Grab that asphalt...friend of my got enough off a nearby road job to do his parking lot-close to 1/3 acre. He has a roller (highway type) rolled it then used a oil based driveway sealer on it. Came out real nice.

 

The asphalt is good as it repells water and rain, it will run off instead of soaking in providing a solid surface instead of mud. Around here it is fairly expensive, around $200 for 10 yards so if you can get it free it`s a great deal.

 

For our driveway we cut a couple inches down and filled it in with 411's, it's got the powder in it. It's dusty till it gets good and wet. Thent he powder hardens a bit and you get a nice solid surface. Plus there's less stone gettin pushed around from plowing and any tires that may spin and make holes.

 

Chipped asphalt is different from regular asphalt. You would have to heat it back up to melt the tar and probably add a bit more tar to make it back into asphalt again. There has to be some sort of base under asphalt anyway.

 

By chipped asphalt do you mean recycled asphalt? This is what my neighbour put on his driveway in the country, the sun helped to make it bond fairly well. That plus driving over it has made it into a decent surface. Not quite as good as heating it before laying it down and adding oil/tar mix but still quite durable for lighter regular traffic.
I would like to use this for my wash bay area once I can afford it.

 

Yeah, I suppose "recycled" asphalt would be a better term. It comes from our city street department. When they rip up the top layer of old asphalt prior to repaving a street they just give the stuff to anyone who wants it. One phone call to get on the "list" and they'll bring as many loads of it as you want. We've got a big ol' pile of it at the shop. I just have to come up with something to haul it home in. My F150 can only take a little bit at a time because of the weight.

 

I am surprised that the city does not recycle it thru an asphalt plant some way themselves. The equipment is large and expensive but most municipalities recycle it. Maybe the city just gives it away so that an asphalt company can get it for free and then sell it back to the city... Seems that would be a lucrative business for someone!

 

Our city does and so do alot of contractors. This is why it costs $200 a 10 yard load plus delivery for anyone wanting it. Used to be about half that afew years back...

 

Just curious why you are not considering pouring concrete. For 350 square 4" thick depending on where you are should be less than $350 if you do it yourself. If not, the asphalt works well. Wait for a hot day and spray a little diesel on it (livens it up) with an old garden sprayer and borrow a plate packer to pack it in.

 

Did somebody call for civil Engineer, lol. This right here is right up my alley! You'll need to strip away your "sod" and dig out all the top soil untill you get to a clay base. I have no Idea how thick the top soil is in Indiana so your depth of excavation will depend on this. You SHOULD then scarify (till up) and recompact the top 6-12" of clay. This will give you a good base so your gravcel doesn't dissappear into nowhere every year and sill save you in the long run by not having to haul in more material as the old stuff sinks out of site. once you've done this geotextile fabric would be reccomended before laying your gravel as it give structural support to your base material, bridges gaps in the subbase, and will provide seperation from the caly if it hasn't been recmpacted properly (IE, lots of bennifits for a small cost). With Fabric you should have a minimum 9" compacted Cl.5 or Cl.13 Surface course material (DOT sepc'd gravel). Obviously to do this you'll need a minimum of 9" of excavation to not raise the top of the driveway. This will give you a rock hard driving/parking surface and should not rut or turn to a mud hole! As long as the recycle asphalt has been crushed fine enough that would also be fine to use although you should then probably still place 4" of gravel before placing the top 5" of recycle. Being that recycle is free I wouldn't skimp, I would probably put 6" of gravel and 12" of recycle but you end up with 18" of excavation that would probably have to be hauled from the site to someplace that will take it. THe fabric isn't a neccessity but but as I said before for the small cost why not! For 9" of material you'll need about 18.5 tons of material or 9.75 cubic yards depending on how you order it or pick it up. for 18" you'll nedd basicallly double that at 19.5 Cubic Yards and 36.5 Tons. This may seem like a lot but if your getting the material for free It'll come out to about 2.5 tandem axle end dump loads worth of gravel/recycle. Your other option is to go to rentall or Acme or somewhere that'll rent a Electric/Hydraulic dump trailor and haul it your slef but you'll probably have to make 8-10 trips to get it all and I wouldn't suggest doing this with a 1/2 ton pickup, you'll need a 3/4 or 1 ton. Just a few options that you could do to get by cheaper.

 

Thanks SLE! Stripping the sod and scarifying shouldn't be a problem, having free use of a Bobcat and some attachments at my disposal. I'm sure though, that we don't have a compactor so I'd have to look elsewhere to cover that step.

Geotextile fabric...I understand what you're referring to, just hadn't heard the proper term for it. You mentioned "lot's of benefits at a small cost"....so....how small? lol Can it be found at places like Lowe's or Home Depot? Now that I know what it's called I can search around for more info!

Another issue I face is that I don't have a place to dump large loads of anything. Close quarters and low overhanging power, cable and telephone lines are problems.
Hauling it in smaller loads may be a pain, but it may work better in the long run for my particular case.

Thanks again for the info!