Parking area

We have a parking area in front of our home. Probably 50 feet x 75 feet. We would like to gravel it. It has been in use for 40 years without any gravel. Doesn't seem to get soft with rain (even in the rainy season) We have lived here for 8 years and it would look nicer if it was graveled, but I would like for it not to have weeds and grass growing up in it. I have read about removing the topsoil but since nothing is sinking down when it is wet is this really necessary? What about just using woven geotextile fabric and putting crushed rock over it?

I have a gravel driveway/parking area like that which we have covered with the finest crushed limestone I could get, think they call it '204' around here which I think refers to a state DOT specification. Its everything from very fine dust up to about a 2 inch stone. Packs in good and hard. I did not dig out the topsoil on mine either since the soil is pretty firm. No soft spots have developed. The weeds really only seem to grow in it where our lawnmower has blown grass clippings (with weed seeds) onto it. I just spray them with roundup every 6-8 weeks or so in the summer and it is fine.

Well gravel does have it's down points. Weeds will grow up in it requiring round up or similar to need applied. And if you mow by there you WILL pick up gravel in your mower blades. And if you have to remove snow in that area then gravel will end up where you don't want it usually in the yard.
A nice thing to of put down would of been shingle tabs but I think the EPA now considers those hazardous waste.

I put drive way in about 32 years ago and I have a well drained yard plus we are on a sandy loam. I did take top soil and subsoil off first and then put the pads my mobile home set on plus the concrete staves from an old silo and all the old field we had in bottom . I than had 3 semi loads of 2 1/2"to 3" limestone on top of that and topped that 5 semi loads of 1" down to fines and it is hard as a rock. I am going to have chipped this next summer its getting so the fines are washed out of it. This what it looks like taken about a year ago.

If your local supplier has it, check out 1"- crushed concrete. Did a friend/client's drive 4 yrs. ago and it is great. Once it is packed down and rained on it is solid. HTH

IMHO, it's a pipe dream keeping weeds and grass out of a drive. I don't care what you do, you won't prevent dirt from falling off car, especially in the winter when roads are salted/sanded. Dirt/dust is in rain, just look how your car looks after a rain. Eventually the gravel or white rock will fill up, may take a few years, but it will, then what? Throw round up on it only to watch the grass come back.


I purchased a house built in 1939. The guy who built it never put in a front walk. 60 years later I put in a walk. Because the yard was not higher, about 6 inches. I made the sidewalk even with the top of the first step.

I also put in a back patio about 35 years ago.
Back then the patio was above ground, today dirt is above patio.

Don't ask me how, but dirt grows. I estimate about one inch in 10 years. It's impossible to keep the dirt out of the rocks. You get dirt, you have grass and weeds.


Looks to me like something was growing in front of beatty's garage door or perhaps wet, shadow.

If you don't get stuck, or get mud on tires, make rutts, track dirt in a garage, keep what you have and save money.

Hmmmmm How does dust get on top of gravel? One reason is because the wind keeps blowing dust/dirt/weed seeds around! Just another problem we have to live with! That is one reason I want my buildings at least 1 foot above grade! Armand

(quoted from post at 20:49:36 02/04/15) We have a parking area in front of our home. Probably 50 feet x 75 feet. We would like to gravel it. It has been in use for 40 years without any gravel. Doesn't seem to get soft with rain (even in the rainy season) We have lived here for 8 years and it would look nicer if it was graveled, but I would like for it not to have weeds and grass growing up in it. I have read about removing the topsoil but since nothing is sinking down when it is wet is this really necessary? What about just using woven geotextile fabric and putting crushed rock over it?

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There may be gravel under that sod already. It's hard to believe that a 50x75 foot grass parking lot doesn't get soft during the rainy season. I bet there was gravel laid down when the parking area was established 40 years ago and since has sodded over. Take a a shovel and dig down a foot or so and see what you find.

Typically the organic layer or top soil is removed because its a non load bearing soil classification, which is often times not well drained, turns to mush when wet, though I've seen sandy top soils that in combination with the sub-layers is well drained, but is always removed when something is to be built on it, building or road. Fabric has many uses, filtering, stablization, and I have seen it for weed control, but at some point, something will grow in the fines of the material used on the top side of the fabric or it could be come compromised and roots go lower. I don't know if its a cure all. Neighbor did a crushed stone border around her house with clean crushed stone, black fabric under it, very little weeds after 6 years, but they do persist right at the edges, and leaves and similar are adding organics to it, only a matter of time before something will sprout up I am sure.

Gravel driveways will usually sprout weeds at some point too, so if were me, I'd remove the top soil, compact undisturbed, bring in the gravel, grade/compact and control weeds on an as needed basis. Its usually just in the middle and the sides where the tires don't ride. Some of these recycled materials have fines in them that will compact well and bind, which is nice to maintain the profile of the wear surface,(your properly graded gravel) When you have loose material or as I have seen people use clean crushed stone, the snow plow will disperse that everywhere, so if you live in a cold climate, you need a wear course that will bind. Some will mix or distribute some cementitious material like portland cement to the gravel, the surface of the gravel, to help bind the material. Once the rain and compaction takes place and its graded to surface drain, you'll get quite a bit of service life out of it, but it will be a maintenance item at some point in the future, usually grading or adding material and or pot hole repair.

Limestone is awesome. I have about 4 miles of limestone roads in the territory I take care of. Packs very hard, scrapes very hard, best time to scrape it is in a light drizzle after an overnight rain. The lighter traveled limestone roadways only have to be scraped 1-3 times per year and thats more for shape than potholes. Unfortunately, there is no limestone in central MI, so it has to be trucked in from quarries up north or from the bay, so it is around 4 times as much as gravel ($20 ton) locally last I checked. If the stone in my drive wasn't as good as it is, I would put limestone down.
Ross

Roundup and a moderate dose of Atrazine will keep it bare.
Do not dig out the soil. You will just make a pond for water to accumulate in. Like others say, "fill" is what our quarry calls it.
fine chat, lime, some gravel. Put a layer of that on top, it will harden very well.

Gene

Bob,
I am a few counties north of you, in Davie Co. What I like for driveway gravel is called number 78 at the local Vulcan Material Quarry. They are about $23/ton now. If you have that solid of a place (base), a thin layer of 78s should work nice. You can spray the ground with Pramitol mixed about 5 oz/gallon and nothing will grow there for a year or more. The 78 are small gravel and smooth out nicely. They shovel well also.

Garry

I remeber seeing on TV many years ago. Something to the effect that we gain about four inches of soil depth per 100 years. All kinds of things make that dust. Blown in the wind form around the world. Also space dust. Hundreds of tons a day. Volcanos and all that they belch out. Other stuff too. I lived in a little row house built during WW I and the side walks were about four inches below the lawns you dug down under the soil you would come to a layer of cinders and some fine material. Next you would hit Dredge spoils for the river. Last about 6 feet down was the native sand soil. Neighbor needed a sewer line fixed. neet to watch history come to lite as you back hoe.

don't know if you have a steel mill any where near where you are but here a lot of folks use slag from the steel mill and nothing grows in it. A good friend used the sand grade slag on his drive and barn yard it looks nice he put it down 8 years ago and to this day nothing grows in it. I do not know why but sure seems to work. and its 1/3 the cost of #53 stone

There is an upside to having grass in drive. When you remove snow with a back blade, you don't remove the gravel. You have no pot holes to fill in. If your drive is higher than the garage floor, good chance you don't have rain water getting on garage floor. Grass soaks up the rain.

Why fight a gravel or white rock drive when you already have the best? It cost nothing, requires no maintenance.

Jeff: In my opinion around buildings and trees the soil gain is faster than that because the wind speed is slowed (like the wind is slowed by a snow fence) and contents (dust, seeds, etc.) settle into places of less wind turbulence. So it is just a good idea to build a building at least a foot above grade. Armand

Geo.: To answer you question below when the wind blows it carries dirt and other debre until something causes the wind speed to slow down( a snow fence or other fences, trees, buildings, or other reasons) which causes what ever is windborne to settle out of the airstream. Also best way to keep water out of buildings is to build new construction a foot above grade or change the grade around older buildings so the water is diverted away from the buildings or trench in drain tile and backfill with bedding to the top of grade. Works for me!!! Armand

George that is a spot that weeds come up and spray to kill them. That driveway with 3 foot of rock,concrete and limestone you still have weeds come up. The only place in drive they don't grow is where you have a lot of traffic. I built my drive to hold up under heavy truck use. At one time I was considering buying my owen semi but ended up driving for a commerical carrier.