Gravel driveway

We just bought a house with a gravel driveway. I like the way it looks, but it needs to be shaped up a bit. I had someone come out to take a look at it, and he recommended using #2A gravel, or "crush and run." I'm wondering if this type of gravel looks good or if we would then need to add a layer of a different kind of stone on top of it. In addition, he quoted me a price to spread the gravel and fix a few of the holes in the driveway that seemed a little high. We have a 60ft driveway and the recommendation was that he bring 1.5 - 2 loads of the gravel. I have virtually no knowledge of how much stone that is, or of the labor involved.

Without seeing the driveway or knowing what the base conditions are answeres are pretty hard to come by.

The 2 loads of gravel sound right for a nice solid packable base.

As for looking good or standing up well there may be differences. Standing up well means the gravel/rock must be crushed with many fracture surfaces and be larger pieces to fines quite evenly distributed to make for a dense packable base.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I think the term is "Crusher run." They run limestone through a rock crusher and it generates lots of chunks of different sizes including "Fines" (down to dust size.) They can pass the stuff over a screen and stop all chunks larger than the holes in the screen. For a finished drive 1 1/2 inch crusher run works pretty good. The fines tend to set up almost like concrete. Some folks like to top dress a drive with "chat" really fine (pea sized and smaller) with fines to fill the spaces between the larger chunks. I just did a 400 ft drive with 1 1/2 inch crusher run and I am happy with it as is.

I used shale for next to my new house. It starts out in huge chunks (fist sized and larger) but rapidly breaks down to ever smaller and smaller sizes and ends up like black top practically. I used 3 belly dump 18 wheeler loads to do the circular drive around the house and have one load dumped in reserve to use as needed. These loads are about 12-15 tons each.

When youi mention number of loads... how big is a load? You talking 10 wheel end dump or what?

If your pot holes aren't too extensive you can fill them with good clay and top with gravel (with fines) as often as needed till it stays fixed. If yoiu just fill a hole with gravel it will just get beat back out in a short time. Digging out smaller holes to larger size can make repairs last better.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

We did have crusher run laid on our driveway and packed. It looks pretty good in terms of seeming like concrete, but I don't love how it looks. Is it typical to lay fine stone on top of that layer for a more finished look?

If you lay fine stone on top you will constantaly be be working it to maintain that finished look.

Egon

Thanks for the responses. I think the driveway was done well, but since I have no experience with anything other than concrete, I was expecting it to look a little bit different. When I saw it, it appeared a packed, muddy surface. But, I think it just needs some time before the actual color of the stone is visible. I know loose stone is highly undesirable, but it is aesthetically appealing.

I have a fairly long driveway and used crushed limestone for most of it but right in front of the house I used shale. It was delivered in lumps ranging from dust to chunks twice the size of my fist. It rapidly broke down with wear and became almost like a blacktop. You can put shale on top of crushed limestone and it tends to break down and fill the interstitial spaces of the limestone. It is a nice blue-grey color and with even just a little concavity (crown) sheds water nicely.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]