Gravel driveway

elmaur

I would like to create a circular driveway in front of my house. The area is dirt now. I am in Tucson,AZ so snow is not a consideration- monsoon rains are- late summer into fall. Many houses in my area have gravel driveways- some looking better than others but most seem to be done with minimal concern for perfection and sophisticated systems- as evidenced by bare spots. I have a straight gravel driveway from the street to my garage which needs some work- some areas the gravel is loose and other areas it seems to be compacted.
For the new circular area do I use a landscape cloth or something like it over the dirt and then gravel? Do I lay a base of one type of gravel and then top it off with something else? What thickness do I end up with? Do I compact the layers and what is the best way to do it? The total area is about 125' x 14'. Thanks for any and all suggestions.

TarheelTerp

At 125 feet... this is more like basic road building.
1) KNOW where the water runs when it rains.
1a) prepare for that with culvert and pipe.
2) grade the native undisturbed soil and compact all smooth.
3) lay a base of medium size gravel (57 should be fine)
3a) grade and compact that smooth

At this point almost everyone will be done.
4) Spray hot tar over gravel (a thinner layer or even none at all)
5) Shovel & spread prettier gravel on top of the tar.

hth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYnrFt3TqM

or rent Cool Hand Luke before you start
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSXkA...eature=related

cleveman

14' wide is plenty wide. 12' is more gooder.

Go to your local carpet stores and tell them you want to get their scrap carpeting in 12' widths. You may as well excavate out say 4" of dirt off the top, compact as well as you can, then the carpeting, then 3" of 3" and less rock, then another 3" of 1 1/2" and less rock on top of that, compacting as you go.

Take the dirt you excavate out and put it on the shoulder so the final product is flush with the surrounding area.

Don't move the rock much, or touch it with a blade. Put it where it belongs, then compact it. If you spread it and work it a lot, you will separate the rock, defeating the purpose of the fines.