The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: benkt on March 05, 2014, 07:51:46 pm
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We have/had a gravel driveway that over the winter has almost disappeared under a layer of mud. Has anyone got any bright ideas on the best way to clean it back so that we can get to our car without getting covered?
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this was us last year and we waited until the soil dried then literally picked off all the mud/grass with my fingers and a horse hoof pick.. it took forever. then we fenced it in so animals didn't have any access at all as ours was caused by animals walking on it.
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We're in the process of reinstating a gravel driveway - same as you Ben, kids wellies and pets trailing the mud in the front hall and into the cars, everything covered and having to wash shoes etc. Only frosty days make it a bit more liveable with.
We just bought 16tonnes of hardcore type1 for £260 inc vat and we've spread it around, it's drying out now and then we'll put new gravel on. I think once gravel's in the mud you're not going to get it back really. If you don't want to do the whole thing again just do the dips/worse bits with hardcore or similar. Gravel needs topped up every few years or so esp if you're driving on it that's just the way it is.
Still a lot cheaper (by a mile) than tarmac. ;)
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GP - can I just ask how you have 'spread around' the hardcore?
Just shovels, or tools, or machinery?
While we have no mud problem, we will have to renew our (steep slowing) gravel drive at some point soon, and we had a quote for £1300 for doing the job, presumably with specialist machinery, which seems rather steep.
Maybe we can do it ourselves for a similar £260?
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Put your back into it, that's it (say's she whose OH did it ;D )
When they deliver it in the big tipper truck you can ask them to either leave it in several hillocks along the driveway or one big stripe down the middle and then just get to it. There must be a couple of 5th/6th form schoolboys nearby who would spread it about for you for £30 each. A big shovel each (rather than spade) and that's it.
If you drive your cars over that for a while (couple of weeks) to compact it before you put the gravel on then it won't mix with the gravel. Best to lay your gravel in not too thick a layer, then in another 6 months/year spread a topping load to fill in the most used areas/dips.
The £260 was for the hardcore, the gravel will be extra. We're going to get ours from a quarry rather than builders yard, it'll be cheaper. I don't think their quote was out of the ball park if it included delivery, labour, hardcore and gravel, but it could certainly be done quite a bit cheaper if you don't need to get it all done in a weekend.
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I have found that my biggest problem with this is that grass then starts growing in the mud during summer! Drives me crazy! (Good pun that ;D ). Spend every summer picking tufts of grass out as I don't like to use pathclear. My neighbour resurfaced his with the old gravel by scraping it all up, washing the dirt out under a pressure washer which resulted in a huge, (and I mean huge) amount of soil which he then put on his veg bed, and then replaced the gravel on his drive. May have to do mine this year like that.
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spraying weedkiller is a quick solution to no grass in the gravel.
we spread the hardcore with a rake and a barrow. then we hire a compactor to stamp it down as it lasts longer without potholes - prob not nrcessary for gravel. the hire was £20 for a long weekend so cant complain and it fits in the car too.
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i normally wait till the ground is dry (so i will be waiting a long time then?) and scrape the top surface off and re-lay the material with a tracked excavator grading bucket.