Record rains
November apparently had record-breaking rainfalls, and December's doing pretty well, too.Here's a snapshot of our driveway. Looks like we'll be needing some gravel.
It's an interesting lesson in erosion: a slight hollow in the ground; fills with water when it rains; drive through it, mud sticks to tires and comes off in the streets; hole gets deeper, fills with even more water next time; repeat.
--GG
Labels: front yard
posted by Gye Greene @ 10:47 PM
3 Comments:
Interesting insight.
I asked Mark about this, since he makes his living making perfect roads (or at least as perfect as materials and his boss’s allowance for engineering design time will let him).
He says: Good roads need good drainage. Adding rock to a driveway will last only as long as the subgrade resists the load underneath the vehicle’s tires. You should ditch on one or both sides of the driveway, so that the water flow line is lower than the surrounding ground, and saturated soils can drain freely into the ditch and water is conveyed away from the road.
You can spend a lot of money on rock to bridge the poor or saturated soils, but once the soils are well drained and compacted, it should be able to resist the load under vehicles and a person can purchase less rock.
Consider using a geotextile fabric (separation barrier). That costs $1/sq. meter installed by a professional. This will add additional strength and life to the driveway. A separation barrier is high in tensile strength and keeps the mud from pumping up into the gravel.
Or you can play your banjo and request relief from the Rain God.
Good info!
We'll probably use "road base" (dunno what it's called in the U.S.), and build it up to above "ground level".
Ironically, can't do it 'til the rainy season is over (and, until I'm re-employed).
--GG
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