Resurfacing of a track

[offshorematt2]

Bit of a vgue question this... we've just moved into a house out of town and access is via an unsurfaced green lane. When we bought the house, things were nice and dry and sunny - hence the road wasn't too bad. Bit lumpy but okay.

Since the sale has gone through, it hasn't stopped raining - the slight pot holes are now 8inch swimming pools. Doesn't help that the soil is yellow clay stone, so the car is always minging.

Now the road belongs to the estate, but I've no problem paying the cost of an upgrade. Thing is I've found that approaching any kind of tradesman without a clue, is the same as writing a blank cheque. So, I want to know what the basics are with regards resurfacing a green lane. Obviously tarmac is out and loose gravel will kill a dozen bikers a year at the junction with the main road... Pretty sure that dumping a bunch of aggregate and using a road roller would be sufficient but can't find anything on google - can anyone tell me what I need to ask to get a reasonable quotation from the local tradesmen?

Cheers

[MrV]

Don't pretend to be a road builder but I would have thought Scalpings would do the job you want

Link to how to build a drive ,just ignore the gravel part.

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/Drive.htm

[B17NNS]

Yep, sounds like you want some Type 1 Limestone laying. Not expensive stuff. You need a man with a digger, maybe a dumper and a roller. Big truck arrives, dumps stone, man with digger and dumper spreads it, then rolls it. About 6" should do it I'd have thought.

Your car will still get stty when it's wet though, just a different colour stty.

[GTSDave]

I have recently done this exact same thing to a gravel track which I live on, we used scalps as mentioned above, which has worked really well, we then used a whacker plate to flatten it rather than a roller. I would suggest doing what we did and add a thin scattering layer of gravel over the top, which we also went over with the whacker plate, (we didn't want a layer of loose gravel which would end up all over the adjoining road). The scalps get really stodgy when it rains, the gravel will give a good additional layer which will stop you turning the lane into a pink quagmire when it's wet

[7 Sevens]

There is a green lane near us and they asked the council/contractors to deposit the waste material from when then planed/repaired a stretch of tarmac road nearby. I suppose it depends on how long the lane is.

[eps]

If you want to do it properly...

Base of MOT type 1 stone.

Terram or other permeable barrier, to stop the stone moving too much and also to stop weeds coming up through it, but allow
water to drain away.

Cover it with a "large" stone, by that I mean not Gravel or pea shingle.. Something like Scalpings should be fine and come in a range of colours.

[offshorematt2]

Perfect. Thanks for all the input, much appreciated.

Need to get this sorted before I can even think about starting to fill the new four garage

[s3fella]

By green lane, do you mean a Byeway (or byeway open to all traffic)? If so, I am not sure you can do anything apart form grading it.

[offshorematt2]

s3fella said:

By green lane, do you mean a Byeway (or byeway open to all traffic)? If so, I am not sure you can do anything apart form grading it.

Nope, green lane was the wrong choice of words - just a private track into the woods for the estate owner to get a logging tuck in once a decade... I'm the only other person with right of access. I won't do anything without running it past him anyway but I can't see him objecting to me improving the first 100yards of his track