Laying a gravel drive from scratch
Discussion
Hi All, what's the best way to do this?
It's just grass at the moment. Was thinking of removing about 150mm of top soil, infill with some granite sub base and just spread out some 3/4" shingle.
I did notice a housing development the other day where they were laying sheets of some kind of black plastic grating and covering that with the gravel. I presume that just stops it moving around?
Ta
It's just grass at the moment. Was thinking of removing about 150mm of top soil, infill with some granite sub base and just spread out some 3/4" shingle.
I did notice a housing development the other day where they were laying sheets of some kind of black plastic grating and covering that with the gravel. I presume that just stops it moving around?
Ta
sublimatica said:
gtr-gaz said:
I did notice a housing development the other day where they were laying sheets of some kind of black plastic grating and covering that with the gravel. I presume that just stops it moving around?
Weed barrier.Yea, you'll want some terram down first, it comes in either white stuff like filter paper, or a black weave, a bit like carbon fibre cloth.
This lets the water through, and stops weeds and mud coming up and mixing
The black mesh stuff was probably something called geogrid
Terram is a geotextile, mantioned in this article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geogrid
If it was 3d, ie with little cells in it, then thats the stuff to stop the gravel moving about.
Geotextiles stop weeds and mud, you can put that straight down on muck and put gravel on top. The geogrid won't stop weeds, but it adds strength to the ground, and stops ruts forming.
The gravel matting stuff then stops the gravel being kicked about too much on the top.
For something like a drive, i'd do as you say, take the topsoil off, then put down some geotextile (terram is just a catch all brand name, like Hoover), you can put your sub base/crushed rock/Type 1 on top, roll this, or hire a whacker plate from a DIY store, and then put the gravel on top.
Depending on the size of the gravel, there are ideal depths.
Too shallow and it'll get move about and show the stuff underneath, too deep and it'll leave big ruts.
This lets the water through, and stops weeds and mud coming up and mixing
The black mesh stuff was probably something called geogrid
Terram is a geotextile, mantioned in this article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geogrid
If it was 3d, ie with little cells in it, then thats the stuff to stop the gravel moving about.
Geotextiles stop weeds and mud, you can put that straight down on muck and put gravel on top. The geogrid won't stop weeds, but it adds strength to the ground, and stops ruts forming.
The gravel matting stuff then stops the gravel being kicked about too much on the top.
For something like a drive, i'd do as you say, take the topsoil off, then put down some geotextile (terram is just a catch all brand name, like Hoover), you can put your sub base/crushed rock/Type 1 on top, roll this, or hire a whacker plate from a DIY store, and then put the gravel on top.
Depending on the size of the gravel, there are ideal depths.
Too shallow and it'll get move about and show the stuff underneath, too deep and it'll leave big ruts.
Indeed Terram is your man.
Depending on the ground, either :
Compact soil : Terram --> MOT type 1 stone --> top cover of stone
or
MOT type 1 stone compacted --> Terram --> top cover of stone, possibly Scalpings..
It mostly depends on how much movement you expect to see from the soil below, i.e. will your MOT type 1 stone start to be subsumed by the soil?
A larger stone to finish should mean that it won't move around as much and should knit and settle. Gravel / Shingle will go all over the place and either need tidying up or additional stones added or both!
Depending on the ground, either :
Compact soil : Terram --> MOT type 1 stone --> top cover of stone
or
MOT type 1 stone compacted --> Terram --> top cover of stone, possibly Scalpings..
It mostly depends on how much movement you expect to see from the soil below, i.e. will your MOT type 1 stone start to be subsumed by the soil?
A larger stone to finish should mean that it won't move around as much and should knit and settle. Gravel / Shingle will go all over the place and either need tidying up or additional stones added or both!
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