laying a gravel driveway

countrywoman

does anyone have advice on making a gravel driveway, or can point me in the direction of somewhere else
basically we have a long drive up to the house. house is on a height.
there is hardcore there 5 years this was put down when house was being built.it is well compacted
my questions are -
in preparation-
1) what should i spray it with to kill the weeds
2) then should i put down Mypex?
3) what depth of gravel would i need
4) can anyone recommend nice gravel and before i go looking, how much should i expect to pay?
also, is there anything i can do to stop the gravel moving?

thanks

Sonnenblumen

countrywoman wrote: »

does anyone have advice on making a gravel driveway, or can point me in the direction of somewhere else
basically we have a long drive up to the house. house is on a height.
there is hardcore there 5 years this was put down when house was being built.it is well compacted
my questions are -
in preparation-
1) what should i spray it with to kill the weeds
2) then should i put down Mypex?
3) what depth of gravel would i need
4) can anyone recommend nice gravel and before i go looking, how much should i expect to pay?
also, is there anything i can do to stop the gravel moving?

thanks

Countrywoman

Food for thought:

- chipped stones are better than rounded pebbles for driveways as the latter never really ncompacts/locks sufficiently
- loose stones are problematic and in many cases not feasible on any inclined surface especially driveways. There are various proprietary solutions eg honeycomb traps but these are expensive
- usually 30-40 mm depth is sufficient for top layer
- weed barrier usually goes in under hardcore, but if compacted hardcore depth is > 200mm, unlikely you would gain significantly from a weed barrier. loose stone areas must be sprayed periodically even if a weed barrier has been installed. Some weeds will germinate on top layer. Also installing a weed barrier on top of hardcore on an inclining driveway will only exarcebate the loos stones drifting downwards.
- use a systemic (eg Roundup, Gallup etc etc) weedkiller to kill weed
- good chippe dstones include Ballylusk, Glenview, Granite, Quartz and Limestone (not pebble). Bulk loads can be available from € 50.00 (+VAT)/ton.

You'll see more info on Driveways on our website and Sunblog.;)

countrywoman

very comprehensive as always SonnenB!
I went to the local quarry today, armed with the information from your post! the guy there told me that i would be better to get Binding Grit and then chippings over it. he gave me samples. i hadnt the measurements taken down correctly so he couldnt give me a price but i have just phoned with the measurements and he is going to ring me back this evening

he knows our house and driveway and reckons this is the best solution for it as it is on an incline and i want the kids to be able to ride bikes and their tractors on it

just hope the price will make it 'do-able'
thanks again

Sonnenblumen

Yes blinding dust/Binding Grit is used to seal hardcore and prevent latter churning with stone chippings.

Best of luck, hope it works out, do come back and share your experience.:)

Carlow52

countrywoman wrote: »

very comprehensive as always SonnenB!
I went to the local quarry today, armed with the information from your post! the guy there told me that i would be better to get Binding Grit and then chippings over it. he gave me samples. i hadnt the measurements taken down correctly so he couldnt give me a price but i have just phoned with the measurements and he is going to ring me back this evening

he knows our house and driveway and reckons this is the best solution for it as it is on an incline and i want the kids to be able to ride bikes and their tractors on it

just hope the price will make it 'do-able'
thanks again

loose gravel and inclines and kids and bikes don't really go well:)

If the blinding grit is the same color as the loose chip then you can get away with much less chip, especially if the grit is well whacked into the hardcore.

If it were my gig I would wait till kids are grown up a bit, that's what I did

Qwerty?

I put a Glenview Lite Gold stone driveway in 2 years ago on a gentle incline. It does require the odd raking.

I put a layer of matching sand down first. The odd weed grows in the gravel/sand, but these are easily pulled.

On the kids front, gravel is not really practical, in fact one of the reasons I put the gravel drive in, was to stop them cycling down the drive. (we paved around the house). I think the sand was around €40 a tonne, and stone around €60 a tonne delivered. Try ringing them and they'll send a rep out to measure up and give advice. (no connection other than happy customer)

countrywoman

carlow and qwerty, thanks for the feedback. we have an area out the back for the kids because they are very small, so the drive would not be for them specifically but i take on board what you say

not really sure now if we will eb getting it done. we need about 18 tonne of binding grit and 18 tonne of stone...its 40euro a tonne so it adds up to way more than i expected!

need to get the calculator back out!

Qwerty?

you shouldn't really need half and half. I'm sure I had 10 bags gravel, and 5 bags sand. Best not to lay the gravel too thick either. 30mm thick would be fine.