dust and stones for a driveway?

Coburger

Hello,
We have recently bought a house and it has a stone driveway. However, it is quite untidy /patchy.

Would it be necessary to put down a layer of dust before putting stones on top if it? I was in the belief that the layer of dust was only necessary if there was no real foundation. As there is already a driveway with old stones there, would it be necessary to get a layer of dust put down or could I just put new stones on top of them? Thanks.

my3cents

Google non woven geotextile membrane because thats what you should really be putting down before your top layer.

_Brian

Why is is untidy and patchy ??
Has it become overgrown with grass and weeds ??
This is the pitfall with stones drives, any areas not being driven on will take on seeds and grow weeds.
The membrane mentioned above won’t stop this happening, if there is a solid base there already there no need for the membrane.

Coburger

Hey, it's a bit patchy as there were holes in the droves that were filled with cement and then there are a few different shades of stones here and there.

_Brian

You could give it a coat of 3/4 inch down.
It may need a digger in to scrape back the current surface to avoid raising the level too much.
If your pearling back the surface level I’d recommend 308 to resurface.

Obviously tarmac is another option

Coburger

Thanks for the advice. A quick question, what does the layer of 3/4 inch down do. Is it to just give more of a 'foundation' for the larger stones? what would happen if a covering of dust was not put down? Cheers

_Brian

I would only use the 3/4 down if you can get away with a cheap top dressong onto what is there.

If you have to dig down anyway skip it and use 804.

Wouldn’t bother with the membrane

Oldtree

Had small stones I'm the driveway for a while but they kept comming into the house on shoes etc, scratching the floors. Had to go to tarmac.

Jack lemmon

Maybe a layer of quarry dust levelled and rolled and not bother with the gravel. Looks good when done well