How much gravel for driveway?

ironmonkey

As the driveway is an irregular shape, I don’t have exact measurements. It’s about 15m by 10m in total. Plus a few bits at the side.

Our intention is to put down a patio at the back and tarmac at the front and side. Until then I want to cover partially exposed pipe work and soften the front of the house with gravel. The quarry will only deliver a minimum of 20 tonnes of pea shaped gravel. Is this a huge amount? I know a small amount of this is quite heavy so it’s hard to tell.

A second question; would all of this stone need to removed to put down the tarmac? Am I adding a lot of work to that job?

Thanks in advance.

BrokenArrows

ironmonkey wrote: »

As the driveway is an irregular shape, I don’t have exact measurements. It’s about 15m by 10m in total. Plus a few bits at the side.

Our intention is to put down a patio at the back and tarmac at the front and side. Until then I want to cover partially exposed pipe work and soften the front of the house with gravel. The quarry will only deliver a minimum of 20 tonnes of pea shaped gravel. Is this a huge amount? I know a small amount of this is quite heavy so it’s hard to tell.

A second question; would all of this stone need to removed to put down the tarmac? Am I adding a lot of work to that job?

Thanks in advance.

Ya 20 is too much. You probably need about 15.

http://www.longwatergravel.co.uk/products/gravel-calculator

Set the depth to 50mm . 50mm would be a good depth. Any deeper and it will just cause you to sink too much when walked on and cars would have a hard time.

Depends on your driveway layout. Its possible a delivery of 20 tonnes will be cheaper than getting a smaller quantity from somewhere else. So if you have areas of the driveway where you could put more than 50mm without causing issues then you could get rid of the excess that way.
Or just try and resell the excess.

ironmonkey

Thanks Broken Arrows. I think I need about 10 tonne. There are two concrete slabs that I want to leave free for the kids to play on. I’ll get back to them again.

Lumen

Pea gravel sounds like a bad idea for a driveway. You want larger angular gravel that will lock together.

dok_golf

You can get a load of "804". No idea what the name means but it is essentially chippings and cement dust mixed. A lot cheaper than pea gravel and much longer lasting

cletus

dok_golf wrote: »

You can get a load of "804". No idea what the name means but it is essentially chippings and cement Dustin mixed. A lot cheaper than pea gravel and much longer lasting

Clause 804, 804 or hardcore is rating for (I think) up to 75mm chipping. It has to do with requirements as a sub base for roadworks. It's not particularly aesthetically pleasing, and the last time I used it was to lay a sub base for the pea gravel under my patio

Water John

804 is correct. The 75mm down to dust, not any cement. Best to spread, then hire a Whacker machine to pack it. That a small diesel driven machine, about the size of a lawnmower but quite heavy, with a steel plate bottom that vibrates as it moves. This packs it solid and would take less than one hour.
A small amount of something like 20 mm chipping or the pea gravel could be spread on top afterwards.
This would remain in place when you tarmac the area.

dok_golf

I spread 20 tonnes of it by hand in a day. Spent a few hours the next day flattening it by driving my van back and forth over it, moving in a tyre's width each time. That said, a whacker would be better.