Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Road surface: gravel? crushed asphalt? pea gravel?

I am getting towards the end of construction on the cabins and need to have the road "refinished".

Some say I need gravel with some pea gravel mixed in, others say crushed asphalt has come down greatly in price and I should consider it. Another guy says the crushed asphalt gets so hot in the Texas sun in the summer you'll have people leaving tar tracks off their shoes in your house.

Anybody have any suggestions/ideas on what type of surfacing is best?

Basically I have about a 2 block dirt/some gravel entry road from the main gate and then a big loop of the same around the cabins.

One guy says do gravel on roads and then mix in pea gravel when closer to the cabins to reduce dust.

Zep - we use limestone here often, but maybe because quarries are so close by it greatly reduces the price/ton. On my easement road I started with 3-4" chunks, as they work themselves down into the clay I slowly incorporate smaller sizes and eventually I'll finish with a 1-2" size. If you're using gravel, it seems to me the way to go is to use pea gravel first, then graduate to the smaller gravel sizes, but I'm certainly no expert.

Most drives in my area are crushed limestone, which is entirely different from gravel. Gravel is round, and will roll, while crushed stone is angular. Here, limestone is crushed in a quarry, while gravel is dipped with a dragline. My inlaws thought a pea gravel parking area would be great. But, a vehicle will sink into it as it doesn't really pack...it just rolls out of the way. You can actually feel the vehicle bog down when entering it.

If this is a new road, you may want to consider a large stone for a base, then top dress with a smaller stone. If the base is solid, then you probably only need some smaller stone on top. I use fives and eights for a top dressing, but most around here use #53 stone, which contains a lot of fines to help it pack.

If you want to be fancy, #11 makes a beautiful top dressing but will tend to track....it sticks in the tread on automotive tires, and even on shoes.

Around here, pea gravel is the smallest.

I am not saying this as a recommendation(because every area probably does it different) We start with a 3" stone for the base, then a #307 on that(it is a mix of finer stones and dirt). then a #57 to top dress. then the pea gravel if you want that fine, but I don't really like it, good for some areas tho.

They also make a crushed #57 that is nice. Look into a crushed gravel if you go with gravel. Nice because it doesn't roll around. Similar to limestone.

Thanks guys. I am meeting with a road guy this Saturday and all this info helps. He is a pretty trustworthy guy that I know. He built the ponds on my place before we bought the property and has done one pond for us after we purchased the land. I've been to his house...so he's no stranger. But I wanted to have some different ideas to throw at him. So thanks again.

Forgot to mention, My dad's house we put limestone. It's nice, but between gravel and limestone. I personally like gravel. The limestone seems to always have slurry to it when wet, which always is on shoes and does track into the house slightly. Maybe Texas doesn't stay wet enough like around here to be a problem.

If money is no object, go concrete. Some around here put a concrete slab in and around the parking area. It helps buffer any tracking of limestone, asphalt, or anything else into the house.

thanks fish n chips...yeah maybe I could swing a bit of concrete in the small parking areas around the cabins. i didnt like the sound of how soft someone said the pea-gravel was when you drive into it.

Yall might check into slag "rock". It's available in different sizes and doesn't track like limestone- or rust the underside of your car or truck



Pat W

We just did a 1200' long driveway with crushed asphalt. Couldn't be happier with it. the back of our property has a long limestone driveway (creates so much smoke and dust driving on it) could never keep a car clean.

Therefore, I highly recommend the asphalt if possible!

Thanks Caviler..I was leaning towards the crushed asphalt until this guy said "in the summer when that tar gets boiling hot you're gonna sometimes have tar tracks in your house". I agree I hate all that dust the other stuff causes, plus the asphalt looks the best. I dunno I'll see what this guy says Sat.

Zed, I can't vouch for summer heat because my driveway was put in a few months ago. However, the asphalt is very rock based (crushed) and was not sprayed to seal it. So I believe it will be consistent with limestone and not sticky like an asphalt parking lot.. Just trying to give you the full information

I gotta ask....how fast are you guys driving on those stone drives to make all that dust??

Crushed limestone is used on most of our county roads here, and yes sir it's dusty! But, there's a lot more traffic on a county road, crushing those rocks into dust, than there is on a driveway. And, the posted speed limit is 30-35 mph....I don't need to drive that fast on my driveway?

Spark, in texas we have 85 mph highways.. We will drive as fast as the law allows.. On driveways there's no speed limit!

Well, that explains your dust problem!

ZEP, I have tried all of it at my farm in East Texas! The absolute best is crushed concrete. No dust, does not migrate down in to the soil, tightens up in wet weather because the fines wash down into the voids and then loosen up in dry weather. Guaranteed to be 99.9% free of metal. Will be pricy but is the best next to paving.
Tom Sterling (Shelby County).

Asphalt usually uses pea gravel (1/4"-1/8") and chat (1/8" and dust) mixed in tar. It might make a more dust free top dressing over a base rock width layer of crushed rock 3"-5", followed by a 2"-3" layer of 1"-2" crushed rock that will lock into the base for great stability....A 1-1.5" layer of chat and pea rock will settle into the gaps of the larger stones and when done right, is nearly as smooth and solid as concrete under mild loads and low speeds.

Thanks Tom!

I agree with this. And u can soil cement around the cabins by adding cement to the soil and pack it in using whatever vehicle u have that has hiway tires. And then add a water sprinkler or wait for rain to set everything up.
Tracy

Crushed concrete is what our county is using on FM road repair now.

Mark, a cousin of mine just got a price in Quinlan of $600 for a 300'X10' crushed concrete drive. Not sure how deep though.

That sounds pretty reasonable, Al. I may have to look into that option, sounds like a good one I'd never considered before. Apparently several options to limestone.

I agree with what Tony said on cut/ground rock vs. pea gravel. Round stones will walk all over the place, and won't stay in the driveway.

Yes, limestone will be dusty in dry times.

It doesn't get that hot up here, so I can't say how crushed blacktop will work.

A company that I worked for used the small, thin strips that were trimmed from 3-tab roofing shingles when they were made. They interlocked together and made for a tight, one piece driveway.

A friend in East Texas used the crushed concrete and liked how it turned out. Cheaper than limestone, no metal found in it and it didn't dust like limestone.

Just be aware, without putting down geotextile fabric first, you'll have to re-stone it every 3-5 years because the stones will pack down into the soil over time. They get pushed into the ground when the ground is wet, and the soil migrates up to the surface, even when using 3"-4" dia stone as a base.

Around here, railroad ballast (the stone that is around railroad tracks) is relatively inexpensive, but it's not cleaned of metal, so you'll find railroad spikes and other assorted bits of metal in it. They use it for a base here, then put 3/4" crushed limestone (with fines) on top of it.

Thanks to all you guys. I am printing these suggestions off
and will at least have some points of reference Saturday morning.

You can top dress a gravel or limestone base with slag (roll it in) and it will help hold things together.

Had crushed concrete on the top in the shop parking lot. Dustiest stuff you ever messed with. Heavy trucks coming in every day kinda grinds it into dust. Keep it wet or wet salt it to keep the dust down.

It was an awful lot of work to keep the dust down, so scraped it all off, pulled up the road gravel from underneath, then put the CC down and gravel on top. That worked well and was really firm to drive my little fork truck on.

I did a sand base on my driveway to build it up, then put down a road gravel/ground asphalt mix for starters. Next, I will put down crushed concrete, then top it with road gravel.

The crushed concrete really adds quite a bit of support, but don't think you want loads directly in contact with it that would grind it up into dust.

Just rubbing it together makes dust, but a good base for another topping.

My opinion based on messing with this.

Zep if you want to see what crushed concrete looks like come out to the farm. Just had 3000' done this past summer.

Crushed concrete should last you a long, long time as your place probably sees very little traffic.