Driveway repairs - advice please

[Quaggy]

Hi.

I have a 60m driveway (well, it's a track) leading from the road to an area covered in 60mm gravel, that has become rutted and potholed over the last 10 years, although it has a nice stripe of lawn up the middle which cleans the underneath of the car twice a day!

I will be using MOT type 1 to create a new sub base for the wheel tracks and wacker plating it in, and then overlaying with 20mm gravel.

Question is, if I was to wacker plate the gravel into the sub base would it hold firm, or should it just be spread over the surface once the sub base is complete?

Secondly, is 20mm gravel the best to use, or could I use the same size stones that I've got at the top (60mm), and if so, same question as above - should they be wacker plated into the sub base?

Your advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[ferdinand2000]

Having lived with something almost identical since the 1970s, my experience of someone not doing it properly is that lorry loads of MOT type 1 or similar will gradually vanish into the surface and off the sides over a few years.

Our bane has been leaves from an avenue of Turkey Oak trees and others which bury everything each year, and there being too much area to clean perfectly so residue builds up. Are you fairly leaf free?

I'd say that the thing which probably deserves very careful attention is the edging to stop your top layer of gravel migrating. Having the lawn down the middle means that there's potentially twice as much edging .

I've found that for the much smaller drives I've done, a row of tough bricks about 10-20mm proud of the surface set sideways around 25mm apart on a mortar/concrete strip on the sub base seems adequate to restrain gravel near surface junctions, and looks very attractive. I also like to put a similar thing in around 1m in front of walls and flowerbeds so that drivers can feel when they should stop.

To do it properly you will want to go down about 250mm for your subbase.

I'd say go for 20mm gravel spread over the top and raked, perhaps with an intermediate layer of larger gravel whacked down in between, with a weed membrane beneath the top layer. You probably want 20mm for the top, but not the not the very regular stuff which moves with driving.

If you whack your subbase in two 4" layers, it will be better.

Also, if you find yourself whacking that much, consider buying one on ebay for around £300 rather than hiring for £30 a day or £60 a week, and take your time to do it properly. Then keep it for maintenance or sell it on.

Others can probably offer better advice on the real detail.

Ferdinand