Gravel Drive Help!

[JamesAtkin]

Need some help. Have dug up my front garden to lay a gravel driveway. Have put down a hardcore base and a membrane however have totally botched the gravel.

Have laid it too thick and it's now like a gravel trap. Its about 4 inches. However it's level with the road. Think I dug too deep. Is there any way I can bind it so it stays still? Would a whacker plate compacting it sort this issue? Please Help.
Many thanks

Oh and it's 14-20mm angular Gravel.

 

[WabbitPoo]

move this to building.....wrong forum.

 

[JohnD]

the depth is fine but you used the wrong material.

The correct material is hoggin, which is a mixture of gravel, sand and clay, which binds firmly and can be rolled or tamped flat.

You could buy some. If you are energetic and have time and a mixer perhaps you could make it. I've never tried.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

Yes you need much finer gravel, my brother has 20mm stuff and its awful (like yours?). Think about it its like having a floor of marbles or a mini ball park. what to do? One way or another you need to lift it and perhaps mix it up with some other gear. I wonder if you built a frame, say 1m square and 6" high, so this will be your trial base. First fill it with your existing pebbles and experiment, try dropping a hammer, head down into it, see how the pebbles react. Remove the pebbles and mix them with 20% 6mm pea shingle and a couple of litres of sharp sand. Fill the base wack the surface down flat and try it out again. The theory being that the smaller stuff fills the voids between the big pebbles so locks them in place. I do not have a clue what the optimum mix is.
Frank

 

[JohnD]

yes, like concrete, it binds by having all the spaces between the stones filled with smaller stones, all the gaps between smaller stones filled with grit, the spaces between grit filled with sand, and all the spaces between grains of sand filled with particles of clay. IIRC the proportion of clay is quite low (like cement in concrete).

I looked for proportions, couldn't find them. There are several online articles on self-binding gravels. Some pits and merchants sell or can order it.

OOI I had to trench through a 100-year old hoggin drive a few years back, and it was still sound (although pea-shingle had recently been thrown over the top and gone into ruts). You can break it up then roll or tamp it flat and level again. It does not need to be raked, because it does not easily move.

Some Londoners may know the area around the Hollow Ponds where it occurs naturally and gives a good surface for runners and riders.