Loose Stone Driveway

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6 Dec 2010
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Norfolk
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United Kingdom
Hi, First post and looking for some advise, We have just purchased a victorian house so no doubt going to have lots of questions over next few weeks,

My first project is going to be the drive way, Currently nothing is laid and you just approach the house driving onto grass / mud, I am intending to have a loose stone drive way and am expecting to need alot of stone, possibly complete lorry loads.

I wish to do the job myself so the questions are,

1) is there a guide weight of stones required per Mtr sq, estimated length with a turning circle is 80 meters, width undecided at moment.

2) What depth of stones should we be looking at ?

3) Once we have dug down into the soil ( depending on answer two ) should we be laying some kind of woven webbing / mesh to stop weed growth ? ( Any reccomended suppliers ? )

4) Should the edges be capped or just allow the stones to butt upto the grass ?

5) Any other advise points to consider would be appreciated

Thanks
 
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I did a gravel/loose stone driveway last winter and found this website completely invaluable:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/

Here is the page on gravel driveways:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/gravel01.htm

1&2) you will need to lay and compact a sub base before putting the stone down or your expensive crushed rock will just turn into a muddy mess.

I park my truck (18t) on my drive so I used a 250mm layer of MOT1 subbase, I don't know what you drive but you can get away with substantially less.

Here is a calculator to tell you how much sub-bass you need:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/calcsubb.htm

here is a guide to help you decide what thickness you'll need:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/subbase.htm

Paving expert reckons that at 35mm deep, a tonne of gravel will cover 15-20m2. I used a heavy granite type stone (blue elvan) and the coverage was less than this.

2) check the links above. paving expert recomends 135-180mm of subbase and 25-40mm of gravel. I used 250mm of subbase and 50mm of large (20mm) rock chippings. The subbase supports my unloaded truck (about 10t) although if I'm not careful on the throttle I can rapidly kick up a lot of the surface stone and dig myself a hole.

3) http://www.pavingexpert.com/fabrics.htm

At the price the big builders merchants sell the stuff for there's little reason not to use a weed membrane. I got a large roll of water permeable geo membrane from builder depot for not much money although if I'd had to pay DIY shed prices I would have thought twice. The stuff can help stop your subbase mixing with the clay or soil beneath so it can help stabilise the drive and stop patches from sinking if the underlying soil is soft.

A weed membrane wont stiop weeds from growing in the subbase and gravel (windblown seeds and stuff dropped by birds) but will help stop stuff growing up from underneath. I had a few ash trees which I wasn't certain I'd completely destryed and so it gave me peace of mind that they wouldn;t keep popping up through my drive.

A year since I finished my drive and I've had no major weed growth beyond tiny things sprouting in the gravel layer.

4) http://www.pavingexpert.com/edging07.htm

You'll need an edging some kind. It can be as simply as timber planks nailed to stakes but I chose to lay 150mm concrete kerbs in a concrete bedding. It has stopped my gravel mixing with the soil and provides a neat boundary between the tarmac drop-kerb at one end and the grass at the other end.

http://www.pavingexpert.com/edging3.htm

5) Do not underestimate the amount of soil you will need to remove! My drive is about 10m long and 5m wide and I ended up completely filling 36cubic yards of skip. I excavated to a depth of 30cm everywhere but at one end I had to remove a lot of overlying topsoil and 4 large tree stumps.
 

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