Build it Yourself Gravel Driveway
Considering a build it yourself gravel driveway? What a pleasure to dispense with things like sealing, patching, cleaning, and the overall general expense of concrete or asphalt! Of course, you will not be in the keeping up with the Joneses league any longer, but you can still have an attractive, functional driveway for a fraction of the cost and even less of the headache.
Gravel driveway installing does not take a lot of planning other than measuring. You will need to step off (or you can get technical and use a tape measure, if you insist) the length and width of the area and multiply for square yardage.
Gravel companies in most towns and cities abound, so the next step of picking up the phone and calling one to have the product delivered does not take a lot. Just make sure you have no overhanging branches from trees or other obstructions to prevent the truck from backing in and dumping your gravel.
Your driveway base should be slightly convex, i.e., higher in the middle than the edges, so as to promote drainage runoff. The driveway gravel will sit on a sub-layer of paving material, which bears the vehicle weight load, so gravel will not be your only expense if you are building a brand-new driveway. If you are re-paving an existing driveway, then you are all set.
You do have a few choices in types of gravel for driveway installation. Besides typical gravel, which consists of small stones and course sand, you can also purchase gravel made from larger crushed rock and sometimes you can buy gravel made from seashells.
Gravel is composed of small rocks, 5-30mm diameter in size. A good size for driveways is between 10-20 mm. Angular gravels generally come from a quarry, and are produced by mechanical crushing. River beds and beaches produce rounded gravels. Either can be just about any colour, or mixed colours blended.
Whichever type of gravel you have delivered, be prepared for several days of fairly extensive labor raking and moving the gravel around to exactly where you want it. Keep in mind that the more friends, neighbors, and relatives you can incorporate to help you with this arduous task, the quicker it will go and the less aching your back will feel! You might even offer a reward at the end of the day for incentive, like a cold six pack, a barbecue, or even both!
It goes without saying that gravel driveways are probably more appropriate in a rural or semi-rural area. If you live in a town or city and are thinking gravel driveways, it will pay you to check out local ordinances and city codes. Otherwise, all that work and the gravel you have just spread might turn out to be the base for a concrete or asphalt driveway if neighborhood housing rules disallow gravel driveways in your neck of the woods.
So check everything out, measure, and pick up the phone. Thats it! You are on your way to a good old-fashioned driveway made of headache-free gravel!
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