Adding stone to driveway DIY or hire out?

[SugarCubes]

We have around a 100’ gravel driveway that connects to the barn pad/parking area. Weeds have taken over the area, and we’re wanting to cover the ugly white gravel with a pretty colored pea gravel. I’d like to put down landscape fabric first to prevent future weeds.

In my mind, this seems like something I can knock out in a weekend. Or am I being over ambitious? I have a FEL, the quarry is nearby…can I have them dump a few loads of pea gravel and dump/rake it into place or does this warrant hiring a professional?

If it’s something I can do on my own, any tips or advice to make things go smoothly?

Thanks!

[SonnysMom]

Our neighbor has a bobcat that DH has used to spread gravel on our driveway. We use plain grey driveway gravel so it packs. DH does the basic spreading the neighbor perfects it in places.
I would not use pea gravel on a driveway. It tracks, it tracks, it tracks and it does not pack. I want the gravel to pack for my driveway. We just spray the driveway twice a season with long acting round-up. The first summer I pulled the worst of the weeds and then maintained it after that. I will occassionally pull some as needed. Our driveway if 400’ with a big parking pad at the top of the driveway.
Our drive is not flat so that is one reason neighbor needs to smooth out some areas better than DH can.

In the past we rented a tractor with a FEL and a york rake. The bobcat works better. It has the FEL and DH dumps buckets of gravel where he needs it and back drags. I think the bobcat works better than the bigger John Deere since it is more powerful and smaller so easier to get a better touch.

[Kmacht]

If you have a FEL you can do it yourself. If you get the stone delivered the dump truck driver can usually spread the load as it dumps out. You then just have to go back and smooth/level it with the FEL. I don’t recommend pea stone for a driveway. You need something angular that will lock together. The pea stone is round and will move and shift every time you drive over it.

[Frog_Pond]

I went professional. 700’ of crushed-stone-mixed-with-recycled-asphalt over geotex, with a 75’ driveway of pea gravel at the end, by the house/road. No way could we have done it well ourselves, no matter which tool we used. I couldn’t picture setting down the cloth and then spreading gravel over it with a smallish tractor without making a hash of it – my patience would not hold up. You can pin the cloth down – little tent-like stakes that do help stabilize it while you drive back and forth on it – but, I like the way the pros just dump entire 10-wheel truckloads onto it and then use a Bobcat and excavator to spread it out and pack it. What you could do in a weekend, they can do in two hours. The cost hurts, though.

Do you need the area graded, too? For me, getting the grade corrected was the entire point of the project. If you just need 100’ . . . have the patience for spreading stone carefully . . . and it’s not a wonky mess of puddles and run-off spots, then sure, I can see DIYing it. As far as pea gravel goes, it IS a PITA – it wanders everywhere, and never packs down, and where it’s deep, it’s like walking on ball bearings. It’s pretty though, and a small concession to my patient spouse!

[Mango20]

I’ve had good luck with asking the dump truck drivers to spread it as they dump it, while handing them a $20 tip. That makes it much easier to finish up with the FEL.

[Simkie]

The quarry in MN had a spreader truck for stuff like this–it rocked. It wasn’t a dump truck…it had a little spinner thing at the back that flung the material off in a ~8’ wide swath, evenly. The guy just drove back and forth a couple times, and the job was done. No need to do anything but stand back and watch. See if you have one of those available?

[gumtree]

Most people use “Crusher run” or #2 modified or #1. The key for the new surface to stand the test of time is how well it is compacted. The amount needed of Crusher run for a 100’ by 8’ wide driveway, 2" thick is around 9.5 tons. You could top that with 1" of stone dust. 1" thick will require around 4 tons of stone dust.

How hard or easy to do this depends on you expectations of how you want it to look and last. Dumping by truck spreads it ok, but don’t expect it to be perfect by any imagination. To get complete coverage and somewhat even spread depends on the the skill and the amount of time the driver wants to put into it.

Leveling, spreading with a FEL depends on the operator’s skill level also. Not as easy as it looks for a newbie. It will most likely require a fair bit of manual labor with a stone rake also. To get it nice and “tight” I would rent a compactor. Not the easiest to operate but a fairly quick learning curve. You can rent a small paving roller for a few hundred $. IMO usually worth the money if you want things to last and look good. A good rental yard may have better suggestions.

The BEST stuff for this job is “road millings”. The stuff that is scrapped, ground off the tops of roads when they are being resurfaced. You can call you local DOT to find out if any road work is being done in your area. If lucky and no one has called before you. They generally are happy to truck it to the site for free if close enough to their job site. Otherwise they usually pay someone to dump it.

[mmeqcenter]

I would DIY with a front loader, drag/leveler, and roller compactor.

[Unfforgettable]

I just did my 1/4 mile driveway with 6 inches of crusher run. The truck spread it as they drove and all I had to do was touch it up with the tractor afterward.

[SugarCubes]

So, the driveway/pad I currently have was done the way several of you are suggesting. Larger stone topped with screenings, which were watered and compacted until they packed down to a concrete-like surface. It may have been put in correctly, but I can’t stand it. After a rain the small white fines stick to your shoes and track everywhere! Not to mention, the stupid weeds love to take over! However, that should make a perfect base for anything else I’d want to add, right?

A local barn has a parking lot like what I’m wanting, the BO said it was pea gravel, but maybe she’s mistaken? The base is done like my current driveway, but it’s topped with teeny tiny angular colored stones. It isn’t shifty or slippery at all…any idea what that could be?

Simkie - I will absolutely call around and see if anyone has a truck that does that, that would make this project a breeze! Thanks!

Great idea to tip the driver and see if he’ll spread it as he dumps. I remember them doing that when we were getting materials delivered for the arena.

[SugarCubes]

Frog Pond - Who did you end up hiring to do your driveway? I don’t even know who I should call for quotes! I think our landscape guys have the equipment but have a feeling they’d be super expensive.

[Jim_in_PA]

The truck from the quarry should be able to do the initial spreading for you for the majority of the driveway if they have their spreading chains on the truck…they dump and move at the same time to spread the material down the driveway. You then can use your FEL to finish and level and the tires of the tractor to compact it. I’ve been renovating our driveway this way. I only need to move stone manually for the area where using the delivery truck wasn’t possible.

[Kmacht]

Most the small angular stuff is 3/8" crushed stone. It won’t compact down to a perfectly solid surface but will be a lot better than the rounded pea gravel.

[mmeqcenter]

@SugarCubes

A local barn has a parking lot like what I’m wanting, the BO said it was pea gravel, but maybe she’s mistaken? The base is done like my current driveway, but it’s topped with teeny tiny angular colored stones. It isn’t shifty or slippery at all…any idea what that could be?

Maybe it’s fractured pea gravel?
http://lakestreetsupply.com/index.php?/products/detail/24/1/33/33

http://blog.ozinga.com/crushed-stone-vs.-pea-gravel-whats-the-difference

Or maybe they did a thin enough layer that it settled into the stone dust and that’s why it isn’t shifty.

See if the barn would let you take a handful to the local quarry to identify it.

[shakeytails]

We’ve always just had the driver dump and spread. They’re pretty darn good at it. We might move some around with a grader box or loader but not much. I don’t think I have ever raked a bit of driveway gravel by hand, lol! Iwouldn’t use pea gravel either. We use either 57’s or clean dense grade, probably both local terms but both are non-uniform with sharper edges and some fines so they pack together.

[S1969]

If you were just spreading stone I would say that it could be done DIY. If you definitely want to put the geotextile fabric underneath, I would hire it out. I’m not sure how much stone you would need to keep the fabric from shifting when driven on, especially if you’re not going to remove the current stone. (I’m imagining a rumpled mess of fabric sticking out at each end of the driveway as vehicles exit.)

I agree that pea gravel isn’t the right type of stone.

[SmartAlex]

@S1969

I’m not sure how much stone you would need to keep the fabric from shifting when driven on, especially if you’re not going to remove the current stone

At least 4 inches. And it will still come up on the ends and edges.

We keep crushed #1 on hand to dress up the drive. My husband is an artist with spreading it by jiggling it from the edge of the front end loader but it takes some practice.

OP I know what you mean about screenings that track everywhere. We filled in a small area with some left over fine pea gravel (finer than #1 and smooth) and that stuff lodges in shoe sole and tire tread and get’s everywhere.

[Frog_Pond]

@SugarCubes

Frog Pond - Who did you end up hiring to do your driveway? I don’t even know who I should call for quotes! I think our landscape guys have the equipment but have a feeling they’d be super expensive.

I used the guy who did the foundation for my barn, and dug my septic – it’s a local excavating company that does a lot of larger, civic jobs . . . but the owner is a horseman and he does farm work, too, mostly just to support the local ag community. A lot of landscaping companies do driveways around here, too, but, I really needed skilled grading in my hilly, rocky, wet, land. I don’t trust them to do any better job than I would. It was expensive – double what my tree guy offered to do it for. But, it’s a full on road now . . . all weather, not going to slide around, get potholes, or turn into a wrinkly pile of geotex n’ gravel. Me and the tree guy – nope. We’d of made a hash of it!

Yeah – I’ve had a “pea gravel” drive that was crushed stone about 1/4-1/2" . . . my new pea gravel is rounded, the deep, rolly stuff. Gravel and it’s stupid names! Good luck, SugarCubes – new stone is always good on the farm.