I just got a quote on an asphalt driveway and about had a heart attack. I am trying to do a circular route to limit turnarounds and large parking pads.
Anyone have feedback on good driveway solutions for for mini-farms. Trying to keep horses in mind (i.e. limit stone bruises) and make it easy for trailers, service providers to access property.
Thanks in advance!
Well I can say don’t do asphalt! That stuff is so darn slippery for shod horses. Maybe pea gravel?
Hate to be a downer, but is planned driveway large enough for Fire trucks? Safety clinic I attended pointed out inability of Fire truck to reach barn or house because driveway/gates were too narrow, too winding or unable to handle heavy truck weight. That means losses.
You may want to reconsider you driveway plan, modify if it cannot handle long, heavy (100,000 # ?), wide vehicles. And get changes done before you pay to surface the drive.
yes the driveway is large enough that an 18wheeler delivered my barn materials. Part of the high cost is it would be a complete wrap around that would allow vehicles to access the garage, house or barn as needed. I also have 2 additional access points through pastures if needed as well. Looks like it’s going to be gravel. Any experience with tar and chip? Seems a little rougher than straight asphalt.
We’ve had gravel/stone driveway and parking pads for 11 years now and no stone bruises, so that risk might be exaggerated. A barefoot horse (or human) can cross gravel at a walk without injury. If they have to jump or step down to unload and you’re concerned, just back to the edge so they land on grass.
So long as it’s smallish gravel, gravel is fine. It’s when people put down 1" and larger stones that it’s danged hard to walk on, it never packs flat, and gives the horses trouble. We have lots of gravel drives and it’s almost zero maintenance, can’t freeze and crack, and roots from trees are just not such a big deal.
[QUOTE=ellisrun;8174495]
yes the driveway is large enough that an 18wheeler delivered my barn materials. Part of the high cost is it would be a complete wrap around that would allow vehicles to access the garage, house or barn as needed. I also have 2 additional access points through pastures if needed as well. Looks like it’s going to be gravel. Any experience with tar and chip? Seems a little rougher than straight asphalt.[/QUOTE]
DSA. Driveway Surface Aggregate. We have used it on our steeper sections coming down from the fields, and around the barns. Stayed in place even during the Monster storm we had on Monday.
From the road to the Farmhouse is paved. Thinking about ripping it up and using DSA because to even re-pave is awfully expensive.
I would look into reclaimed asphalt or reclaimed concrete, both are much more affordable than hot paving, reclaimed concrete can be watered down and rolled packing it. Yeah, hot asphalt was shocking, just recently had a quote for our 1/4 mi +, DH still considering, me on the other hand cannot see spending that much. I like the look of reclaimed asphalt.
So if I was going to go with a smaller type gravel are we talking pea gravel or something else? Apologies, this is all new to me:)
If you put down crush and run or whatever it is called in your locality, you can put down some stone dust over it where horses are likely to walk. That is what I have done.
For a long lasting drive you can:
Grade the surface appropriately
Put down geocloth
Put down a layer of “driveway rock”
Finish with a layer of “crusher run” (a fine gravel).
Be sure to account for water runoff. If you don’t you’ll have a washout and have to fix it.
This will not necessarily be cheap but you’ll only have to do it once (or maybe once every ten years or so).
Asphalt is not always “slick.” Most mixtures are because the oil helps hold the aggregate together. But you can ask for a less “slick” mixture. Our barn aisle is asphalt and not at all slick. So is our driveway. We told the contractor this need when we started and he did the mix accordingly.
Good luck in your project.
G.
[QUOTE=LookmaNohands;8174533]
If you put down crush and run or whatever it is called in your locality, you can put down some stone dust over it where horses are likely to walk. That is what I have done.[/QUOTE]
Crusher run
quarter by fine
crush and run
the name varies by location 
How about woodchips?
[QUOTE=PeanutButterPony;8174636]
Crusher run
quarter by fine
crush and run
the name varies by location :)[/QUOTE]
And if you ask for crusher run here you’ll get softball-sized and bigger!
You’re going to want to do gravel/stone. Personally, I prefer stone over gravel (stone is limestone or quartz, gravel is river rock/pea gravel). A nice limestone road rock will be 3/4" angular rock with fines (stone dust).
What area are you in?
I am in central north carolina - outside of charlotte:)
We made our driveway out of a crush gravel (small gravel pieces). We have never had any issues with our barefoot ponies walking on it (they have to walk a few hundred feet on it as we graveled all the way from our barn to our paddocks).
We were told that limestone would be good as well as it compacts well. We put some down in a spot to see what it would be like but find that its quite messy. Once it rains, it sticks to the bottom of your shoes and when you walk in the barn, it gets all over the place. The crush gravel packs down really well and has held up great at our place.
[QUOTE=ellisrun;8174677]
I am in central north carolina - outside of charlotte:)[/QUOTE]
You’re probably in one of the “crusher run” areas then. As long as you tell them you want driveway mix you should be fine.
Yours must have too much fine material in it. If you get it of the proper mix the fines will settle a little lower and lock in the rocks and not be so messy. If you ever need to put more in someday you could ask for a coarser product, or fewer fines.
The crusher run stuff I got had a lot of stone dust in it which over time settled down into a fairly smooth surface.
As Lawndart suggested, an aggregate is what has worked best for my drive. An aggregate is a mixture of different sizes that pack down to form a hard, stable surface. Drives that I’ve seen that have just one size of gravel on them won’t pack down – they tend to “roll” and readily displace.
Around here, 6" fiber concrete is more than a buck per square foot less than 4" asphalt. We did our 1,500 foot drive 10 years ago for 72 cents per square foot (4" asphalt), current bids for replacing some damaged areas are over $7 per square foot. Concrete right at $6 per square foot.
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