I about stroked out when I asked an asphalt guy to price paving my gravel drive…needless to say I’m not dropping $25,000.00 on a drive way (1200 ’ long x 10’ wide) I can bring it tons of gravel when I need to for ever and not hit that number. It was a thought and I have scratched that itch.
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My reason for not wanting an asphalt driveway would be the chemicals that would leach from it into my groundwater – therefore the well that I drink my water from. If your husband grew up on a farm, he may be more in tune with where you get your water from
i remember my father having saying, something along the lines of, you don’t poop in your backyard…
As another poster suggested, we have put down crushed asphalt over our gravel driveway and its amazing!! With the heat and sun beating down on it, some of it actually became a bit paved. Its crazy!
My husband would go and speak with local guys when they were tearing up the roads and they would come and dump it on our driveway for us for a great price. We would spead it out with our tractor and roll it with our roller.
We live in Onatario so get long cold winters. When the sun is out, it will actually melt the ice and snow since its black. Its really worth it. So much better than paving or having the crushed gravel that we’ve had for years. What a difference.
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Nice!!
I love the look of your driveway!
Thank you Squirrel Man!
You just need some more clean rock and someone that knows what they’re doing to grade your driveway and you’ll be much happier with it 
Ask around locally for someone that’s good with a grader and get an estimate. Preferably find someone who also knows how to estimate how much rock you might need added and can handle getting that there for you too.
I need to add gravel, or chip and seal, to my drive. Currently, there is grass (and weeds!) encroaching through the gravel. Do I need to treat that, or just go right over it?
We have a gravel drive leading from the main street gates to the house and garage. We’re on a slope. It freezes and snows here. I prefer the gravel hands down. I had to replace it a few years ago when we had to replace water lines. The gravel is slightly larger in size than the previous driveway (pea size). That adds more traction. It’s also lighter in color so it reflects the sun. We do not have any gravel on the drives leading to or around the barn. Just don’t want it stuck in horse’s feet. There are online calculators that help you calculate how many cubic feet you need (LxWxH).
The reason why your driveway is muddy is the base or soil is not up to par. Just paving over it will only be a very short term fix. The underlying problem will still be there.
In your place I would put money into improving the drainage in the area of the driveway. A gravel driveway shouldn’t become a muddy mess even with heavy rain if it’s properly drained. You’ll get much more “bang for the buck” with drainage work than with asphalt in my experience.
