Gravel Driveways...need advice!

[imagine.more]

We just moved into a new house up in the mountains and it's in a neighborhood but a rural one, so there are about 2 miles of gravel roads leading up to our house. They're pretty well maintained so not a big deal. But our driveway is a pain in the butt already. It's on a slope and the neighbor's house across the street and above ours (literally, like they're at the top of the hill) drains right onto ours. Not their fault or ours, just how the neighborhood was built before we got here. 

 

So, every time it rains these deep gullies emerge down the tire tracks of our sloped driveway. It's awful! But we don't know how to even put in a drain. Do we do one across the top at the entry of the driveway? I have no idea. 

 

Then there are the wandering gravel rocks in the yard :-/ I've considered putting some sort of edging in, maybe bordering it with landscaping timbers or bricks or even just the flexible garden edging. But, I don't want to spend the time/money if it's not going to help a decent bit. 

 

So....any gravel driveway-owning people here who could give us advice? 

[Carol in Cal.]

I think you need to talk to a general contractor, but I'd research French drains first so you know what you're talking about.  I think that some guidance of the water coming onto your property into a French drain structure might be all you need.  

 

Also, do you have snow in the winter there?  You won't be able to plow or use a low set snow blower without messing up all the gravel, and maybe hurting the snow blower as well.  So if you have snow, you probably want to work toward drainage pipes under an asphalt driveway, since you have a slope to deal with.  Flat gravel roads and driveways are fine and dandy but sloping ones are tricky.

[Mbelle]

I have a pea gravel drive.  I do have metal edging and it keeps the gravel in, but I like the natural look as well with gravel easing into the yard. Right now, we are needing a good rain, so we can push the eding further down so it doesn't show. 

 

I don't know about the water situation, but I would think you need to divert it at the top and if you can get the neighbors to help on their end it might be an extra bonus.  Is there a ditch?  

[prairiewindmomma]

Our driveway had steep shoulders so that water coming down the hill was diverted into the ditch rather than the driveway. I'd talk to a contractor about putting in a culvert or French drain.

[Amy in NH]

You probably need a ditch filled with gravel (French drain) on the upslope side of the driveway, and some grass and/or plants above that to keep dirt from washing into the gravel and clogging it. 

 

I'd also talk to the neighbors, because I think they may be liable for property damage caused by water running off their property.  http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/neighbor-disputes-over-water-damage-29724.html

Edited August 8, 2016 by Amy in NH

[AmandaVT]

You might want to look into "stay mat" for your driveway. It's a great material for gravel driveways that washes out a lot less. My friend has a .3 mile driveway that's a big hill  - they recovered theirs with stay mat about 8 years ago and it's still in great shape. We're getting our (short) driveway done this fall with it too. 

[fairfarmhand]

No help here.

 

We paved our steep gravel driveway. It wasn't cheap but it was SO worth it.

[gardenmom5]

you need more information on the drainage patterns before you can develop a credible plan to fix the drainage problems.

[Katy]

you need more information on the drainage patterns before you can develop a credible plan to fix the drainage problems.

 

This.  Live there for a few months, and take some walks during some daytime, non-lightening downpours to figure out where it's coming from and how to address it.

 

 

ETA:  get more emergency supplies, so in case the driveway washes out in a downpour you won't need to run to the store.

Edited August 8, 2016 by Katy

[imagine.more]

you need more information on the drainage patterns before you can develop a credible plan to fix the drainage problems.

 

Yes, this is what we've been trying to do the past couple months. i've taken some pics of it during downpours and such and we're keeping tabs of where the gravel is washing out and such. 

 

There is a ditch on the upper side of the driveway. However, there was nothing diverting water into it from where it's truly running down across the road. So maybe 50% or less was going into the ditch. This ditch has some large rocks in it but it had become a bit overgrown and hadn't been kept up in the year or so before we moved in. Currently we're working on improving that a bit while we investigate the drainage patterns and try to gather ideas on how to deal with the driveway.

[imagine.more]

You might want to look into "stay mat" for your driveway. It's a great material for gravel driveways that washes out a lot less. My friend has a .3 mile driveway that's a big hill  - they recovered theirs with stay mat about 8 years ago and it's still in great shape. We're getting our (short) driveway done this fall with it too. 

 

I've heard about this. How much does it cost (ballpark?) 

[imagine.more]

I think you need to talk to a general contractor, but I'd research French drains first so you know what you're talking about.  I think that some guidance of the water coming onto your property into a French drain structure might be all you need.  

 

Also, do you have snow in the winter there?  You won't be able to plow or use a low set snow blower without messing up all the gravel, and maybe hurting the snow blower as well.  So if you have snow, you probably want to work toward drainage pipes under an asphalt driveway, since you have a slope to deal with.  Flat gravel roads and driveways are fine and dandy but sloping ones are tricky.

 

Yes we do have snow. It's Northern Virginia. We don't own or plan to own a snow blower, we usually just shoveled when we lived in Pennsylvania until recently. 

[hellen]

My mom has a steep sloping gravel driveway. Or rather she did. After many years of trying to improve drainage, she decided to pave the steepest section.

[DawnM]

We live on a very long driveway with a hill..  We had this issue a lot.  We just had ours redone with something, not sure what.  It was very, very ground gravel that they put down, and then go over with a roller truck to make it stay together.  They wet it down, which makes it *almost* like concrete.  Then they put the new gravel on top of that and went over what with the roller truck to make it stick in more.  There is still a layer of loose gravel on top, but it doesn't really move as much since the undercoat is so firm.

 

Our driveway is up a hill and about 650 ft. long.   We paid $1,600 but we were told it is normally around $2,500-$3,000.  We had quote for other materials up to $4,500.

 

 

[G5052]

We had a steep gravel road for some time, and it was always giving us problems. We had a contractor put in a drain and then redo it properly with layers like DawnM. That was better, but we finally just paved it. 

[MarinesWife]

When we lived where it snowed and had a gravel driveway we didn't ever have to shovel it (unless the snow was super deep). My favorite part of having a gravel driveway.

[lllll]

nm

Edited November 8, 2016 by cathey

[Myra]

Gravel driveways can be snowplowed - you just have to have to ask the truck/plow driver to raise the actual plow/shovel part up 2-3 inches.  It is common practice here in upstate New York.  

 

Myra

[lllll]

nm 

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by cathey