DIY Driveway Questions

mattwilk

Hi All,

I have decided to lay my own gravel driveway.
I already have around 6 inches of hardcore down in preparation and I am now thinking about the next steps.

If I want to lay a weedproof sheet underneath the gravel, can I lay the sheet directly on top of the hardcore? Or would I need to add a layer of scalping first? How effective are these membranes anyway? Just wondering if I should just go straight ahead and stick the gravel directly over the hardcore.

Thanks,
Matt

illmonkey

i dont think you can just put the gravel over the hard core. My girlfriends parents have a huge gravel drive way, and its solid underneath it. I think its cement mixed with gravel, then a layer of gravel, so if some is moved it still blends in.

dont take my word, wait for more advise, but dont just lay gravel on hardcore!

navig8r

If you layed Mypex directly on top of hardcore then it would get chewed to bits ..you need to blind it with finer material like stone dust before you lay it.

Gravel drives take quite a bit of looking after to keep them looking nice, you need a good depth of gravel on top so you can rake out all the leaves and twiggs that get squashed into the surface without dragging up the Mypex or the hardcore if you dont use the former. Mypex will help stop perenial weeds from growing from below but you will still get annuals rooting in the gravell which in theory should die if they cant get their roots through the membrain but what they do is spread out between it an the gravell so you have to pull them up anyway.

Dave

Avoriaz

Please don’t take offence but surely you should have planned the whole thing before you started the work.

I have absolutely no idea if 6 inches of hardcore is sufficient, too much or too little, nor what to put on top. In fact I have no idea how to DIY a gravel driveway.

I would happily try DIYing one but I would research the correct way very early on and definitely before starting any work.

uncle_buck_3

Have a look here:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/gravel01.htm

HTH

economiser

We have a gravel drive laid on about six inches of hardcore. Done about 30 years ago. We did get low points here and there to start with but the beauty of gravel is that it's easy to smooth out. We don't have a weedproof sheet on the drive, they weren't thought of at the time but have found it very effective on gravel garden paths. I think something the size of pea shingle or smaller is the best top surface, with larger stuff the surface is always rutting and its difficult to walk on.

HugoSP

Pea shingle can invite all the neighbourhood cats to plant messages.

We have a gravelled area in our garden, done in golden flint. Its up to about 40mm in stone size and even with 4 cats they won't go to the loo on there.

A number of people I know who have pea shingle complain about cats using it as a litter tray.

girlsmum

gosh yes avoid small pea shingle, or invest in a pooper scooper...