Maintaining a Gravel Driveway

My summer home is located on Lake Winnipesaukee in central New Hampshire. We access the home via effectively a long gravel driveway. Once every year or so the residents who live off of this “road” / long gravel driveway put some money into it to keep it in good working order.

Typically one of the residents who utilize the long gravel driveway will obtain a few contractor bids and communicate to everyone on the “road” their per-share-cost for maintaining the gravel driveway.

Key Gravel Driveway Maintenance Tips Maintaining a gravel driveway typically involves bringing in new gravel material and re-grading and re-crowning the gravel driveway. In addition, ditches adjacent to the gravel driveway are cleaned out and reshaped. At the curves in the road or gravel driveway, the ditches are filled with large softball size stones to help control water flow rates. Also, any culverts that are either damaged or heaving are either replaced or reseated. Finally, a mechanical roller is used to compact and lock in the gravel.

Building a Gravel Driveway

If you are considering building a gravel driveway keep in mind a few key points.

First, the soil under the gravel driveway has to be well drained. All organic material such as topsoil, leaves and sticks should be removed.

Second, install a geotextile fiber fabric over the subsoil to prevent silt from the subsoil working its way upwards into the gravel driveway. The silt can cause the gravel driveway to quickly crumble.

Third, install large stones for the base layer of the gravel driveway. The stones should be the size of a softball and should be angular in shape. Do not use smooth river rock stone as they will not lock together well. Fourth, add another 4-6 inches of smaller stone over the base layer of stones. These stones should be approximately the size of golf balls. Again, use angular stones. Fifth, for the final layer of your gravel driveway apply 4 to 6 inches of ¾” size stone with stone dust mixed in.

After spreading the final layer of gravel, make sure to crown the road so that the center of the gravel driveway is slightly higher than the edges. This will enable water to run off the gravel driveway.

Finally, use a mechanical roller to lock the gravel into place.

By following these techniques for maintaining a gravel driveway and building a gravel driveway, you should have a driveway that last for decades.