GR gravel binder

My driveway is pretty steep and its gravel. After a season of rain, most of the gravel is at the bottom and there are large erosion ruts at the top.

I have to keep borrowing my dad's tractor/blade three times a year to fix it. I was wondering if there is something I could put on it to bind it and at least slow down the yearly erosion until I can afford the concrete to do it right.

In Canada, they use a recycled product as a binder and actually pave roads with it that last several years. Its not just glycerol, but something that actually hardens up and makes it like weak asphalt. Any ideas?

Crushed Limestone and a roller.

You might be thinking of asphalt grindings from a paving project. It's just used asphalt but if you put it down on a hot summer day on a well prepped base it can be almost as good as the real thing. And if you spend some time with a tiger torch, it will really bind together.

Limestone is good as well as it one of the components of concrete. Or failing that, a good 1/2 or 3/4 inch fractured rock product with lots of fines to knit it together. Then rent a 1500 pound plate and beat the hell out of it.

Rake some Portland cement into it, or maybe Calcium Chloride? There are people here versed in chemical properties, I am not one of them.

date a farm girl whose brother works for an asphalt plant

They used what appeared to be cut up roofing shingles mixed with some kind of tar on some spots of the gravel road leading to the campground in Indiana years ago. Seemed to hold up pretty well for a year or so, I think they put it down in front of the few houses on that road to cut down on dust. Don't know of the name of the product or who did it, or whether it was done by the county or homeowners paid out of pocket for it.

Casting slag.

Recycled asphalt from road projects is called re-ground. It can be packed.

Crush and run can also be packed (sort of). It is like gravel, but has smaller aggregate and fines as well (which fills the voids).

The roof shingle thing might have been just that- roof shingles. They are also asphalt, and will pack.

If you have a roofing shingle manufacturer in your area, you can buy the keyways (the skinny slivers punched out between the tabs on a standard 3-tab shingle) by the truckload cheap. They spread, and pack almost as well as asphalt, and are just waste to the roofing manufacturer. They look a little funny.

What size is your gravel in that driveway? Makes a big difference.

not that i'm suggesting it, but my grandpa used to dump his drain oil on the steep part of his driveway.

can you put in some 4x4s to act as erosion brakes?

I have a friend who had his driveway done with asphalt millings, which is probably the same as the stuff SVrex was talking about. After the first summer, it seemed to bind itself. Only downside is that you don't really know what's mixed in with it.

TRoglodyte wrote: Rake some Portland cement into it, or maybe Calcium Chloride? There are people here versed in chemical properties, I am not one of them.

IIRC CaCl is what some states use in winter instead of salt & is more corrosive than salt.

SVreX wrote: If you have a roofing shingle manufacturer in your area, you can buy the keyways (the skinny slivers punched out between the tabs on a standard 3-tab shingle) by the truckload cheap. They spread, and pack almost as well as asphalt, and are just waste to the roofing manufacturer. They look a little funny.

I have seen those, and was a little mystified as to what it was (I thought someone had actually sliced up shingles). Thanks for the enlightenment!

The Forest Service roads down here are done with what they call 'ROC': Run Of Crusher. That's what SVreX mentioned. It holds up pretty good on slopes but will get all kinds of dusty if it doesn't rain for a month or so.

M2Pilot wrote: IIRC CaCl is what some states use in winter instead of salt & is more corrosive than salt.

CaCl is salt ... just not NaCl... it's what is sold as a salt substitute ...especially for people on a Sodium free or low Sodium diet

This driveway is made with "road bed" (as it is called around here). Its a mix of everything from 2B down to fine sand. Its pretty much like cement, but nothing stops erosion. A guy came to give me an estimate on paving and he couldn't even dig it up with a bar. I drove on it for three months and it didn't change a bit, but the first good rain we got I had big ruts.

Plain gravel mix isn't the answer. I have one of the hardest, best-compacted mixes there is, but its steep enough that downpours make some serious inertia.

I'll have to look into some of the ideas you folks mentioned. I like the idea of the recycled asphalt, but torching a 400' driveway isn't my idea of fun.

bearmtnmartin wrote: You might be thinking of asphalt grindings from a paving project.

No, these were dirt roads (granite pebble and sand) and I watched them lay it. They went through with a grader and followed with a big truck that was squirting an oily looking stuff. Then they followed that with a roller and it was done. I don't think it cured right away, but it was like oil-packed dirt road. A week later it was like pavement, and 5-6 years later its still there. I still have some of it on my trailer that I was towing through the construction zone. When I went through it, I thought it was just oily sand and I could clean it off later. Its like cement now. I had to chisel some off.

Around here they call that "chip sealing".

Dust. It gets between the rocks and acts as mortar after a rain. Think Crusher Run, same effect.

curtis73 wrote: This driveway is made with "road bed" (as it is called around here). Its a mix of everything from 2B down to fine sand.

OK, so it's basically a fine bed.

In that case, I'd suggest checking some of the "binders" or "crusting agents" used on dryhaul roadbeds and the like. They are both sprays you apply to a stockpile of fines, or a roadbed, that makes them solid. Wear resistance, water solubility, and penetration vary with the different ones. As does lifespan, it can vary from a few weeks to upwards of a few years. Generally speaking, a binder will work better for a driveway than a crusting agent will.

This is a pretty good article on the subject: http://www.miningmagazine.com/management-in-action/when-the-dust-settles?SQ_DESIGN_NAME=print_friendly

Do they normally sell used/excess asphalt? The last few times that road repair was done in my subdivision they said that they couldnt give me the excess or scraps for my driveway.

Grass?

(and out of the box idea...)

Woody wrote: Around here they call that "chip sealing".

This was not tar and chip. This was a recycled vegetable oil product (according to the locals.) Tar and chip works on existing pavement. These were dirt/gravel roads that were "paved" with an oil that set up hard as a rock.

alfadriver wrote: Grass? (and out of the box idea...)

Way out of the box... but I like it :) Every time I mow my lawn (which is almost an acre) I think about what to do with the clippings. I have three compost bins full, three large piles full, and now I've quit bagging it and just let it mulch.