Drive way

Anonymous-0 · Sep 19, 2013

What do you think about using wood chips on a drive way? I
have clay soil and I can get all the wood chips I want from a
trimming service. thinking of just pilling it on. Don't know if it
will really support any thing, just want to stay out of the mud
and not get stuck.

Brent Zappe · Sep 19, 2013

I have a dirt drive way here at my house in Riverside Ca. I had got some gravel hauled in to my house about 23 tons for a drive way that is 20' wide and 150 feet long. What I like about the gravel is that it sets in to the clay and sand when it rains. The real plus is that it stay on the ground and when it rains I do not have a mud to drive on. The gravel hold the dirt in to place and sets up to make a nice drive way. Yes they call it crushed gravel and my was bought threw ready mix.

Nancy Howell · Sep 19, 2013

Wood chips may float/wash away in a hard rain.

Geo-TH,In · Sep 19, 2013

Boss wanted the drive to pole barn made with the free sand and gravel from her old gravel pit. I put layers of clay, sand and gravel. Makes a great base, however it needs to be top coated with white rock. Each time I sweep the pole barn floor, there are shovels full of sand which comes in on the tires.

I could only imagine what wood chips would do. I use free wood chips in my flower beds. Wood chips only lasts about 4-5 years, decomposes.

Get rid of the water and you will get rid of the mud. Roads need to be crowned and drainage along the sides. Use the dirt along the sides to raise road.

Before I had a backhoe, I would use a tiller to soften up the dirt along the road and used a REDNECK backhoe and land mover, a shovel and wheelborrow.

JML755 · Sep 19, 2013

(quoted from post at 11:00:07 09/19/13) What do you think about using wood chips on a drive way? I
have clay soil and I can get all the wood chips I want from a
trimming service. thinking of just pilling it on. Don't know if it
will really support any thing, just want to stay out of the mud
and not get stuck.

Nope, don't do it. It will make a mess. If your d/w slopes correctly, water will run off. Put mounds of wood chips on it and it will hold the water. I've got some trails in the woods that I put chips on. It's fine for walking on, but put a vehicle on them and it becomes a muddy two-track very quickly.

Pops1532 · Sep 19, 2013

Don't do it. If the wood chips don't wash away they'll hold water and make a muddy mess, plus they'll decompose and make dirt. If you have mud now it will be worse when the chips decompose.

blinwmiaol.com · Sep 19, 2013

I disagree with a few of the other posters. A few years back ago I had a problem of a mud hole right out my dairy barn door where the cows would walk thru every day headed to the pasture, this ended up being an area about 10' x 15'. I was working for a landscaping crew and one spring we had about 25 yards of colored mulch chips left over. I dumped about two feet thick of chips and gave the cows a couple weeks to work them down thru the mud. Every few days when I saw the chips were worked down I would dump a couple more buckets full on it. I took awhile but it ended up being a great base that handled the weight of the cows well. It took several yards to shore things up but it was a very solid base. Hated milking cows that had to walk thru a mudhole to get back to the barn. The wood chips were free and it worked for me.

mkirsch · Sep 19, 2013

Yeah, a few years ago. What's it like NOW that the chips have rotted on the bottom?

Wood chips will improve things in the short term, but they are not a good long term solution.

kyhayman · Sep 19, 2013

I used to think that. Half doing a drive was the way to go. No more, crown it, ditch it, and put down fabric and rock. Here, 6 inches #2, and 4 inches of DGA. Roll it right as it goes.

Drive way

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

Brent Zappe

Member

Nancy Howell

Well-known Member

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member

JML755

Well-known Member

Pops1532

Well-known Member

blinwmiaol.com

Member

mkirsch

Well-known Member

kyhayman

Well-known Member

Similar threads