Building Gravel Driveway

[Christy]

I am planning on building a gravel driveway for the MH.

Just wanted to get thoughts on depth of MOT type 1 to support it. I have seen quotes of 50mm to 150mm base with 50mm gravel on top. Obviously the more MOT the more expensive.

Can anyone who has done this before recommend:

a) depth of MOT?
b)depth of gravel?

Thanks

 

[M-J]

Depth of grave is 6 foot isn’t it?!

 

[lorger]

Wow when I read the title I thought you were doing home burials

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Have a look at the mesh pads you can buy as well as using gravel. Would keep the gravel in place also.

 

[lorger]

on a serious note we have our front garden area done in gravel, we never park the van there just one of the cars. All i would say is get big stones to prevent them getting stuck in the tyres, the guy who done ours recommended this and after 6 years we've had no issues.

We just have to rake them every now and again to smooth them out.

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[M-J]

On a serous note, about 6 inches of hardcore, doesn’t need to be MOT as such just good clean hardcore, our local driveway company crushes there own recycled from previous jobs and you could go as low as 4 inches so much cheaper and then a 1.5-2 inches of 20mm ish gravel.

 

[jongood]

Put some membrane down first, it will stop it sinking. You get the better stuff from builders merchants, there are several types ranging from weed control through to driveway. You can get away with less gravel then.

 

[jongood]

If its a big driveway you would be better off buying bulk gravel from a quarry rather than bulkbags, if you work on 2 tonnes/cubic metre you will be somewhere near.

 

[Christy]

Wow when I read the title I thought you were doing home burials

oops. should have put my specs on before typing!

 

[whiskyman]

I suppose I had better be serious as this is such a grave matter

So here is serious.
You need to take out all the top and sub soil till you reach good solid ground then add the MOT at least 100mm then the gravel 75mm or more would be best don't forget the weed membrane.

I used some block paving and a clean white stone (no dust) unlike gravel the stone does not move.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Colin

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[grasscutter]

150mm sub base MOT or scalping. Don’t go to deep on the gravel 30-40mm sufficient otherwise you just sink in it.

 

[Ivory55]

You might get clean crushed concrete cheaper than road stone for the base. It varies to where you are as transport makes a difference to the price

 

[MisterB]

cats like to use gravel for their toilet, especially on the small gravel. 20mm seems to be more uncomfortable for them to use !

 

[berni109]

If u want to do it properly pavingexpert.com will give u the info u need.
Just checked and the web site has been recreated and is now not up to the standard of information that was available before. Looks like a web designer who does not have a clue about the way the physical world works. It used to be a mine of information

 

[Speve]

The depth of hardcore you need depends a lot on what you have under the topsoil we have chalk under ours so it’s pretty solid however if you have clay or green sand etc you may need a deeper base?
I would always err on the safe side and use at least 150 mm with a thin layer of gravel to finish.??

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[Stoosal]

I don’t pretend to be a builder/driveway expert but I’ve done a couple of similar drives for our own houses. Remove any grass topsoil. I would say 100 to 150mm ‘hardcore’ which is compacted down. I would tend to go 150mm....best results are all in the base! If you want to put some membrane down then it may help to stop some mixing of the two materials. I’ve done with and without and to be honest not noticed much difference.

Don’t go too deep on top gravel as it just makes it hard to walk/drive on. About 30-40mm is enough. I steer clear of ‘round’ or ‘washed’ types of gravel. Better to have angular as it binds together and makes a surface easier to walk on. The rounded gravel tends to move under feet/wheels and makes it more difficult to move off and tyres tend to sit in it rather than on it!

I just did mine in 10/20mm general gravel from local quarry...about £23 a ton....it’s not a decorative gravel but it works for us. Binds together well and easy to walk on etc.

 

[davanne]

This is ours that was done last year we used a friend who is an agricultural contractor to do the sub base he used stone from a local quarry 8 x 8 ton loads
We then had bulk load of decorative gravel to finish .
When we were building a new garage round the side one day we had a big concrete mixer and a large lorry that was delivering wood parked together so we knew there would be no problem with the Motorhome.

 

[berni109]

I meant to say before avoid gravel - the rounded small pebbly stuff - it just moves all over the place. You want chippings or crushed stone that us nice and angular and binds together.

 

[georgio]

6 inch hardcore of any type 3 inch down to dust. top off with gravel to cover obout an inch or so , if using washed pea gravel do not have much depth or you will lose traction

 

[Puddleduck]

Have a look at the mesh pads you can buy as well as using gravel. Would keep the gravel in place also.

We have to have gravel (local council requirement) and the mesh pads are the business. We are slowly digging our existing drive out (as we can afford the pads, chippings etc) and doing it properly this time round. We are buying from a place on ebay (ecodeck) and they include the landscape fabric.

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[Christy]

I suppose I had better be serious as this is such a grave matter

So here is serious.
You need to take out all the top and sub soil till you reach good solid ground then add the MOT at least 100mm then the gravel 75mm or more would be best don't forget the weed membrane.

View attachment 383351 View attachment 383352 View attachment 383353

I used some block paving and a clean white stone (no dust) unlike gravel the stone does not move.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Colin

Blimey! that is serious! I was thinking on a small 10mx2m patch with my son and a spade!

 

[whiskyman]

Blimey! that is serious! I was thinking on a small 10mx2m patch with my son and a spade!

Yes it did get a bit serious, we took out 350 tons of soil and clay then popped in 100 ton of MOT
Still smarting from the cost