Landscaping question

[Tom Bender]

There is a part of my driveway where cars sometimes run off and make a rut by depressing the ground if it is wet. This spring I will have to roll back the sod, add half a yard of soil and roll the sod back over it (about 2 ft x 20 ft). I'd like to stiffen the soil a bit, different soil, cloth, something. Suggestions?

[Tom M King]

I'd dig it out, put down No.3 Stone (what railroad ballast is called here) then top with dirt, and replant the grass. I've actually done that a number of times in such situations. The stone spreads the load, but since it's washed, and has room for dirt, grass will still grow on it.

[Bob Riefer]

I agree with Tom's approach above, plus one detail... I like geotextile fabric under gravel whenever possible - landscaping businesses can give you the good stuff (looks like plastic weave) for a fair price. It keeps gravel from sinking into the dirt/mud underneath over time. We have a 20x20 dog pen, a similar sized patio, and another larger patio all done this way for many years and have had no sinking or gravel/mud mixing issues. They also use this fabric in certain retaining wall systems, so it's tough stuff.

[Tom M King]

We have hard, red clay subsoil not too far below the surface. I dig it out down to that, and then put the no.3 down. The railroad ballast speads the load out at about a 45 degree angle-the reason it works just sitting there under railroad tracks. It has a lot of open spaces, so soil, and roots can go down in it, and grass will grow better with it, than without it.

If you don't have such a solid sub-base, Geotex is a good idea.

[Lee Schierer]

After you dig down and before you put gravel in the hole be sure to put down geo-tex fabric to prevent the gravel from sinking into the soil, otherwise in a year or two you will be doing the same thing all over again. Clay soil is a liquid and will seek its own level over time. Gravel will gradually sink into it every time it rains.

[Peter Rawlings]

Perhaps something like this could be incorporated. At one time I considered doing a whole driveway, but plans changed...as they inevitably do!

https://www.google.com/search?q=concrete+block+grass+pavers&sxsrf=ALeKk03 MqB5KR59k9lYHjCUf24GhWoNzEg:1584891617098&source=l nms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikx-Cuta7oAhWEpZ4KHXg5BPAQ_AUoAnoECAsQBA&biw=1497&bih= 771

[Tom Bender]

Thanks, I'll go with the fabric and ballast.

[Tom M King]

Depending on what you have to haul it with, and how you have to buy it, there are a number of ways to do it. I buy it by the truckload, and always have some on hand. We have redone such off target driveway ruts just moving it in 5 gallon buckets. I hope you're able to find small quantities.

For the one in the picture, at one of the museum houses I look after, we caught the ground wet, poured buckets of no. 3 in them, packed it with the truck, and next trip we did the same with topsoil. You can't tell that there ever was a rut there now. Packing only will work when the ground is soft from being wet.

I used GeoTex over 8" of no. 3 back when I was building our riding rings, for drainage. My experience with road base here only includes building a few miles of state spec roads, back when I was developing real estate. In order to get the state to take over a road, it has to be done to their specs, inspected in process, and core samples taken after completion. No GeoTex is required, but that's just around here. Theorists can always over engineer.

For off target driveway ruts, our simple method for fixing them seems to hold up well around here.

This picture was taken with only the rock in place. It had been packed with the truck, and you can see the buckets still in the bed.

[Gary Ragatz]

Tom,

One of my neighbors used a product like this to widen his driveway by about a foot on each side:

https://www.greendriveway.com/products/gd-gravel/

He just filled it with gravel, but if you want it to look like lawn, I'd bet you can put some black dirt in with the gravel, and add grass seed.

[Jan Smith]

Also on red clay here and yes gravel disappears in there at a rate especially when wet you can almost watch it.
If you put road bond, not sure if it is used for railroads also but it is a base for building proper roads around here,
under it it will last much longer.