building a road for the RV

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99WinAdventurer37G

99WinAdventurer37G

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Joined
Jun 28, 2012
Posts
1,143
Location
Saginaw, TX (north fort worth area)
I have about a half mile road into the center of my property.  I have put a lot of gravel on it so I can get non 4wd vehicles in and out year round.  Four WD vehicles are necessary for most of the other roads.  With about 10-12K lbs on an axle, I was trying to think of what the best, most cost effective material to put down on the road.  Now, I'm afraid every time I take it in, I'll be towing it out.  I haven't got it stuck yet, but this is the dry time for us.  Which also is the best time to work on roads.  I will build my pad out of concrete, but to use that for the whole road, lets just say that would really, really hurt the wallet.  I know there are a lot of varied experiences on this board, and I would love to hear what your suggestions would be.  Thanks
 
My driveway is about 500 feet long. About every 4 years I have to have another layer of decomposed granite put down and leveled. I've never come close to getting the RV stuck, because DG is pretty good stuff to drive on when it's packed, but we also don't get much rain in Southern Cal so I don't have to deal with mud very often.

Kev
 
I used DG with a stabilizer. When wet down and compacted I couldn't even rake it. Might work for you even better than plain DG. Not cheap but less expensive than concrete.
 
I think  you already have it.. When I had a house we used packed dirt for the "Driveway" for the RV since it did not go in and out every day, but we parked it on crushed rock,  Gravel would, in my opinion, have been better, but crushed rock was what we had.

What is important is what is below that layer.  The landscaper did a good job of preping the pad

Now about six inch slab of concrete might be better, but ... Well, we are talking road here.. Some years ago someone calculated the cost of paving the roads with GOLD.  Turns out that would cost less than what they pave 'em with now.

So my choice would be what you are using now.> Gravel. Well packed
 
I leveled the pad area for my MH then packed the area with the tractor and then the MH. Once that was complete I laid 5/8 minus, app a 2-3" lift. This is crushed rock no larger than 5/8 but the added "minus" is the binder that holds it together. Once wet and packed it works as well as concrete in the NW. Don't forget to put the proper grade slope on whatever you use for a base. The better drainage you have the longer the rock will stay in place. The MH is no problem for weight on this. Once I finished the pad area we had a steel bldg put up for storage. Nice setup for us.
 
Great, thanks all.  It's been years since I put all the rock down, so I'll just have to add more and price out that DG as well.  Then I'll be putting the concrete pad down for the metal building I'm going to put up for storage and maintenance.
 
Up in Alaska, (drove up there twice) they use gravel on the road  (i think) and then they put ''calcium cloride'' (salt) on it and it becomes as hard as concrete.  Big trucks run over it and the biggest problem seems to be stones coming off their tandum wheels at the speed of light.
You might check into this for your road.  I have no idea how much it would cost but it sure works well up there. 
Mind you, I could be wrong about this but I have four cracked windshields to show that it is some kind of stone. 
this information is FREE because I aint sure if it is factual or not. 

Tell a vet thanks for their services to this nation.  God bless our troops and bring them home NOW.......
 
My drive is gravel and up-hill to boot..every few years I need to get it re done w/grave/..
I have some friends that have been using the "grindings" that the town removes from it's roads when they resurface them.. and after compacting it down they have a pretty good driveway..
It should be done by the time I get back from the "bucket-list" I'm taking my Mom on and I'll post the results if anyone is interested..

George
 
Hello, water is your worst enemy in road building. You must keep any standing water diverted from near your road bed. The water will pump up into the road bed from several inches down.
In Florida for a base we use clay, called marl locally and mix it with the sand. Usually 1/2 & 1/2 . Then it is wet  slightly and compacted. I think it had to be able to support 40psi. That was the first 6 inches of road bed. Then you had to apply the base layer, another 6 inches. This could be soil cement or crushed limestone finely ground. this had to moistened to a predetermined % and compacted. Do not remember the load bearing psi required for it. Finally this was capped with 1 inch of asphalt paving. The specs I have mentioned are for county roads not state. State specs. are much more stringent.
The last road I installed in a project was capped with 6 inches of concrete. Each load of concrete had to have a very high crush factor to pass. If I remember correctly the first crush after 12 hours cure had sustain at least 48psi. I          discovered that concrete must cure 28 days for max strength. It must be kept damp during this time.
Again, I would emphasize drainage. You must keep the water away from the road bed. That the reason rail beds are elevated so high.
We also use a mix of shell and clay for private roads. Once compacted they tend to hold up very well unless it gets wet. You must use a good quality clay also.
Jerry
 
While compacted DG is good for walk paths and light loads, I wouldn't use it for something as heavy as an RV. As Jerrygroah pointed out water is your worst enemy and water below grade will rise as compressive loads are applied to the top, much like water in concrete rises when it's vibrated. This will turn dg to saturated dg (wet sand). I spent 10 years doing soil and compaction testing for a geotechnical  engineering firm, and in my opinion, the best thing to use would be compacted 3/4" aggregate base. It has enough fines in it to bind together, but is still porous enough to drain water, and it has the strength of rock. What would be even better is using the AB and mix in a little dry cement before moisture conditioning and compacting.
 
Water Dog said:
While compacted DG is good for walk paths and light loads, I wouldn't use it for something as heavy as an RV. As Jerrygroah pointed out water is your worst enemy and water below grade will rise as compressive loads are applied to the top, much like water in concrete rises when it's vibrated. This will turn dg to saturated dg (wet sand). I spent 10 years doing soil and compaction testing for a geotechnical  engineering firm, and in my opinion, the best thing to use would be compacted 3/4" aggregate base. It has enough fines in it to bind together, but is still porous enough to drain water, and it has the strength of rock. What would be even better is using the AB and mix in a little dry cement before moisture conditioning and compacting.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I even found a calculator to determine how much of this I will need. http://www.csgnetwork.com/aggregatecalc.html
Now I just need to find a vendor for it in NE Texas.  You think I only need 3/4" on my current base of rock & clay?
 
Heglmeier said:
Thanks, I even found a calculator to determine how much of this I will need. http://www.csgnetwork.com/aggregatecalc.html
Now I just need to find a vendor for it in NE Texas.  You think I only need 3/4" on my current base of rock & clay?
Click to expand...

No, 3/4" wouldn't be enough. 3/4" is the size of rock in the AB (actually 3/4 minus) If you have a good base of crushed rock down, you could probably get by with 4 inches. As n2snow2 mentioned, they do make a product called recycled AB which is made of ground up asphalt, concrete, and rock, and that would also be a good choice at lesser cost.
 
I posted a road job I did earlier this year in another thread.
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=55492.0
A friend of ours moved to Montana and purchased 66 acres of timberland, and used the 2000' logging road as a driveway. It was not good.
I ended up taking a new path, stumping and clearing it.
The key to a good road is drainage. If you can get grade at all, dig some decent ditches and take the water away. I know that is not always possible.
If the material is good enough, you can cut a ditch on either side and use that material to elevate the road bed above the surrounding terrain. Every little bit helps.
The winter water will ooze out the sides of your elevated grade, getting drier before all the surrounding ground.
In the Montana road, I did mostly a single pitch grade with 2% slope to one ditch. It would be like one lane of a typical paved road, 12' wide. 12' is not too easy to build a crown on, you need more like 14~16' for that with a dozer.
 
Anywhere I built driveways or roads over clay, I'd use a geotech fabric like Mirafi. Otherwise, you sometimes can add material and compact forever but never get a stable base.
 
s2kskibum said:
Anywhere I built driveways or roads over clay, I'd use a geotech fabric like Mirafi. Otherwise, you sometimes can add material and compact forever but never get a stable base.
Click to expand...

Great thanks, I did a search for it and the site recommended WinFab 315W for my application.  So I will definitely put that down first.  That should save me from having to keep putting more AB down every five years or so.
 
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