# Gravel Driveway Erosion



## dcm3030 (Sep 17, 2012)

Hi,

I am an amateur operator with little experience and believe my busted driveway could be a good project to get some more experience. This is a rental property I have been at for 3 years. The driveway has always been bad, and this year the realtor finally sent a man with a tractor and box scraper to fix it...well he smoothed it out nicely but it washed out with the first big rain. He then attempted to cut a drainage ditch on the side of the driveway to keep water off the gravel, but the ditch is higher than the driveway about halfway down, so the water runs back into the driveway, so we have ruts again. I haven't seen the man with the tractor for about 3 months so I want to propose a plan of my own to the realtor, in hopes that they will rent a piece of equipment for me to fix this on my own. I was hoping I could get some insight on this project from people who do this kind of work regularly. This is a couple shots of the driveway from the roof to give you a perspective of how it is laid out. Sorry the tree is in the way. The driveway travels uphill from the road, turns right and runs in front of the house, finally turning up to the left and around to the back of the house (not pictured).


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## dcm3030 (Sep 17, 2012)

This is the corner that turns and runs in front of the house. Little erosion occurs before this, but a lot of water is moving into this turn. I cut a small rut with a hoe to channel water into the ditch the man tried to cut. Water runs into the ditch well, but as seen in the next set of picture, runs back out onto the driveway.


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## dcm3030 (Sep 17, 2012)

This is halfway down the driveway where the water moves out of the ditch and back onto the driveway. The man who cut the ditch didn't cut it deep enough. The second pic is from the bottom looking up the driveway.


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## dcm3030 (Sep 17, 2012)

Finally, this is the bottom of the driveway. The water runs off to the left side and down under my neighbors driveway, emptying into his yard. You can see in the second pic how he actually has sediment accumulating in his yard due to the poorly designed driveway. Is it normal to run water off one's driveway into a neighbor's yard!? The man doing the work was not a contractor, just a local guy with a tractor. You can also see how the water runs across the road right in front of his drive.


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## dcm3030 (Sep 17, 2012)

I feel like it would be ideal to prevent the water from my driveway from running into the neighbor's yard at all. This would invovle grading the driveway to pitch in the other direction (to the left looking up from the road) and into the field on that side (not pictured). This would require clearing the growth on that side to make sure I could get the driveway low enough on that side. That is my initial idea, but wanted to hear other peoples ideas and see if there are other solutions. I'm acutally really excited to take this project on, but want to have a good solid plan before confronting the realtor. Thanks,

David


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## pwgsx (Jul 30, 2011)

Looks like it needs to be flowing to that pipe in the last pic, so it goes under his drive and away down the road.


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

Ayuh,.... Can the field along side the drive be used for drainage,..??

It appears in yer pictures, that insteada a long ditch carrin' All the water down the hill, creatin' a torrent,...

There oughta be a number for finger ditches, anglin' away from the driveway, but downhill, emptyin' into the field...

The problem down at the road is because of the current ditch, runnin' Straight down the hill,..


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## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

Can you bury some timbers such as railroad ties, flush with ground level, on both sides of the driveway? This would look attractive as well as reduce erosion.

The driveway itself may need better preparation. There should be at least two inches of gravel on top of at least two inches of well tamped coarse sand.

Are you the landlord looking to sell, or the tenant with an option to buy?


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## dcm3030 (Sep 17, 2012)

pwgsx said:


> Looks like it needs to be flowing to that pipe in the last pic, so it goes under his drive and away down the road.


A lot of the water does flow down into that pipe, but it doesn't go down the road, it runs under his driveway and dumps into his yard on the other side. If you look close in the last pic, you can see the dirt building up in his front yard from the driveway run off. I'd like to find an alternative that would prevent this.


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## dcm3030 (Sep 17, 2012)

Bondo said:


> Ayuh,.... Can the field along side the drive be used for drainage,..??
> 
> It appears in yer pictures, that insteada a long ditch carrin' All the water down the hill, creatin' a torrent,...
> 
> ...


Interesting, I'm trying to picture finger ditches. I had considered cutting a couple ditches across the driveway, angling to the left (when looking up from the road) to channel the water off the driveway as it came down, but decided I wanted to keep the driveway smooth.


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## dcm3030 (Sep 17, 2012)

AllanJ said:


> Can you bury some timbers such as railroad ties, flush with ground level, on both sides of the driveway? This would look attractive as well as reduce erosion.
> 
> The driveway itself may need better preparation. There should be at least two inches of gravel on top of at least two inches of well tamped coarse sand.
> 
> Are you the landlord looking to sell, or the tenant with an option to buy?


probably going to avoid using something like timbers, although I agree it would look attractive, I am suspecting bringing this project up with the realtor is going to be challenging enough without adding in the cost of timbers to do that whole driveway. They seem to be under the "do it for less" mindset. I am the tenant and while there is no option to buy right now, I hope to own the land one day. I am offering to do the work free of labor because I want the experience grading and repairing erosion. I just need them to cover the costs of equipment rental and whatever other materials I will need (sand, gravel, etc).


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

dcm3030 said:


> Interesting, I'm trying to picture finger ditches. I had considered cutting a couple ditches across the driveway, angling to the left (when looking up from the road) to channel the water off the driveway as it came down, but decided I wanted to keep the driveway smooth.


Ayuh,... My point is to grade the driveway Flat, but pitched abit to keep it somewhat dry, 'n pothole free...

You gotta think 'bout how to drain into the rough areas, Around the driveway, to divert the water, Before it becomes an unmanagable rage...

Divert the Flows,... Reduce the velocities...

The finger ditches could/ should be on both sides coming down the run to the road,...

Can't see how much higher the hedgerow is, above that side of the driveway...

30° to 45° finger ditches, with No full length by the side of the driveway ditch...


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## dcm3030 (Sep 17, 2012)

Well thanks for the advice bondo, the finger ditches are much clearer now. A heavy rain yesterday washed about a yard worth of gravel and dirt into my neighbor's yard so I called the realtor today. They are gonna send "someone" out. Hopefully we get a pro this time. I'm dissappointed I won't get to have a hand at fixing it, but will post pics of what happens. Thanks again for everyones feedback.


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