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Improve the Drainage of Your Gravel Driveway by Vicky Smith
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Improve the Drainage of Your Gravel Driveway |
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Business
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A gravel driveway looks good, although if you have drainage problems, it won’t look quite as appealing as it might otherwise. Where you have drainage problems on the gravel driveway, they need to be fixed. It’s a lengthy process that involves a great deal of work, but is worthwhile in the end. Follow the steps below to make your gravel driveway drain more effectively. Step 1 - Removing Gravel Regardless of what you’re going to do to improve the drainage on the gravel driveway, your first step is to remove the gravel. Shovel off as much as possible, putting it on the front yard or close to the driveway so it will be easy to replace. Finish by raking off the rest until you’re all the way down to bare earth. Step 2 - Crown With a level check how level your driveway is. Lay the level across the driveway to check. You need to raise the crown at the center of the driveway. This will encourage the water to run off to the sides. Bring dirt in for this, making sure the slope on each side is even. Tamp the dirt down firmly and then put the gravel back in place, keeping an even layer. You should make sure there’s a 6 inch layer of sand gravel on top of the dirt. Step 3 - Drains Now you’re improve the drainage to the sides of the gravel driveway, you need something to take the water away. Digging trenches and installing drains will do this. You’ll need to dig down 18 inches and make sure the trench slopes slightly along its length to carry off the water. Put a 4-inch layer of gravel at the bottom, and then add plastic piping. Before laying the pipe, drill holes in it to absorb the water. Cover with another 6 inches of pebble and then put dirt on top, tamping it down firmly. Step 4 - Pavers There's another way to help with the drainage of the peculiar stone driveways and that’s using porous pavers. As the name implies, these are pavers that sir under the gravel driveway, but allow the water to drain through easily into the ground. After you’ve remove the gravel from the driveway, dig down another 6 inches and make sure the driveway is level across its width. You should ideally have a slope along the length of the driveway. Ideally this will be away from the house, but this isn’t always possible. Tamp down the earth lightly and then install the pavers over the entire driveway. These will be strong enough to take the weight of vehicles when covered with gravel. You only need to set these pavers loosely in place; there’s no need to mortar in place, and don’t pack them too tightly. Return the gravel to the driveway, but give a depth of around 7 inches on top of the pavers, taking care to ensure that it’s level across the driveway. Tamp down lightly as you go to be certain you distribute the weight evenly.
Related Articles -
gravel, pebble,
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