The neighbor lady has a gravel drive that washes out badly due to the grade. She is considering going to tar and chip and is getting a quote Monday. Any input on considerations, questions she should ask, etc are appreciated.

It’s gonna be expensive I’d go with blading the gravel and smoothing things up and use used motor oil on it if you can get by doin that some states you can’t pour it on drives

Seal coat is what your referring too.i was a road commissioner for awhile. Before we sealcoated we would put new gravel down grade and roll it with big commercial roller to pack the gravel hard.at the very least grade it get a crown on it so the water will run off.normally I would re-seal it the next year and then they recommend every 3 to 5 years of course this is on roads that have heavier and more traffic then a personal driveway.

Tar and chip will only take care of the surface. If it is washing out now, it will still cause problems. Sounds like there needs to be some tile placed where the low areas are so it can go under.

They make a heavy duty plastic that is like honey comb. You put it down and fill it in. Keeps the gravel from washing away. They're called erosion control mats.

I think your neighbor should look into asphalt milling pavement. When road work is done, they often grind the top flat to level it and to prepare the surface for better adhesion of the new asphalt. Those grinding are cheap to buy and are a mix of mostly asphalt and small gravel, ground to a small size.

Those grindings make excellent driveways once laid down and compacted multiple times, especially if a small amount of tar is added.

Many of my neighbors, who have steep driveways, with a lot of water flow across them, have asphalt milling pavement.

Keith

I would put in French drainage ditches to capture the water before it gets on the road,,, and a crown and or slope as needed on the driveway.
If she has a good base,,,, I like 3/4 minuses gravel for topping.

She should solve the water issue before spending money on the driveway

Think you guys are missing the point.theres so much of a slope on the driveway it's running down the driveway washing the gravel off.trying to solve the problem with seal coat.

Exactly. The drive goes uphill from the road and turns 90 degrees to a flat parking area at the house. The hill continues for a short distance beyond the house. The parking area at the house is OK as is the very upper part of the drive. The land is slightly higher on one side of the drive than the other. Water runs down from the hillside above, across the drive to the lower side, and then down that side of the drive to the road. Because it has washed the gravel away, the water can't escape to the yard on the lower side of the drive.

are there ditches on the sides of the driveway to catch and direct the runoff...

They need better ditches, water shouldn’t run down a road, only from the centerline to the ditch. Some major shaping and water management first. Look up how they do it on gravel roads in the mountains.

Then she is stupid and should waste her money,,,, you can not solve drainage issues with top dressing…
French drain on the water intrusion side and crown and slope on the drivable surface…….

Party on ,,,……

No Vinke, stupid would be spending the money to have a seal coat done without asking questions about whether it would solve the problem.



No ditches

Sounds like some people on here don't understand what water does on a steep grade. I would consider the geocell gravel grid mats, but I think they can be slippery at times. Whether the chip seal will help depends on the length of the driveway. If it is really short, maybe.
Long driveway, you might think about some small diagonal water bar ditches to run the water to the side.

What I would do is get a cat or skidloader and take the side of the driveway that is higher then the driveway and shape it so the water stays on that side of the driveway and put a ditch for the water to travel down.then she could seal coat it.if she sealcoats without doing that the water will eventually eat away at the driveway and undermine the sealcoat.