Best rock type for parking area?

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
I am going to be cleaning out my side yard and making a parking spot for one of my cars. My wide yard has only been a catchall for trash and scrap for the last 6 years, every few years I haul off a load and start fresh. :lol:

Well, trying to cut done on some monthly fees to save some cash, and my wife is not happy with the way I maintain my junkpile. :lol: So I talked to her this morning and I am going to clean out the pile and make a parking spot for one of my cars so I can get rid of my storage space.

I'm trying to figure out what type of gravel is best to park this one in. I had pea gravel for a parking space at my old house and I hated it. Never packed right and everything would sink into it.

The spot will be about 15x10 and I'll either be parking my 86 S-10 Blazer or my 98 TA on it depending on what I'm working on in the garage. S-10 I'm not worried about too much, the TA is lowered with low profile tires with a 6-spd. I'd hate to bury it in it's parking space. :lol:
 
A good base of crush and run first. Depth depends on how solid the spot is. Pack that down with something with a really wide tire. Then my preference is to add a different stone to the top for looks. Some number 2 washed rock, or, if it's available where you are. Some recycled crushed brick. I have seen this around here from where they have torn down some big buildings and it looks great on a driveway.
 
Growing up in the country and working farms I used to get a new shovel every year for my birthday!:lol:

Heres what has worked well for me over the years...
If you dont prep the spot by compressing it first, any stone you put on it is pretty useless. The last spot I did was to park my boat. I ran over the area in a pattern a bunch of times with the 5,000 lb Tahoe. (As wet as it is now, you will have to wait a while). Then used a layer of 3/4" crusher run stone (Which is the stone with all the grinds in it) for a base. Compress that layer in as well. Then top it off with 1/2 to 3/8 crusher run. It fills in and packs down everything. If you compress this layer and dont have a lot of drainage issues, it will be there a long time.

On a side note, Kill the grass completely out ahead of time.
 
This may help when you pick your material at the quarry,
 

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So crush and run, pack it down hard, think maybe 2-3"? Then lay down 1-2" of #2 washed stone? What's the difference in #2 and #5? I looked at a few websites in the area and they sell #5 but no #2.

Any idea how much I would need for a 15x10 area?
 
#2 is huge stuff. If anything, you put the #2 down first, then ABC over that... not ABC first. Or 57 w/ABC over. ABC will track on your shoes, but once its in place and compressed, it won't move around. Anything without fines in it (57, 2, any washed stone) will move forever. Not a big deal, but you'll have to take a rake to it or fill it once in a while.
 
I don't mind having to rake it or fill it every now and then. It really won't be a heavily used area, I'm not parking a daily driver on it or anything. Mostly a storage parking spot.

What if I just pack it down and then put like 3" of 57 down? Would keep my from having to buy two different types of stone.
 
probably pricier, but do the base like said above then go down with crushed slate. helped in-laws do this 3 years ago and it flattened out nice, is hard, and still looks as good as the day we put it down (and never any dust from it). he regularly parks a 3500 ram on it....
EDIT: now that i think about it, he just packed the dirt real good and laid the crushed slate in a 4-6" depth..... no sinking or anything.
 
on whats said above what would be the best thing to put down on an estabilished drive way that is starting to show dirt? if i had a bobcat or a box blade i could drag it again but its getting thin...
 
I've used #4 railroad ballast for my driveway and it's held up great through 3 winters and house construction. My driveway was dirt until the first winter, and then it turned into mud. I bought just enough to cover it in one layer of stone (2-3" thick). I would have bought more, but the budget didn't allow. It packed down well and has held up great. Also, no dust because there are no fines in it. When I finished the house a couple months ago, I finished out the driveway in front of the house the same way, and so far its all holding up great. If you put it down thick, it takes a lot longer to pack down. Its about 8"-1ft thick in front of my garage, and I don't know if it will ever pack down, but thats not a problem. After seeing my parents throw money away on crush and run for years, I'll never buy that stuff again.
 
The biggest thing with all this is what kind of dirt you are putting the ston on top of. make sure it is good and compacted and if it is soft material lot of clay and silt you may want to put some construction fabric down and then put your stone down. Once you got a good base you can have a nice smooth crush and run layer and it will last. My mom has a driveway that is on a slope and over the course of 30 yrs being there stone has only been added 3 times. I deal with stone drives everyday pm me if you have any more questions.
 
Man, I ventured back into that area to see how much I had to clean out before doing this.

I have my work cut out for me, I forgot how much crap I had accumulated. Parts from fixing my brother's wrecked Grand Prix, rusted out K5 doors, random metal pieces, pallets, rotors, calipers, other random junk I have no idea what it is or what it came for.

Man, this is going to take a while. :lol:
 
witchdoctor said:
remove the topsoil and put down at least 4 inches of crusher run. roll it in good to compact and most important seal it. if done right it will get as hard as concrete.
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I respect this answer, the best. If you have the means, get the topsoil off, down to hard dirt. You can roll that some with your rig, or wife's car. Depending on density, of soil, 3-4" of ABC.[years ago called crusher run] The fines do not get dusty. But crushed brick & concrete, will keep crushing into powder, & be dusty. Pack in the ABC,as best you can. For looks & to be cleaner, top with #57, or #67. Very little difference, if any. Some Quarry's sell 57/67/& 5, all from same pile. Fabric idea is good, but your getting pricey, & would need to find a contractor to sell you, a cut off his Large roll.
 
you'll probably need atleast 3 ton of gravel x $25 per ton= $75-$100 plus haul fee of min.$50 up to $80+. Total cost $125-$180.

Don't know your budget but why not just order two yards of concrete which will do 161 sq.ft. 4in. thick and you will never have to regravel that spot when it sinks in. I just called yesterday to price concrete. It's $94 per yard x2=$188 and there shouldn't be a delivery fee depending on the company.
If you don't know how to finish concrete it's no big deal just ask questions.
 
lockedup5 said:
you'll probably need atleast 3 ton of gravel x $25 per ton= $75-$100 plus haul fee of min.$50 up to $80+. Total cost $125-$180.
Don't know your budget but why not just order two yards of concrete which will do 161 sq.ft. 4in. thick and you will never have to regravel that spot when it sinks in. I just called yesterday to price concrete. It's $94 per yard x2=$188 and there shouldn't be a delivery fee depending on the company.
If you don't know how to finish concrete it's no big deal just ask questions.
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I can finish concrete, but I can't put concrete in this area. It is between my house and my fence that runs right on my property line and has a stormwater line under it. I'm not supposed to put permanent stuff like concrete pads within 5' of the property line and not supposed to put concrete over the stormwater easement.
 
Blaze said:
I can finish concrete, but I can't put concrete in this area. It is between my house and my fence that runs right on my property line and has a stormwater line under it. I'm not supposed to put permanent stuff like concrete pads within 5' of the property line and not supposed to put concrete over the stormwater easement.
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I just graveled the driveway into my barn because it was turning into a muddy mess. I also decided to gravel the inside of the barn since I dont forsee having any animals, and gravel works out a lot better for parking my junk on. The drive way is about 8 feet wide, 35 ft long from the main driveway to the doors on the barn. I used about 32 tons of rock to get a nice driveway and gravel the inside of the 24x30 barn.

Around here in East TN the gravel was 9 bucks a ton with 50$ delivery fee per truckload. It ended up at about 400 bucks, but is worth every penny to not walk in the damn mud.
 
rodney eppes said:
I respect this answer, the best. If you have the means, get the topsoil off, down to hard dirt. You can roll that some with your rig, or wife's car. Depending on density, of soil, 3-4" of ABC.[years ago called crusher run] The fines do not get dusty. But crushed brick & concrete, will keep crushing into powder, & be dusty. Pack in the ABC,as best you can. For looks & to be cleaner, top with #57, or #67. Very little difference, if any. Some Quarry's sell 57/67/& 5, all from same pile. Fabric idea is good, but your getting pricey, & would need to find a contractor to sell you, a cut off his Large roll.
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He hit the nail on the head right there. Start with ABC 3-4" and then #57 or #67 on top. Around this are the ABC is running $23.50 a ton and both 57 & 67 are running around $24 a ton. Thats through the martin marietta quarry and i just pulled it off my price sheet. Im not sure what quarry's are in your area, ive never hauled anything out that way. You could take a look at crushed concrete, its cheaper but as you keep driving on it it will keep breaking down and usually stays kinda dusty.
If you are only using it to drive on you could look into railroad ballast or class A rip rap. Upside to those are you dont have to put a base under them, but the downside is the rock is around the size of your fist so its a little rough to drive on. We use those for construction entrances. Another upside is the rock doesnt get stuck in tires like 57 or 67 do unless you are driving a dump truck over and it gets stuck between the tires lol.
 
I have been working on this area and the ground here is like 75% rock anyway, what a pain in the ass to dig new fence posts for. That being said, the ground is pretty damn hard as it is.

I got a price on 3 tons of #57 for $141 delivered. Not too bad.

I hopefully will finish my other gate (got one done) tonight or tomorrow and then I'm going to call for the rock.
 
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