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What grade of gravel?
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Posted by rdmiller Z9: WGB Z17 (My Page) on Wed, Aug 17, 05 at 9:49
| Question on grade of gravel for a path.
I am following directions from Better Homes & Gardens book on how to make a gravel path. 1) Lay down a covering of landscape fabric, which I'm doing. 2) 2 inches of 'construction grade' gravel. Question here: the guy at the materials yard advises me to use AB Roadgrade Gravel here. Says it will compact well. I'm worried about drainage. Any advice from experienced users/builders? Wondering if pea gravel would be better.
After this layer I will put down another of landscape fabric to keep the two gravels from mixing. Then a 2 inch layer of river rock. Need to know if the roadgrade gravel is okay.
Thanks.
Ralph |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: What grade of gravel?
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| Roadgrade gravel will be fine. It will compact tightly, and it will drain well. If it didn't drain or compact well, it wouldn't be specified as roadgrade. |
RE: What grade of gravel?
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| Thank you so much for this answer. Very reassuring. I will proceed with roadgrade gravel. |
RE: What grade of gravel?
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| Pea gravel (also called pea stone) is a fine material for applications that don't require dense compaction. Trying to compact pea gravel can be like trying to compact a bed of marbles...the shape of the aggregate, (rounded), is not conducive to stable compaction as a base material. If stone is to be used in place of a varied aggregate material it should be a 'crushed' stone material that is made up of a more angular aggregate that will bind together well when compacted. Materials that are identified as 'roadgrade' more often than not are identified as such by the construction industry for their inherent ability to be compacted to a high stable density without losing their ability to allow water to freely drain throughout the bed. Successful road construction depends largely upon the ability of the base materials under the driving surface to maintain that high density compaction while also staying dry.
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