Gravel driveway refreshing

[Tinbasherdan]

Our house has a fair lump of driveway, and unfortunately the weeds have taken root despite there being a weed barrier down there somewhere. Ideally I don’t want to be putting Tens of tonnes of stone in if I don’t have to.
Is there any mileage in scraping it back with a digger, down 5-10 cm, riddling it somehow and relaying it? The section that really wants doing is knocking on for 250 sq m so it’s a bloody big expense for new gravel, and the old stuff would want coming out anyways!

 

[scottmk1]

I guess it’s not too costly to do if you don’t have to hire in the machinery to do it.

My drive is a fair bit less than yours and I’m thinking about doing the same, albeit I’ll definitely need more gravel. The only thing that puts me off is it’s a pain to clear up the cuttings when I attack the hedge

 

[addjunkie]

What ever you do weeds will come through on the bits you dont drive on. You could use a riddle bucket, but youd still end up with soil falling through. I spray some of our twice a year to minimze growth. But you will never stop it.

Depending how deep the gravel is you could use a box grader.

No matter what you do, you will always need extra gravel….Road Plainings are often cheaper if they are doin* road works near you.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

I guess it’s not too costly to do if you don’t have to hire in the machinery to do it.

My drive is a fair bit less than yours and I’m thinking about doing the same, albeit I’ll definitely need more gravel. The only thing that puts me off is it’s a pain to clear up the cuttings when I attack the hedge

I can get a 7t machine in for the price of diesel, the biggest ballache would be finding a screen for hire

 

[Tinbasherdan]

What ever you do weeds will come through on the bits you dont drive on. You could use a riddle bucket, but youd still end up with soil falling through. I spray some of our twice a year to minimze growth. But you will never stop it.

Depending how deep the gravel is you could use a box grader.

It wasn’t in the rudest health when we bought it to be honest, there’s large patches of grass that’s grown through, oddly mostly on the parts that do get the most use. I think realistically the gravel wants loosening up and the big lumps of soil breaking up to be fair

 

[addjunkie]

It wasn’t in the rudest health when we bought it to be honest, there’s large patches of grass that’s grown through, oddly mostly on the parts that do get the most use. I think realistically the gravel wants loosening up and the big lumps of soil breaking up to be fair

A not so low cost option

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[Mick Annick]

I’m doing exactly this at the moment, but with a shovel, sieve and wheelbarrow, little by little I’m getting there

 

[Migmac]

I rake my gravel twice a year and spray it for weeds as and when required

 

[brightspark]

if your going to loosen it and clean it up get a jcb in lower the front bucket so the front wheels are just of the ground and run it backwards. a couple of inches will loosen going through the teeth on the bucket

 

[brightspark]

i just spray mine twice a year and rake it over then i have a diesel compactor and just go over with that

 

[angellonewolf]

i done a weed cover and gravel it was ok for a few years but the weeds do grow after a while

its the dust off the stones mixed with dirt in the rain that they grow from most of the time

 

[Agrismith]

I highly doubt you will find a cheap way of screening it. I'm presuming it's pea shingle. If so no riddle bucket will go that fine. Most screening buckets are 10mm minimum so not much use. You could speak to local grab companies and see what they would charge to collect take off site screen and bring back.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

I highly doubt you will find a cheap way of screening it. I'm presuming it's pea shingle. If so no riddle bucket will go that fine. Most screening buckets are 10mm minimum so not much use. You could speak to local grab companies and see what they would charge to collect take off site screen and bring back.

It’s not pea shingle, it’s 10-20mm gravel so a screening bucket would do

 

[Agrismith]

It’s not pea shingle, it’s 10-20mm gravel so a screening bucket would do

You would have to see what's available in your area to hire. They are not very common things and generally are a fixed size rather than interchangeable screens. And you will probably want to do a trial batch first before commiting to make sure you don't loose to much stone whilst still getting a product you want.
The other option is make your own vibrating screen. A sheet of 6mm perforated mesh hung in a frame a slight angle and a Wacker plate attached to it it would make a basic screener. Seen a few videos of it on YouTube with varying success

 

[AVI_8]

Our house has a fair lump of driveway, and unfortunately the weeds have taken root despite there being a weed barrier down there somewhere. Ideally I don’t want to be putting Tens of tonnes of stone in if I don’t have to.
Is there any mileage in scraping it back with a digger, down 5-10 cm, riddling it somehow and relaying it? The section that really wants doing is knocking on for 250 sq m so it’s a bloody big expense for new gravel, and the old stuff would want coming out anyways!

I have the same problem but with red chips, had a couple of companies out to quote me to fix it, been told by both the gravel needs to come out, area scraped back, new layer of gravel Over a layer of type1 which would be put over a new weed membrane.
Was quoted £980 for a 20 tonne tipper load of new gravel from a local quarry if I was to do it myself plus the hire costs of equipment to remove the old stuff.
It’s around 14sq metres coverage per tonne of gravel required.
I’m not sure how that would compare to paying for the labour involved in recycling what you’ve got if you were paying someone to do it as opposed to DIY.

 

[Agrismith]

I have the same problem but with red chips, had a couple of companies out to quote me to fix it, been told by both the gravel needs to come out, area scraped back, new layer of gravel Over a layer of type1 which would be put over a new weed membrane.
Was quoted £980 for a 20 tonne tipper load of new gravel from a local quarry if I was to do it myself plus the hire costs of equipment to remove the old stuff.
It’s around 14sq metres coverage per tonne of gravel required.
I’m not sure how that would compare to paying for the labour involved in recycling what you’ve got if you were paying someone to do it as opposed to DIY.

It will depend on the area.
Aggregate varies by 5x across the country depending on locality of the quarries

 

[AVI_8]

It will depend on the area.
Aggregate varies by 5x across the country depending on locality of the quarries

Yeh that makes sense, the one I mentioned was only 50 miles away.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

To be fair I’d have that bit tarmaced but that’s been given the big no

 

[gaz1]

well you could use something like this to collect all the pebbles into a trailer

as they can be fitted behind a cultivator

 

[addjunkie]

I have the same problem but with red chips, had a couple of companies out to quote me to fix it, been told by both the gravel needs to come out, area scraped back, new layer of gravel Over a layer of type1 which would be put over a new weed membrane.
Was quoted £980 for a 20 tonne tipper load of new gravel from a local quarry if I was to do it myself plus the hire costs of equipment to remove the old stuff.
It’s around 14sq metres coverage per tonne of gravel required.
I’m not sure how that would compare to paying for the labour involved in recycling what you’ve got if you were paying someone to do it as opposed to DIY.

Even replacing the lot, new membrane, then compacted type 1, then new 20mm chippings, in a few years youd have weeds again. Though manageable if you spray and pull them out every now and then.