I have a 40 X 80 foot area that I want to use as a turnaround/parking area. What type of gravel size and material do ya'll reccommend? Aproximate cost? Eventually I will put down asphalt over it. Thanks for any input.

 

I had a driveway put in and I think the "big" gravel that we used was #5's and then it was topped over with 3"of Crush and run....According to the man doing the work it will pack down like cement....Too early for me to tell tho....I personally wanted to use milling but that is no longer available here (milling is the ground up part of asphalt when they resurface roads....If you can get that locally THAT is the good stuff....friend has a driveway made of milling and has had no problems at all for over 3 years of constant use). Hope this helps.
Andrew

 

The 3/4" I bought for backfill behind our retaining wall was about $20/ton, buying it a ton at a time and hauling it in my truck. Slightly bigger than what you normally see on driveways around here.

I think if you buy a bit more it's cheaper on a per ton basis. Of course, then the hauling starts to go up. We bought 3 tons of sand for $15, but it cost $75 to have it hauled.

 

I work construction throughout the country and the termanology for materials varies from one region to another; be careful and know what you are ordering. We build a lot of temporary pads and roads, most of the time with road base material, i would expect you could pay somewhere around $12/ton in Louisianna with tranportation. If the area is regularly damp and wet, you may consider 2" stone. If you can get ahold of some felt or geotextile fabric to act as a barrier that would be a big plus so you dont lose all of your materail to the mud. I would definately try to get it from a quarry versus a landscaping company.

 

I buy 14 cubic yards of "driveway gravel mix" for $135.00 delivered. That is enough material for 180' long by 8' wide by 3" deep.

 

Thanks for the info. Is their any advantage using limestone rather than road gravel? The road gravel is much cheaper.

 

I like 3/4 minus

 

Limestone usually holds together better than gravel; it seems to unify where gravel will more or less spread around. Gravel will be the cheapest route and probably work fine, but Limestone is probably the best route. You need to consider how much wear and tear the area will get; ie weight, trips, etc, and determine what fits your budget best.

 

if the soil under the road base is really soft there is a material out there that LOOKS similar to this (I couldn't find a link to the real thing) I think it comes in an 8 or 12 foot wide roll, lay that down over the soil nad then dump your base on top of that. thickness of the base would depend on how soft the soil is.

 

5/8 crushed rock will compact like pavement and you can asphalt right over top of it just make sure they don't trick you into buying recycled concrete that material supply company did that to my uncle what a mess concrete slurry everywhere every time it rained.