Road Base for Driveway: 8 Step Easy Build Guide

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What Is the Best Road Base for Driveway?

Choose crushed limestone or granite and gravel with a random angular profile. They make the best road base for driveway. Important features to keep in mind when you want the best road base for driveway are:

• High Strength & Durability (Devoid of Cleavage Planes to Prevent Splitting)
• Tough & Abrasion Resistant
• Chemically Inert & Free of Foreign Matter
• Random Angular Profile & Texture to Facilitate Interlocking

Can I Use a Road Base for My Driveway?

An expensive concrete or even an asphalt driveway is not required, especially in a rural setting and where the driveway usage is low. A road base for driveway is an affordable and practical alternative.

Some typical situations where a road base for driveway may make more sense are

• Ranch or Farm: The driveway may be used regularly but primarily by hardy agricultural vehicles such as tractors or harvesters.
• Construction Sites: The driveway will be used only during the construction phase and is therefore temporary in nature. Moreover, tough construction vehicles such as dump trucks or excavators will be the main users.
• Resorts or Cottages: Quite often they are located in remote areas and the driveway is used only occasionally.

How to Build a Road Base for Driveway?

You don’t need exceptional DIY skills to build a reasonably decent road base for driveway.  However, you do need a step-by-step guide and the ability to put in some real hard work. 

Below is a simple yet effective step-by-step guide for building a great road base driveway.

STEP 1:

Mark out the location of the intended driveway by driving wooden stakes on both sides. Do this for the entire driveway; right from your home or garage, all the way up to the curb.

STEP 2:

Clear the topsoil and grass on the driveway path. You can do it manually if it is a short driveway. For a long driveway, you are better off hiring a bulldozer to clear the path. A bulldozer will do the work in a matter of a few hours.

STEP 3:

Make sure the subgrade is fairly even and firm. Use a tamping tool if required. Next lay down a geotextile fabric to cover the entire subgrade. Geotextile fabric over the subgrade:

• prevents the migration of the road base material into the subgrade, especially when the subgrade is soft due to high moisture content.
• confines the road base material and prevents them from moving sideways under compressive stress.
• facilitates drainage below the driveway by permitting water to flow down into the subgrade.

RECOMMENDED PRODUCT

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The Best Geotextile Driveway Fabric for Your Driveway & Patio Base

Geotextile driveway fabric is a supportive layer that is laid between the compacted subgrade and the sub-base aggregates to prevent the migration and loss of the aggregates in to the subgrade. It helps stabilize the ground, permit drainage and prevent weed growth.

Here is the Geotextile Driveway Fabric I recommend.

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STEP 4:

Estimate road base material required. The rule of thumb is to pour the road base material in 3 layers as under:

• Bottom Layer: Use larger rocks averaging a diameter of 6 inches.
• Middle Layer: Use mid size crushed stones averaging a diameter of 2 -3 inches. 
• Top Layer: Use small size crushed stones or gravel averaging a diameter of ½ – 1 inch. 

Multiply the driveway length with the width to get the area of the driveway in square feet. You can use the Table below for getting a quick estimate.

Road Base Material Requirement for every 100 sq. ft. of Driveway

Layer	Material	Layer Thickness (Inches)	Cubic Yards Per 100 sq. ft. of Driveway
Bottom Layer	larger rocks	6”	(100X6/12)/27 = 1.85
Middle Layer	mid size crushed stones	4”	(100X4/12)/27 = 1.24
Top Layer	small size crushed stones or gravel	2”	(100X2/12)/27 = 0.62
TOTAL		12”	3.71

STEP 5:

Schedule the road base material delivery. For long road base driveways you may need several truckloads of the material. Stagger the delivery such that

• Get the largest rocks first, followed by the mid sized stones and then the smaller stones.
• If possible use delivery trucks that can drop off the road base material gradually as it moves forward on the path. This will reduce your workload tremendously. You can rake the stones in place as the truck slowly moves forward.

STEP 6:

Lay out the larger stones on the subgrade in an interlocking fashion to form the bottom most layer of your road base driveway. This Is a manual process. Be sure to wear the right work gloves for handling the stones. You do not want to get blisters on your hands.

Once you are done laying out the stones, try and get a bulldozer to drive up and down the driveway a few times. The larger stones will get compacted and interlocked for good. If you cannot get hold of a bulldozer, use a heavy duty truck.

STEP 7:

With luck, the delivery truck will make your work easier by dropping off the mid-sized stones, in small lots, across the entire driveway. Use a rake to spread the stones uniformly. Pay special attention to the driveway edges.

STEP 8:

The final layer is made up of the smallest gravel. Request the delivery truck to drop off the gravel in small lots all across the driveway. Once again use the rake to spread it around. 

Give a profile to the top layer such that the centerline is higher than the two edges by a couple of inches. This will help in rainwater drainage. Dig an open trench drain along the two edges so that the water can ultimately find its way to the stormwater drain.

Your road base driveway is ready for use. Every few months rake the top layer to spread the gravel uniformly and in the desired profile.  You will also have to replenish the top layer every one or two years.

Bottom Line

You don’t always need an expensive & long lasting driveway at each property. Road base for driveway is an affordable & functional option for many rural or industrial settings.

In many ways the construction of road base for driveway is the same as concrete driveway base preparation. You can build a road base for driveway in 8 simple steps.

Thank you very much for reading this post. I do hope you found it informative and helpful.