Paving opinions

[RBailey]

I've never understood why there isn't a domestic-scale gravel-cleaning equivalent of the ballast-cleaning machines that the railways use. Surely it wouldn't be that difficult to build a powered rake that would lift, clean and re-lay the gravel - essentially a mini-tiller, with a power-harrow attachment, a blower to separate off the lighter organic matter from the stones and a receptacle for the waste. I'd gladly hire such a beast for a few days and world-wide there must be a big market?

Based on the amount of gravel we have a gravel cleaner would be good here. Alas Google didn't help

However, I did come across a post suggesting drilling lots of holes in a wheel barrow and then washing the gravel with a hose.
Not ideal as you could have a lot of waste water to manage but the concept has started my mental cogs ticking.

 

[Cubist]

I'm guessing that gravel or granite cobbles would be the only authentic original options for the age of the property, but the first has all the drawbacks listed above and the second would be eye-wateringly expensive to do properly.

I've never understood why there isn't a domestic-scale gravel-cleaning equivalent of the ballast-cleaning machines that the railways use. Surely it wouldn't be that difficult to build a powered rake that would lift, clean and re-lay the gravel - essentially a mini-tiller, with a power-harrow attachment, a blower to separate off the lighter organic matter from the stones and a receptacle for the waste. I'd gladly hire such a beast for a few days and world-wide there must be a big market?

Must admit that something similar occurred to me but I soon realised that, while its a good idea, it doesn't achieve much in terms of eliminating the lumbago.

Currently I'm preparing a proposal I can sell to the First Lady to enlarge the existing pond and install a suitable pump to fill it. My thinking is that I could hire a compact digger with scraper/plough to collect the gravel then feed it through a graded sluice connected to a pipe to the pond. Product = laundered gravel ready for spreading with the digger, larger and freshly filled pond and two dead birds using millions of stones. :evil:

Suspect I'll have to invest in a couple of bottles of a decent red if I'm to have any chance of winning the pitch to my design authority though.

 

[malcolm]

I've got half a car park and and am quite happy with the tarmac. It's practical and still has the white lines marking out parking spaces. I did replace 6m of it to blend it to the pavement and I used gravel for that. It wasn't so bad for weeds until I dropped a lot of wattle and daub on it removing the rotten timber frame. It's quite bad now.

Brick or cobble sett edging can cheer up tarmac and other plain coverings. My boundary between the tarmac and gravel needs some tidying and I'm planning to do that in brick.

 

[a twig]

A scaled up version of this perhaps? Shovel it in yourself but it’s a start?

https://durhamgeo.com/product/gravel-washer/

 

[worms]

Suspect I'll have to invest in a couple of bottles of a decent red if I'm to have any chance of winning the pitch to my design authority though.

Drink the two bottles yourself, then you won't worry about authority!

 

[Cubist]

A scaled up version of this perhaps? Shovel it in yourself but it’s a start?

https://durhamgeo.com/product/gravel-washer/

When I checked out your link I was reminded of that odd trend a few years back to make a Fire Pit using an old stainless steel drum from a washing machine/tumble dryer.

Thinks - I could just hitch up an old washer to the back of the garden tractor.... but... I guess the spin cycle could be a bit risky. :shock:

I may need to put some more thought into this perhaps.

 

[LadyArowana]

Currently I'm preparing a proposal I can sell to the First Lady to enlarge the existing pond and install a suitable pump to fill it. My thinking is that I could hire a compact digger with scraper/plough to collect the gravel then feed it through a graded sluice connected to a pipe to the pond. Product = laundered gravel ready for spreading with the digger, larger and freshly filled pond and two dead birds using millions of stones. :evil:

Suspect I'll have to invest in a couple of bottles of a decent red if I'm to have any chance of winning the pitch to my design authority though.

That’ll just add to the problem because you’ll have to wash the gravel for the pond too :lol: But yet another excuse for a mad invention https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCqgs_L5m8s

 

[a twig]

A scaled up version of this perhaps? Shovel it in yourself but it’s a start?

https://durhamgeo.com/product/gravel-washer/

When I checked out your link I was reminded of that odd trend a few years back to make a Fire Pit using an old stainless steel drum from a washing machine/tumble dryer.

I made one of them - it was brilliant, fantastic airflow made it more effective than my old “trash can” incinerator- 4ft flames out the top, very clean burning and hardly any ash left behind

Still got it somewhere

 

[Greg.Hobson]

I have followed this thread closely.

I have a gravel drive, wide enough for a single vehicle with plenty of access space and just long enough to get a large estate car in and close the gates. It was all gravel and over the 27 years we have lived here I have added more gravel of varying sizes as the need arose.

This year I decided that the onslaught of nature as decsribed in the thread above was winning, so I changed the design and introduced 2 tracks each c.2 foot wide and about the same apart with reconstituted (I think) sandstone blocks of varying thickness,with smooth edges at 140mm, on the outside edges of each. This latter detail because: a. I had the blocks, and b. I wanted to give an edge that could be felt if I placed the wheels of any vehicle on them as I reversed it on to the drive, aiding central placement of same vehicle. (I deliberately placed the rough edges facing upwards)

I dug up the gravel using a garden fork and spade to find a well-compacted soft sandstone aggregate base course. Due to the varying thickness of the large, reconstituted blocks, I had to dig out about 1 to 2 inches of this and then re-lay to accommodate each large sandstone block - which were all of varying lengths. I then filled out the rest of the c.2-foot paths with 60mm thick block paving (which I also had lying about), using the dug-up sandstone aggrgate as the base, with the same, crushed (with a hammer) to a mixed size (to c.4mm max), brushed back into the block paving

All the gravel I had dug up was then put through 3 different garden seives at 15, 10 and 5mm, with the sub-5mm grit and the well-rotted compost from 27 years of residency (with the drive overshadowd by older Paper-bark Birch and Conifer trees), becoming the residue left after the above sifting.

So far, 15mm+ Gravel, hosed down, has been used to fill the space between the 2 pathways. This was used because it is unlikely to be stood upon as it will be covered by a vehicle, and we will be out in the vehicle if it is not! This used up pretty much all the large gravel from the 6-foot+ wide workspace.

I have yet to dig out and seive the gravel that lies outside of the area covered by the 2 block/stone pathways, but I intend seiving all this the same way and re-laying the cleaned gravel back down into these areas, using a mix of the sub-15mm gravel to aid compaction and feel better underfoot.

That was my major Covid (plus Colon Cancer and Chemotherapy recovery) project. No mechanical tools have been used except for a diamond, stone cutting blade on a 115mm angle grinder (called in our house "The Butter-Knife of God") used to cut the block paving to size at the edges and ends (I used a simple herring bone pattern at right-angles to the edges). As you can surmise, it remains Work In Progress, with the pathways and central "verge" laid but the outer edges yet to be "processed". I reckon next spring and summer will be the time for that.

The comment about the well-rotted residues are correct, it is wonderful stuff for the garden and mixes well with the output from the compost bins

And finally, yes, I am retired . . .

 

[worms]

Greg, well done! That's a lot of work and you did well to be doing anything that physical during chemo! It really puts my feeble efforts to shame - I've done a bit with the raking/sieving approach, a bit with a leaf-blower and some by jetting with a hose, but after a few weeks, you wouldn't know I had even tried!