Ultimate Test for Geocell Driveway: Heavy Snow + Delivery Trucks
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- Unexpectedly, we had the opportunity to test out our newly installed gravel driveway along with the geocell underlayment. Very wet and soft driveway conditions (due to recent heavy snow) created the ultimate test of the geocell grid system.
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I used to live on a dirt road for 10 years. You will be constantly maintaining your road for years to come but, as for DIY good job. Creating ditches and a crown will really help and renting a small roller and rolling it would really help. You've got some more work to do but you've got a super start happening.
Thanks for the tips!
I used to build residential roads, I would look into renting a small vibration drum roller, a plate tamper would take forever!
But as a side note, if you keep driving on it with the tractor it will pack down, just make sure it’s wet when you do it. Wet gravel will pack far better than dry! (Like you couldn’t make a sandcastle with dry sand)
Thank you for the tips. We are still waiting for rain 1 month later!
I've had to use a plate compactor for a 150' driveway. not terrible, but this driveway is really to long for a plate.
when I had a similar situation on our 2000' driveway that had been neglected for years I put 2 to 3 inch "sharp stone" in the really soft places, then capped with three layers of gravel. Two layers of 2" asphalt grindings (really cheap - about $8 a ton) , with the upper layer again "sharp stone" (fractured stone so it is not rounded - it locks together). The asphalt grindings pack very well because they are still a tiny bit soft or plyable. They are not a great top layer - but they are great as an underlayment.
On each layer of gravel, when the last load was being delivered I tipped the driver $100 to drive in, turn around and drive out, then come back in about five times, trying to shift over and cover the entire width. Since he did this BEFORE dropping the load it was about a 30 ton total weight. That packed the driveway far better than I ever could have with my tractor.
2000 feet wow! Nice touch getting the driver to pack it. Reminds me of the time I paid the gas company to dig an additional trench for our electrical line, $200 was worth the 20 minutes it took him; while it would have taken us the entire day with our tractor to do the job.
That geocell that you installed on the hill did its job. Now that you've had some heavy trucks drive over, it's well packed. A little clean up work to smooth out the ridges in the gravel and you'll be all set.
Thanks for the tips!
We always put similar product with small gravel (3/8) and the fines (limestone dust) not filtered out in our pastures. The first winter it does this. Smooth it back out BEFORE it dries out and more as needed next spring. By summer you will have concrete..
Great to know! thanks for sharing your experience with it.
just a thought. i would jack up the storage box, and put 4x4's under the front, middle, and back. that way air can get under there, and the bottom of it won't rust over the years.
It's a rental; not planning on keeping it for years.
@@ColoradoMountainLiving when i watched today's video, i realized that. it sure did hold a lot of stuff
Best advice someone told me is, get as much stone on your driveway as you can afford. Thumbs up !
Truth!
You outlived Pure Living for Life Good Job....Excellent building video...
Wow, thank you
I'm impressed and with a drainage ditch it be even better. I have a concrete drainage ditch but mud blocks it in multiple places.
Yes, I think we'll keep adding rocks to the side and create a ditch drain off of sorts.
The centre of the road needs to crowned.Higher in the centre so the water can shed off to either side.Your plow needs to have shoes so you leave one of two inches of packed snow so you don’t plowing the gravel off.Ditching is very important.
Thanks!
The traffic after the moisture will pack and be solid as heck nice job
YASS! Hope so!
Hello,this is wayne from China. We produced and sold geocell to USA usually.
Thank you
3:03 wow lol, yeah after that walk a few times I'm sure you were very ready for this project! :-) thanks for sharing
You bet! Thanks!
This problem could apply to me, because the future house is up a hill too. So this helps in my future planning.
Oh good; hope it's helpful!
Once you have you base pressed in, it still takes a couple of yearly gravel dumps to get what you want.
yes i'd like to put a bit of less dusty gravel on it to keep the mud/tracking down on the inside.
We’ve not seen that geo cell used before. Glad to see how well it’s holding up! See you next time!
That's great! thanks
The driveway looks like it held up real good. Stay safe
Yes, glad it's not a big mess.
Good evaluation and assessment... great opportunity to see how everything performed.
Thanks! We were pleased with the out come.
Great video. thanks for the info. I am going to look into this for my steep driveway. Luckily I have a deep rock base and not mud like yours
Glad it was helpful! We had rock brought in as well;, but the spring was just crazy.
Very good video!!!
Road looks awesome.
I was looking into the geogrid for hillside erosion control, that project is next on my list. You made it look pretty easy. Congratulations on your driveway.
Go for it! Thanks so much.
Drainage ditches and a crown in the road will prevent the gravel and your money from going in the ditch.
Thanks, yes we are workign on the ditch.
i realize it's quite randomly asking but does anybody know a good place to watch newly released tv shows online ?
After laying down and filling the geocell, it is necessary to compact it. Either with a roller or a vibrator. also when laying the geocell you will get much more utility if a nonwoven geofabric underlayment is laid first.
Gotcha! We do have geofabric underneath the original drive.
You should have had the driver spread the gravel for you. It doesn’t add cost and it’s easier to move around than a pile. That corner will fight you forever, but grading the road for drainage will make a huge difference. 1 1/2 crushed rock through that corner as a base then cover with the same gravel you had delivered. Then wheel roll it really good with your tractor. It’s an ongoing process and yearly maintenance will keep it in good shape. Good luck with the mini on that road, looks more like a Subaru kind of area.
Thanks, the Mini is sold and have a Jeep now, so along with some regular drive maintenance, we should be all set!
Enjoy watching your video
Thanks so much
If you mount skid plates on the bottom of your tractor it'll leave a little snow but not damage the gravel. Plow trucks use them for gravel driveways and parking lots. You might have to modify them for your tractor but it shouldn't be too hard. Good luck.
Thanks for the tip
You can rent a plate compactor to get the gravel packed in.
Or we'll keep driving on it with the tractor for now. it works pretty well.
Lady, I'm just a farm boy but the first thing I see is what sort of soil did you carve your drive out of ? Western forest soils tend to lack clay as a natural binder. Did your contractor cut grades and profiles to address surface and subsoil water migration ? FWIW a road's "load capacity" is determined by its ability to float rolling loads and impacts. The heavier the anticipated loads the larger the base aggregate must be combined with some sort of quarry process binder/stabilizer. Roads " fail up " i.e. any substrate soft spot is reflected in the surface you see. I see a lot of them ( potholes/puddles) ) in your drive. You need to address drainage ( lateral and cross) to prevent casual and precipitation moisture from destroying your surface. A strong road is a matrix of load-bearing ( large) stones mixed with binding aggregates ( smaller rough gravels and screenings ) compacted into a stable whole by their ionic bonds and some moisture . Too much water OTOH is a lubricant destroyng the ionic bonds holding your road together . IOW to make a road, drain, drain, and drain . And check with your stone supplier and/or municipat engineer about the ionic charge of local stone supplies . Road building ain't easy, nor cheap but it is rewarding !
Thanks for the info! Our driveway contractor did scrape off the topsoil and added large rock base and geo cloth before gravel.
Just remember, no scraping where the top of the Geocell is showing. ADD to cover not move around. Once you have some build up over the top of the Geocell, you can carefully run a blade over it to smooth, but you do not want to hook or tear it. Roller is good. Tracking it in with treads or tires is good, but no scraping. Dragging a finish screen over the area is even dangerous when the tops of the cells are showing. Finish screening is fine if you have an inch or more of loose on top of the cells. Good luck. One season of summer sun and that will set up rock hard and be much better next year also, so keep it up this year and then bake it next summer and your maintenance will drop to nearly nothing. You still need to work problem areas but it will be very minor compared to now. Awesome products and your gravel guy knows his stuff.
Thanks for the detailed tip!! Very helpful. will do.
Thanx for the tips.....stay safe my Colorado friend!..💜💕 👣
Thank you, I will
You seem to know a lot about driveways. I am still learning about them. It does look nice though at the end.
Thanks 👍
you need a drainage ditch on the hill side of the driveway.................
Just driving with one tire of the tractor off the edge of the geocell would depress things enough to cut its own ditch over time. When things are this soft and muddy is the time to think of such things. Make it easy and let nature do the work. Do it now and by spring you will be looking for rocks to throw in it to break up the flow and stop erosion. Just watch it does not undercut the geocell mat you are creating with the gravel. Use rocks where needed to stop undercutting. If possible stay a foot or more away from the geocell. Easier now when you remember where exactly it is.
Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for all the tips! We've a nice streak of dry and sunny weather ahead!
I'm thinking steam roller ... both hot and heavy...Yay! 🤣🤣🤣
Love it!!
Big rock, 70 mil - first for the base 200 mil thick. Then follow with 150 mil layer of road base, roll in, job done.
Nice!
I’m a Civil Engineer and I love the geo cell! Only thing missing from your installation was compacting the gravel, I think that could have avoided some of the rutting that occurred. I’m actually very impressed with how well it held up given it was only raked in place and driven on with the tractor and vehicles.
I was also worried about drainage, but the rain storm and the snow seem to show that you’re probably okay there. The road is probably going to get wet and mucky in some places, but it seems to be MUCH better than it was (a Mini Cooper??). A load or two in the spring to fix the soft spots and your probably done for 10-15 years. Other than maintenance of a pickup truck full or two each year.
Was glad to see y’all got a geocell with holes in the side wallls, that’s going to allow water to flow through rather than build up in the grids and cause more issues.
Good luck and please post a video in the spring during and after the snow melt. I want to see how it holds up!
Good point. We would have been more thorough with that but we had a vacation planned and an unplanned snowstorm that pretty much messed up our great plan to finalize the drive. But still, we are waiting for rain to really solidify the job.
If you are adding more gravel to the base, shouldn't the truck driver be able to lock his tale gate on truck and drop gravel in place for you?
I wondered why this wasn't done initially on first drops....seen it down on highways all the time....
Haven't seen it mentioned here or an another site where house building is on hill up steep road like yours?
Drop spread would have been the way to go and saved these nice people a days worth of work. Who knows, I'm sure it was never offered to them and the trick drive may not even know what the hell he's doing.
@@sonicblue6778 Drop spreading on a Highway is fine when you have a predictable run . Thats not happening on a hilly twisty drive where one shift to one side will torque the box of the frame .
Also we want to avoid driving on it; and because we still have to go to work and work on gravel projects in our free time; it's better to put it to the side and spread it when we are ready instead of driving all over it in humps.
It's called tailgating, and it has it time n place. This is road uneven, inclined, and soft spots.
Hey nice hat! Have you run the Royal gorge yet? I spent some of my childhood in Salida CO and my dad was a guide on the river runs and my mom was a horseback guide. Summers were great. In the winter my mom worked at Monarch resort , that's where i spent the weekends during the winter. Driveway looks solid, that geocell works wonders. That road base you put over the top of it will set up like concrete once everything dries out.
Not yet! Heard it's great! We're having great luck so far with the drive this winter.
Curious this idea might help you if you don’t have a heavy duty roller you can weld to 500 gallon oil drums together filled in with gravel make up a frame attach it to your tractor and roll them on your corner after packing up with more gravel I’ve done this in the past and works a Treat
Cool idea.That might be good for future maintenance. For now, (as in today) We're going with the most practical, least costly, which is driving the tractor up and down it all over; the middle; the edges, etc.
I would widen the geo cell on the corners for turning push off
Maybe we'll add more...
We had a metal square with handles that we could "stomp" our drive..
oh we have one of those. but our drive is 700 ft long. tired arms!
C'est magnifique chez vous mais là neiges c'est pour tous mais j'aime vous regarder vous êtes formidable j'admire votre berger ce sont des chiens formidable bravo à vous je vous admire 🤗😊😚🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷bisous de France
Thanks!
You need to use a plate compactor
Find or hire some one with 20 wheeler or compactor after you do the fix ups the tighter yo can get it the better
wonder if there are any up here in the mountains?
Colorado Mountain Living check around for a construction rental yard or a contractor who does Civil work (dirt or road)
.The gravel needs to be level with the top of the geo cell. In the areas where it’s level is rock hard, areas where it’s too deep is soft.
Thanks!
Like you said may have been a good thing you had the big storm when you did.
I think so, blessing in disguise
deeper and wider water drainage ditch should eliminate the wet spots in your driveway.
Thanks! We added some in a later video
Why on earth didn't you do a deal with the gravel supplier to tailgate-spread the gravel on delivery? Would have made SO much sense!
Because we wanted to do the job at a specific time- when Bryan is not working his hospital job. We didn't want to have to deal with spread out gravel all week long that we are having to drive over and compact to use the drive. It's 10x harder to get the gravel where you want it after you've already been driving all over it.
Issue with that crusher mix is there is not much to bind it together. You say it will be be hard when it's dry, well everything is hard when it's dry. All roads and driveways are usually built with class 5. It has the clay in it to bind the aggregate together. Typically a foot of class 5 will hold about anything...,...... Within reason
Cool. thanks for the tip!
Awesome
thanks
Think about renting a small roller to pack it with wet it will pack like the trucks did
we could look into that. Or just give the tractor a run for it's money lol.
tractor is ok but it's not ready made for packing @@ColoradoMountainLiving
You're welcome
thanks
so how did this stand up to snow plowing over the winters I have a gravel drive way and my plow removes too much gravel in the winter
Great question! We tend to blow snow (using the tractor) than plow. If we do any plowing, we keep it a good few inches off the ground. We will scrape in the spring when the ice builds up, but geocell is fine.
Try to find a neighbor with a roller/compactor. Let them drive it up and down the driveway a few times.
That would be great
Asphalt grindings work good for driveways.
Our neighbor has that. Might be nice to keep the dust control down as a final coat.
Run a French drain down the middle of your driveway to keep it dried out
yeah , i think we'll work on the drainage some more.
I think you'll be fine.
thanks!
I have been looking for alternitives for my driveway. Concrete or asphalt are too expensive. I had never heard of this product. I live in NE Tennessee and the rains and snows wreak havoc on my driveway. Every time it comes a hard rain, hundreds of dollars of crusher run gravel washes away. It is too rocky on either side of my driveway to dig a ditch. I will consider this product.....Great Job!!! Keep us posted. BTW..I love my Kioti Tractor...How well has yours been doing?
Glad to help. Hope it works out for you. We were very pleased with how well the packed and solidified product held up under snow and heavy truck loads. we have got our money's worth out of our tractor for sure. Use it for everything!
@@ColoradoMountainLiving With all the investment of the geocell, would concrete have been cheaper?
Just the weight of a regular truck or car.... or your tractor or even your dump truck deliveries.... you need to maybe rent or hire someone who has a roller compactor and really compact the stone in... then it won’t be disturbed and have to spend too much more money on more gravel that would fall in the ditch....
well about 5 months later and it's pretty well packed! We'll see how it handles the spring thaw in May
You this must have not gotten your driveway packed at all. I build driveways (mostly gravel rarely roadsurface) and i never have that kind of problem. I build on mountain sides and only have had to fix one washout in the last 3 years
We didn't have time to pack it before the snow hit.
@@ColoradoMountainLiving i know the feeling, but yea we always pack the ground then we pack our basecourse twice then we pack our gravel twice. That usually does the job very well
Seems like a very inexpensive way to build a driveway. 500 bucks worth a geotech no sub base and do your finish rock. However from our standpoint doing it for a living. We'd start with 3" cut rock and go down in size from there. Have the dump truck spread it flatten it out with a track loader. All done in A-day. But not cheap.
when we had our driveway initially installed by a professional , cut rock and fabric were used to stabilize it before the gravel was added. You are correct, it was not cheap.
I love mud season...
hahah. not everyone is so lucky to have one
That geocell material looks promising for my steep mountainside driveway in Tennessee... where can I find this and what was your gravel mixture? This might be a fantastic solution for my slippery slopes! Thank you and your husband for sharing this! However, I’m wondering if a tractor with a track would be more reliable than one with tires ??? Your thoughts please....
In the description there is an amazon link to a similar geo grid product; or you may google geocell if you want the exact same brand. the tractor tires are pretty sturdy; we put chains on them in the winter and it works great. Tracks would be much harder to turn around on the tractor.
Colorado Mountain Living , thank you! I did not realize that about tracks verses tires.
Was there any why you could of rented one of then rolling things to press your driveway at all? back when you put it in?
Not sure that the county rents out their equipment for people with CDLs. Any other choice would have been a rental that's over an hour drive away.
Vibratory roller will fix all that.
Yes, that's what we use on drives and parking lots!
That would create problems on the hill with the geocell. Time is a better solution for this area. The vibrations would actually make the geocell try to slide instead of bedding into place at this point. If those gravel trucks did not move it, it will settle just fine from normal driving Adding thin layers of gravel of about an inch at a time over the year and tracking them in will create a strong, rock hard mat that won't move in any season. You are correct for horizontal areas with or without Geocell, but hills with geocell would just unseat it and cause slides in the material.
Interesting to know. We are compacting with the tractor for now; it's working well.
Did you consider geotextile instead of (or in addition to) geocell to add bearing strength?
Geotextile was used on the original driveway install.
What inch depth did you use? Hey great video btw! Looking into getting this
was the 2 inch- good luck- it's not too hard!
Wasn’t that shipping container drivers first rodeo
NOPE! He was a rockstar.
The problem is you drive a car that doesn't belong in that country...
Sold that car. But it's ideal for the paved mountain roads, dirt roads, not so much.
Hi guys I'm new to your channel and looking forward to seeing how things progress. I'm watching from over her in Leeds, uk. I've had my own renovation company here for over 25 years so I'd like to think I'm full of helpful ideas, however one thing I am concerned about is that you said you had someone to come in and do the base with of your drive, and I can tell you now, of they did it correctly you shouldn't be feeling that soft underfoot for the most part and a lot of that water and melting snow should be increasing through the base layer! I know the seasons can be harsh there, and that you may think I don't understand that. But we also have a home in coachman's cove in Newfoundland, that is pretty much in the middle of nowhere so I have some idea of how it should work 😅. I just don't like the thought that you paid someone and they may have not done the job correctly and I bet it cost a few bucks. Anyhoow, of it keeps happening and you keep getting big wet patches that didn't Soak away, you may need to lay some base of 4inch to dust, crusher run, if you install at least 4-6 inches on the main parts that water isn't draining (as it will be to costly to do it all) especially if you have already paid for it doing once. That will definitely do the trick. It may do you just to contact the guy who originally did your base and ask how much road base of crusher run he did use. Sorry for the novel 😂 but hope this helps you guys. Love the vids and look forward to keep on watching. Stay safe guys, n good luck with the rest of the work
Where the largest rocks were brought in for the base was the bottom section of the drive, where the water content is highest in spring; and that has held up remarkably well over the past 3-4 years. Other sections the geo cloth was used and road base, but the bottom line, we need to improve drainage, water run off. the guy who did the job is our neighbor, so that should be easy. Thanks for the tips!!
Just spread the middle into the ruts n smooth it out.
awesome thank you!
What gtavel did you end up using?
Our supplier called it "premium crusher mix".
Get more rock on your driveway. It will just get better!
We've got more coming
hate to say it but that gravel is way to small for a base , woulda used 3" rock first and after it sank topped it with 3/4 inch gravel , that being said your gravel will sink ,just farther and faster taking more , i have a 300' long flat level driveway with clay underneath that is well established , i need to add a couple 15 ton loads every other year to maintain it , after 35 years it still sinks, also the worse the winter the more the driveway sinks , because it stays wet longer in spring .
there's 2 ways to go about your driveway's future , stay off it as much as possible when wet , or drive on it as much as possible when wet and keep adding rock until the base firms up , your lifestyle will decide which ways best for you .
Thanks for all the tips. We did have road base rock brought in 3 years ago, but like you said, it could all sink. I guess we will find out how much next spring.
How much was the Geo cell
EAch section was $100 for the 2 inch thick piece.
is it just me? why did she plow away the stone knowing it was there?!?? WTF???
It doesn't happen like that
Well done Brain for a good job on the laying the Geo-cell , it is very hard work but very rewarding ( The Geo-cell withstand two trucks ( 15 to 20 tones in weight and 30feet in length and 12 to 15 feet wide ) I would say it has pass it test just maintenance on corners with Gravel .
I hope your back is ok after the hard work just get the wife to rub some of that honey into your back .
Yes indeed!
You should’ve got a bigger diameter rock, that’s to small
What will happen with small rock?
You need a Road Compactor
th-cam.com/video/k6EuuYrTdTo/w-d-xo.html
Run it over the gravel few times, that should do the trick
Maybe we'll rent one when we order our fresh gravel next year.
Got hat no cat said it! That driveway isn’t graded correctly and unless it is you will be having the same problem over and over.
I guess we'll find out this spring
Probably better getting your 4x4. Vehicle. Lol. No Mini Cooper in Colorado.
Only in summer time, it really is the best vehicle to ride the paved, curvy mountain roads.
What are the gun laws in Colorado
look em up!
@@ColoradoMountainLiving I did. Was thinking of moving out that way I'm big on hunting/fishing and off roading I'll need to do more research
5 inches =heavy snow.... what a snowflake
You've missed the point. It was 2 days of constant snow on warmed summer ground, so what was leftover was 5 inches. the rest of the stuff was absorbed into the drive, creating the mess.
WHAT A WASTE I SEE 🙉🙈 ALL THE POT HOLES IN MUDDY DRIVEWAY PLEASE!!! BIGGER STONE 😭 TO SMALL stone .next to dirt !!!
We're not done just yet!
Good update, what I can see is you need a Jeep and need to keep hair out of your face...
You got that right! I'm glad the wind didn't ruin the video. it as at least 20-30mph that day .