Crushed Oyster Shell For Driveway Pro's Cons and Where to buy a large Quantity

[glhs837]

Currently I just have a gravel drive. What do they millings look like when they are in place? Like asphalt? I'm thinking maybe pea gravel might be more attractive if Oyster shells aren't possible. I'm right on the bay so looking for something kind of beauty if you know what I mean.

Beauty? Not from millings. Pavers or bricks is about all I can see being both practical and looking good. Pea gravel might look okay, but functionally I would thing it's not awesome if you walk on it at all, and the noise of it.



The surface closest to you is millings that have been down about two years now. There's that loose stuff on top, but under that is about 3 inches on compacted stuff that holds up really well. Not super attractive, however. Cheap and effective, however.

 

[Kyle]

Pea (bank run) gravel is about the worst driveway material there is. It simply won't compact and it won't "stay put"...it's constantly moving as you drive over it.

I've known several neighbors that spent thousands of hours raking that crap out of their lawn and back into the driveway.

 

[Gilligan]

I've known several neighbors that spent thousands of hours raking that crap out of their lawn and back into the driveway.

A "new" neighbor made the mistake recently. We shook our heads, knowing he was going to hate life afterward. Worst thing is...he owns a large motorcycle too...

 

[nutz]

Currently I just have a gravel drive. What do they millings look like when they are in place? Like asphalt? I'm thinking maybe pea gravel might be more attractive if Oyster shells aren't possible. I'm right on the bay so looking for something kind of beauty if you know what I mean.

the option you're probably looking for is called tar and chip. Gravel base is put in (or heavily compacted), then a layer of tar, then it's top coated with a fine gravel (usually has color options). Don't know anyone in MD. that does it, a few places in Va. but they don't come here.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

You can't beat concrete. I think everything else looks like a cheap substitute, including my asphalt driveway.

 

[mitzi]

I've known several neighbors that spent thousands of hours raking that crap out of their lawn and back into the driveway.

Also hard to walk on and you track it all in the house. It's terrible.

 

[glhs837]

You can't beat concrete. I think everything else looks like a cheap substitute, including my asphalt driveway.

Priced all three, millings, asphalt, and concrete........... concrete was going to be stupid crazy expensive. And of course, since I'm deeply embedded in the forest the trees would crack that stuff like nobodies business.

 

[Sapidus]

Lots of helpful info.

Btw my driveway is flat and about 30 yards long.


Sounds like pea gravel and oyster shells are out.

I’ll look into the tar and chip. Sounds like that could be a good option. I’ll post some pics once I finish up the work in the spring

I meant to say I was looking for something” beachy” in my earlier post not “beauty”

 

[officeguy]

For a normal driveway I would stick with crusher-run. I think it's called CR-6 and any quarry or materials place would be able to deliver it. With a mix of fines and coarse parts it compacts well but doesn't allow water to puddle.

I have a 1200ft drive that is bank run finished with a layer of millings. The millings were free as part of a local highway project. The only cost was the diesel to spread it with a tractor and a back-blade. We didn't rent a roller, just left it to traffic to compact it. Long paved driveways are a giant pain as you are forced to fix them once they start to break down. Re-crowning and compacting a gravel drive is a lot cheaper in comparison.

 

[black dog]

Look into concrete with a pea gravel finish, you order concrete that's mixed for this finish. Once leveled a retardant is sprayed on it to slow down the hardening process and you hose off the concrete with water to show the pea gravel.. it's a nice looking finish that doesn't need much maintenance, easy to shovel and plow and is cool on the bare feet in the summer.

Where I grew up tar and chip were used on the side streets in Montgomery county. What they used was a ground blue stone chips ( 1/8 to 1/4" ) spread out over a layer of hot tar that was sprayed on the road bed. It was rolled and maybe a week later the company would come back with broom tractors and pickup the loose rock.

 

[Gilligan]

Where I grew up tar and chip were used on the side streets in Montgomery county. What they used was a ground blue stone chips ( 1/8 to 1/4" ) spread out over a layer of hot tar that was sprayed on the road bed. It was rolled and maybe a week later the company would come back with broom tractors and pickup the loose rock.

St. Mary's County still uses that on some county-maintained roads, like ours on St. George's Island.

Back in my landscape/pool construction days (1970s) we did a lot of exposed pea-gravel finished concrete. Not cheap then....probably a lot more expensive now.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Look into concrete with a pea gravel finish, you order concrete that's mixed for this finish. Once leveled a retardant is sprayed on it to slow down the hardening process and you hose off the concrete with water to show the pea gravel.. it's a nice looking finish that doesn't need much maintenance, easy to shovel and plow and is cool on the bare feet in the summer.

Where I grew up tar and chip were used on the side streets in Montgomery county. What they used was a ground blue stone chips ( 1/8 to 1/4" ) spread out over a layer of hot tar that was sprayed on the road bed. It was rolled and maybe a week later the company would come back with broom tractors and pickup the loose rock.

I think this is what they call chipseal out west. It doesn't make a bad road for something lightly traveled.

 

[black dog]

I think this is what they call chipseal out west. It doesn't make a bad road for something lightly traveled.

It could be, Its popular out here on the county roads also. its a relatively cheap thin coating and they can pave a few miles a day doing it.

 

[BernieP]

It could be, Its popular out here on the county roads also. its a relatively cheap thin coating and they can pave a few miles a day doing it.

I remember that stuff from my old hood - they covered the asphalt with it to refurbish the roads in the neighborhood.
On the downside, you had to slow down on you bike taking a corner or risk picking that out of your legs and arms after you went sideways
So as a kid I didn't have fond memories of the tar and chip coating because I was a slow learner but a fast bike rider

 

[Hannibal]

For a normal driveway I would stick with crusher-run. I think it's called CR-6 and any quarry or materials place would be able to deliver it. With a mix of fines and coarse parts it compacts well but doesn't allow water to puddle.

Back to the top. It is a CR-6 (Crusher Run - Sieve 6 size). Whether or not it has enough fines in it depends on how they screen and sell it but they can answer that for you. You can ultimately have it mixed with a smaller stone / dust as well.

Another option, if available down there, is RC-6 which is essentially the same thing but instead of quarried rock, it's recycled concrete. It tends to be significantly cheaper than CR-6 if a local place has it. It's more common around big cities given the amount of concrete being demo'd and recycled. It also tends to compact well as it has a lot of fines in it.

 

[glhs837]

It could be, Its popular out here on the county roads also. its a relatively cheap thin coating and they can pave a few miles a day doing it.

And lemme tell ya, if ya crest a small bridge on your motorcycle into a turn that just that morning was pavement and got chipsealed while you were at work and they didn't leave warning signs up, you can crank the pucker factor right up to 11, man Guy at the county roads department? "Oh, yeah, we pulled the signs when we left at 430, sorry bout that".

 

[Hannibal]

Sounds like pea gravel and oyster shells are out.

Don't be scared off by the pea gravel. There are products out there that make the maintenance issue a moot point. Here's an example but you can find this stuff at various places and it's pretty cheap in the scheme of things:

http://www.coregravel.ca/core-foundations/core-gravel/

You simply lay this stuff out and dump/spread your stone out around it. Depending on the size of stone, you can use a stiff broom to spread it. It self levels into the honeycomb and is locked in. The product also serves as a weed block. We use it on finished pathways and driveways. My father put it down at his house on a pretty substantial parking pad/driveway. It's been in place for a couple of years with no issue. No issue with spreading into neighboring grass or landscaping.

I would admit that you can't plow it quite as aggressively as you would with a concrete/asphalt driveway but it would hold up better than millings under a plow. It also looks fantastic. You can use a leaf blower to blow out any collected crap that gets into the stone and should you deal with low light and moss - you can hit it with a sprayer with some bleach water and the stone looks like new.

 

[BOP]

the option you're probably looking for is called tar and chip. Gravel base is put in (or heavily compacted), then a layer of tar, then it's top coated with a fine gravel (usually has color options). Don't know anyone in MD. that does it, a few places in Va. but they don't come here.

That's the way they did some of the side roads off the side of the side roads here in CRE. I haven't seen it done that way in many years, but somebody does it. If I remember, I'll ask them who did the work.