Anyone gotta Dump-bed and bobcat?? Lookin for some help/ideas

[moo.]

So I have this really long (175ft) driveway, we bought the house in the winter (didn't have a choice) and were hoping it was paved (as all the neighbors was) but, as we kind of expected it was just gravel.

Fast forward 3 years, the gavel is all but gone in most places (function of plowing and packing in) and I got an idea from a concrete guy that seems like an awesome idea.

Rather than tackle the whole driveway, I'm just looking to make a pad approx 18'x 30' and 3-4" deep of 2" minus sewer rock, packing it down a little (with the bucket of a bobcat or compactor) and then breaking open a half dozen bags of concrete/quickcrete over the top and racking it in, watering it a little and allowing to sit for a few days

The idea, according to the crete guy, is that the concrete will set up on the top 2" or so of the sewer rock, the bottom inch or so will be free, allowing water to drain freely under the ghetto pad keeping my driveway from pooling with water, and me having a hard surface to park on and wash my vehicles (which would be the best thing ever as i haven't been able to wash my own cars in my driveway in the last 3 years.)


So i guess I'm lookin for someone in need of beer, gas money, and a productive way to waste a weekend with me, perhaps we can work a trade for some portraits or corporate photography work if you run a business.
a 2-ton truck with a dump bed would work, but I'm gonna need about 7 yards of the sewer rock, and at 1.4tons/yard that's just under 10 tons, which would be 5 trips. Bigger would be easier, but not impossible with something smaller.


on a side note our studio rates are usually $250/ session, you could make out like a bandit if your wife has been nagging you for family pictures! (senior portraits are usually around $450-550, I guess I would be open to that too since its just time to us, and I WANT A DRIVEWAY!!!)

[FordCummins]

I am by no means trying to bash your idea or anything but that is one of the worst ideas I have ever heard of. I build roads for a living so I have a little background in this sort of thing. I am assuming your driveway currently has native material on it, which is very silty dirty gravel, it gets very slimy and nasty when wet correct? Sewer rock is like laying a bunch of marbles on your driveway, they will not bind up at all. I have seen so many people do this and hate it afterwords, your dog wont even like walking on it. Now add the concrete like you mentioned, that will be nice for this summer. Winter comes and the ground heaves due to frost and then next spring you will have a ton of cracks in your 2" of concrete. Couple years of this and it will be all broke up into litlle pieces after driving on it and your sewer rock/concrete cobbles will eventually sink into your silty gravel becasue it is more dense then the native soil.

If you really want to do this right you should excavate about 6" of your existing driveway out, lay down geotextile fabric, import some clean NFS gravel 6" (Non frost suseptable), compact it, then put about 3" of crushed D-1 surface course on it, and compact that. The D-1 gradation will bind up very nicely and you will have a nice clean gravel pad to park, wash your cars etc. Ask anyone that has been to my house how my pad looks.

Now to do this right may cost more, I realize that, but in the long run you will never have to do it again. If you do what you mentioned above I will bet your a case of beer in 2-3 years you will be back to square one. My lot has been in place for 7 years and I still have nice drainage, and a clean pad.

Again not trying to rain on your parade, just some helpful advice from a guy who has seen people waste a bunch of money on doing the wrong thing. If you would like to talk more about it you can shoot me a PM and ill give you my number and you can take a look at my place. I just hate seeing people throw money away on something like this, especially when there is 4x4 parts to buy!

Good Luck.