What We Actually Do
to Your Driveway
We measure the driveway, fix where the water goes, rework the stone that is already there, compact it, and measure it again. Potholes and ruts come back where the water sits, so the water is the first thing we fix. A Grade Scan, the survey that starts it, is $149.
Get Grade Scan — $149 ↗Why Does a Gravel Driveway
Keep Breaking?
Because water stays on it. When a drive loses its shape, rain sits in the low spots and the tire tracks, the stone underneath softens, and every car pushes it down a little further. Filling the hole puts stone back where the water still collects, and the hole comes back.
The federal gravel roads guide puts it plainly: standing water anywhere on the surface will cause it to soften and fail. So we fix the water first and the surface second.
Measure it first
We survey the driveway's grade before we touch it: where it is flat, where it dips, where it tips water back onto the surface instead of off it.
Fix where the water goes
The shape of the drive comes first: the crown is rebuilt so rain runs off both edges. On a Drive Rebuild we also cut edge drainage so that water has somewhere to go.
Rework the stone that's there
The Ruckus Rake brings the old stone back up and mixes it back together, so the fines that bind it are back where they belong. Most drives do not need new stone.
Compact it as its own step
Loose stone ruts. We compact the reworked surface as a separate pass, which is the step most jobs skip.
Measured, Not Eyeballed
We claim only what we measured, and we hand over the measurement.
A survey of the grade and drainage, so the proposal is priced on the driveway you actually have.
Drainage and shape first, then the stone reworked and compacted.
The finished drive is measured again, and the guarantee on your proposal is in writing.
How Much Crown Should a
Gravel Driveway Have?
Crown is the gentle peak down the middle of the drive that sends rain off both edges instead of letting it run down the tire tracks. A drive with no crown holds water; one with too much feels tippy and washes its own shoulders out.
The guidance: the Federal Highway Administration’s gravel roads guide highly recommends about half an inch of fall per foot of width, roughly 4 percent. Penn State’s Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies recommends 4 to 6 percent. We shape each drive to shed water to its edges, and your survey shows the result.
Snowplows scrape crown off every winter, which is why a gravel drive needs a light regrade now and then. We will tell you how often yours is likely to need one.
- Federal Highway Administration, Gravel Roads Construction and Maintenance Guide (2015): crown of about 1/2 inch per foot, approximately 4 percent, “highly recommended”; standing water causes the surface to soften and fail.
- Penn State Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies: crown of 4 to 6 percent; grading is routine, ongoing maintenance, and plowing is among the causes of lost crown.