I used to work on a farm and they used woodchips everywhere for driving surfaces. Every year they would just add more chips to the soft spots. It worked really well.
Freakin Awesome ! Instead of paying someone to gravel my driveway, I think I'll put the money into buying a wood chipper and utilizing the fallen trees on my property to make my own wood chip driveway out of a big sloppy muddy sandy mess. Thanks for the video!
I thought the same a few years ago and bought a small chipper. Unless ur buying a serious wood chipper might consider getting a few dump truck loads delivered.
Hi Ben. Thanks for the update. We watched your previous videos on this subject as I was also sceptical and but based on that we went ahead and applied chips to our drive last year as we had a massive mud rutting problem and it was a game-changer for us. Not to the same scale as you as we have to make our own chips with a small chipper but the principle is the same. We're in North Latvia about 57deg nth and have a similar climate to you it seems. Thanks for pioneering!
This sounds so awesome! I used this method to avoid "mud season" in the orchard and chicken runs, but never thought about it for our driveway. Thanks so much!
We love living in the Pacific NW for it's mild climate and have LOTS of wood chips available here, often for free. The downside of the mild climate, however, is that it doesn't freeze here like it does in Vermont. So our "mud season" is pretty much shortly after the winter rains start in the fall until things dry out full in late spring! So we have road surface on our land that is either rip rapped and graveled for year round use or only driven during the dry season. That being said, I think I'm going to cover up those lesser traveled roads with wood chips anyway now because of the fact that: 1) if I needed to drive it once in a blue moon in winter I could probably get away with it, and 2) it will hold water and help prevent erosion during the wet season...as well as break down and create good soil we can harvest if need be at some point! Thanks for the video Ben...I can't believe how fast your little boy is growing up!
I'm so glad you posted this! We've been tossing around this idea for a few days, as we've just gotten some chips for free. Cold climate as well - very excited to see this working for you!
It works great, we did it also based on his video last year. I did make a little video as well on our channel, not to the same scale but the principle is the same.
just drive over. i dont understand why people drive on the exact same tire tracks without going little to the left this time and little to the right next time. Vegetation is good though. feed animals.
Love this!! Having 100 yards dropped next week for my paths for the food forest, but we also had a (different) section logged and have been toying with the idea of using chips for a larger road to address the paths that the skidder left when logging another section of our land.
What about wood chips first the 2 years later add gravel? The wood chips absorb the water pretty good we had a motocross track that was always really dusty in certain areas so one of the loggers suggested wood chips and that worked awesome. No dust and no rutted out sections when it rained. Those wood chips insulate the ground so stays frozen longer then releases that moisture during the warmer dryer season when water is needed most.
Love it! I am going to do this with my driveway once the snow melts and trial it here in AK. Several weeks behind on spring in the subarctic. Love your videos, Thanks for your updates and insights!
A novel to me idea. I've been using pea stone to make a comfortable walking surface, but it's expensive. And I just ordered a PTO chipper to take care of some landscaping needs. So now I have a new place to dispose of the chips!
I am about halfway through your book The Resilient Farm and Homestead, and just found your channel too. Thank you for sharing all of this good info! We are in NH and need to repair our driveway but have been holding off to find a better alternative to current asphalt. This would be amazing, but how is it during winter months? Easy to shovel/snowblow?
I plow this all winter.. not different than gravel - i am careful to not rip it up but you have to do that with gravel too until it freezes, as this does as well, and locks up and a plow goes right across it. It's surprising but fact!
I'm glad to see people doing more of this. Deep woodchip roads are fantastic, cheap, easy to touch up surfaces. The only down side is since they hold moisture the under side of your cars rust out faster when they're parked than if you had crushed stone or hardpack. I put down chips for my truck and tractor trails through our woods. TOTAL game changer for mud season.
Yes! That’s a good call. I’ve heard mechanics say don’t park on grass for this reason. It’s pretty darn dry all summer here but probably not as dry as gravel. And all of it’s wet pretty much all winter.
do you have a chunkier gravel as a base or even an old gravel drive underneath so it doesnt sink? do you find you have good traction even when its thawed or do skid a bit like loose gravel?
Great for a temporary access that you will want to eventually revert to woods/pasture/garden. Over time, the humus builds up and holds more and more water and gets softer and softer in the warm season, not the best scenario for a permanent drive. If you want gravel to last longer on a permanent drive, use the proper geotextile underneath it. I helps keep the gravel and mud from mixing.
Yeah i am thinking that but i do have a parking zone that i've been doing this on for years which still seems hard... i guess it depends a lot on what's below/soil/bedrock - we are very shallow to bedrock in lots of places.
great consideration for sure - we don't have fire as much of a design constraint/need so we can't say. But I would say this won't serve as a firebreak as well as gravel. Though it may have some function for sure.
I get them for free. I put out a fb request. I do it for 2 years on an area of the property i plan to grass. Remove the chips and run through a sifter and you have top soil for the grass. Grass comes out amazing. The rest goes in a compost pile.
4:06 for 100 yards not 1000! Still cheapest source of chips you can get in most places unless you're getting free - more so than making your own, IMO. And i've tried all methods and scales.
Yes I think that’s what they do, but I was surprised they would hold the ice itself and that the ice itself is so great and hard. And then that when that ice melted later than it does without the insulation in gravel drives, that it doesn’t get really soft then. But it doesn’t.
@@wholesystems It reminds me of "Pykrete," ice reinforced with wood fibers that ends up being as strong as concrete, and takes forever to melt because of the low conductivity of heat. They built a whole ship out of it in ww2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete
Literally signing paperwork today on a house in Texas that needs a driveway redone because the stone is crap. You couldn’t have posted this at a better time. Thoughts on a hot southern climate that gets downpours of rain in the spring? North Texas.
Wondering if you did the driveway in Texas? I am thinking about removing a concrete driveway and thinking about trying wood chips instead of concrete or gravel. I am on the Gulf Coast.
@@thomasbarr520it worked! Only issue is reapplication due to weeds. You want a very deep bed of chips or have a barrier on the ground and then pour the chips o er the top. Packing them in can also be important to maintain traction.
I used to work on a farm and they used woodchips everywhere for driving surfaces. Every year they would just add more chips to the soft spots. It worked really well.
I’m gunna do this.
Freakin Awesome ! Instead of paying someone to gravel my driveway, I think I'll put the money into buying a wood chipper and utilizing the fallen trees on my property to make my own wood chip driveway out of a big sloppy muddy sandy mess. Thanks for the video!
I thought the same a few years ago and bought a small chipper. Unless ur buying a serious wood chipper might consider getting a few dump truck loads delivered.
I have a woodchipper and I put the chips on my dirt road every time I do a job. They keep the road from getting muddy. It works out great.
Hi Ben. Thanks for the update. We watched your previous videos on this subject as I was also sceptical and but based on that we went ahead and applied chips to our drive last year as we had a massive mud rutting problem and it was a game-changer for us. Not to the same scale as you as we have to make our own chips with a small chipper but the principle is the same. We're in North Latvia about 57deg nth and have a similar climate to you it seems. Thanks for pioneering!
good to hear!
no more rocks in the bushes from snow removal. huge benefit right there.
This sounds so awesome! I used this method to avoid "mud season" in the orchard and chicken runs, but never thought about it for our driveway. Thanks so much!
We love living in the Pacific NW for it's mild climate and have LOTS of wood chips available here, often for free. The downside of the mild climate, however, is that it doesn't freeze here like it does in Vermont. So our "mud season" is pretty much shortly after the winter rains start in the fall until things dry out full in late spring! So we have road surface on our land that is either rip rapped and graveled for year round use or only driven during the dry season. That being said, I think I'm going to cover up those lesser traveled roads with wood chips anyway now because of the fact that: 1) if I needed to drive it once in a blue moon in winter I could probably get away with it, and 2) it will hold water and help prevent erosion during the wet season...as well as break down and create good soil we can harvest if need be at some point!
Thanks for the video Ben...I can't believe how fast your little boy is growing up!
We did this last year after seeing your video and are VERY impressed. Sent you some pics on IG a few weeks ago.
Those buckets on the quad are amazing
I'm so glad you posted this! We've been tossing around this idea for a few days, as we've just gotten some chips for free. Cold climate as well - very excited to see this working for you!
It works great, we did it also based on his video last year. I did make a little video as well on our channel, not to the same scale but the principle is the same.
@@BalticHomesteaders awesome! I’ll go check it out ☺️
Brilliant idea. How do you stop the grass and vegetation growing through?
just drive over. i dont understand why people drive on the exact same tire tracks without going little to the left this time and little to the right next time. Vegetation is good though. feed animals.
you can also mow throttle all the way down deck all the way up. No need to root them out. They help hold the chips
Love this!! Having 100 yards dropped next week for my paths for the food forest, but we also had a (different) section logged and have been toying with the idea of using chips for a larger road to address the paths that the skidder left when logging another section of our land.
What about wood chips first the 2 years later add gravel?
The wood chips absorb the water pretty good we had a motocross track that was always really dusty in certain areas so one of the loggers suggested wood chips and that worked awesome. No dust and no rutted out sections when it rained.
Those wood chips insulate the ground so stays frozen longer then releases that moisture during the warmer dryer season when water is needed most.
Love it! I am going to do this with my driveway once the snow melts and trial it here in AK. Several weeks behind on spring in the subarctic. Love your videos, Thanks for your updates and insights!
A novel to me idea. I've been using pea stone to make a comfortable walking surface, but it's expensive. And I just ordered a PTO chipper to take care of some landscaping needs. So now I have a new place to dispose of the chips!
I am about halfway through your book The Resilient Farm and Homestead, and just found your channel too. Thank you for sharing all of this good info! We are in NH and need to repair our driveway but have been holding off to find a better alternative to current asphalt. This would be amazing, but how is it during winter months? Easy to shovel/snowblow?
I plow this all winter.. not different than gravel - i am careful to not rip it up but you have to do that with gravel too until it freezes, as this does as well, and locks up and a plow goes right across it. It's surprising but fact!
Even if it spreads into the grass areas more frequently, I'd much rather run over wood chips that end up in the lawn with a mower than gravel.
ya, thats what i was wondering. the first few snow falls are the worst because i push a lot of rock onto my lawn, in my trees , everywhere.
I'm glad to see people doing more of this. Deep woodchip roads are fantastic, cheap, easy to touch up surfaces. The only down side is since they hold moisture the under side of your cars rust out faster when they're parked than if you had crushed stone or hardpack. I put down chips for my truck and tractor trails through our woods. TOTAL game changer for mud season.
Yes! That’s a good call. I’ve heard mechanics say don’t park on grass for this reason. It’s pretty darn dry all summer here but probably not as dry as gravel. And all of it’s wet pretty much all winter.
do you have a chunkier gravel as a base or even an old gravel drive underneath so it doesnt sink? do you find you have good traction even when its thawed or do skid a bit like loose gravel?
No this was lawn! It’s great all year, but even in mud season which is the part that surprises me.
in the process of putting down chips now, love it
Genius. What depth do you aim for? (looks about 4”..?)
3-4” 5” is nice but no need to go deeper it seems
@@wholesystems So, you basically have to replenish this every 2-3 years or so?
Love your content
Very cool! I've never seen a wood chip driveway irl, come to think of it
Ben, how was it for plowing? Do you find it decreases runoff?
It plows great! Freezes hard, didn’t have to be terribly careful with it per se
It reduces runoff for sure until it’s frozen, like none.
Great for a temporary access that you will want to eventually revert to woods/pasture/garden. Over time, the humus builds up and holds more and more water and gets softer and softer in the warm season, not the best scenario for a permanent drive. If you want gravel to last longer on a permanent drive, use the proper geotextile underneath it. I helps keep the gravel and mud from mixing.
Yeah i am thinking that but i do have a parking zone that i've been doing this on for years which still seems hard... i guess it depends a lot on what's below/soil/bedrock - we are very shallow to bedrock in lots of places.
Hey Ben, what about the fire? Usually road stops it or localize it. Do you see any new risk with this road approach?
great consideration for sure - we don't have fire as much of a design constraint/need so we can't say. But I would say this won't serve as a firebreak as well as gravel. Though it may have some function for sure.
You made a very helpful video
I get them for free. I put out a fb request. I do it for 2 years on an area of the property i plan to grass. Remove the chips and run through a sifter and you have top soil for the grass. Grass comes out amazing. The rest goes in a compost pile.
I’ve seen loggers utilize hay in sandy conditions, if you come across some round bales for cheap try rolling some of those around
I’m thinking about doing this since I work for a tree service. We literally dump loads of chips at dump sites.
Just out of curiosity are you hesitant on putting them near buildings with wood. Or would you do a gravel “buffer zone” for termites?
We don't consider this because we don't have termites...
There should be a foot of space and a termite guard between any wood on your house, and the ground.
Vermont compost does this.
4:06 for 100 yards not 1000! Still cheapest source of chips you can get in most places unless you're getting free - more so than making your own, IMO. And i've tried all methods and scales.
Beer and weed. The ultimate currency..
Thanks brother!
Seems like the wood chips insulate the ground, slowing the thawing and also soak up the water as it comes.
Yes I think that’s what they do, but I was surprised they would hold the ice itself and that the ice itself is so great and hard. And then that when that ice melted later than it does without the insulation in gravel drives, that it doesn’t get really soft then. But it doesn’t.
@@wholesystems It reminds me of "Pykrete," ice reinforced with wood fibers that ends up being as strong as concrete, and takes forever to melt because of the low conductivity of heat. They built a whole ship out of it in ww2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete
Jesse Grimes wow mind blowing concept
Jesse Grimes wow mind blowing concept
Another really cool thing is that the wood chips don't blow away either.
they can float away though!
What happens when you have to plow the snow?
I think speak about that in here. As easy as with gravel. And as challenging too. Often less since it stays frozen better.
Wouldn't they eventually break down and turn to dirt?
Yes they do...
well, not dirt, but great soil
I have seen them used at playgrounds
Literally signing paperwork today on a house in Texas that needs a driveway redone because the stone is crap. You couldn’t have posted this at a better time.
Thoughts on a hot southern climate that gets downpours of rain in the spring? North Texas.
They can move around in lots of rain if there’s flow for sure. I once had to take some back on that moved.
Thanks Ben! Need to observe property for any flow that might be there.
Did you ever try this? I'm in the Dallas area and want to try this, but not sure how it would work
Wondering if you did the driveway in Texas? I am thinking about removing a concrete driveway and thinking about trying wood chips instead of concrete or gravel. I am on the Gulf Coast.
@@thomasbarr520it worked! Only issue is reapplication due to weeds. You want a very deep bed of chips or have a barrier on the ground and then pour the chips o er the top. Packing them in can also be important to maintain traction.
The challenge is runoff.
I was thinking that, too.
@@jess_bein_me_ They work great on most trails but if it's a spot where water will occasionally flow in, it could wash away the chips.
@@TobiasCBrown yep.
Anyone tried using a plate compactor on it?
What about the wood ants
What area is this in?
This is in Vermont...
@@wholesystems oh ok cool then it work in mn.
How bout in Virginia
$700 for 1000 yards??
700 for 100 yards.. sorry did i say 1000 yards? Mispoke if it did!
@@wholesystems That's such a great price! It's $2100CDN for 60 yards where I'm at!
I was just thinking about using wood chips instead of rock and asphalt for roads.
Wood suck in the event of an EV fire though. 🤣