Nice video and totally correct. My wife and I turned 1500’ of mountainside virgin aspen and fir into a great 20’ wide driveway for our new build. The contractor bid was 120k. We bought a Kubota L4060, plotted a path and then spent two summers cutting the trees, removing the stumps (I rented a mini x), laying the fabric and then building a french drain and spreading 45 loads of rock and gravel in layers as needed. Total cost close to 70K and we now have a great tractor for snow removal and other chores going forward. This obviously took a lot of time but for us old retired folks that is the one thing we have planty of. 😎
Excellent point on the rototiller. Pro tip on gravel driveways. We live in the Pacific Northwest and mud is what we deal with. Don't use fabric to prevent rock from sinking into the ground over time. Make the first layer big 3"- 4" crush rock. It acts like snow shoes. The make the next layer 1-2" rock. Then top it off with 5/8" or so. Done deal. That road will never sink. Rock will never settle. And loaded concrete trucks can dive on it in the winter without leaving tracks
I was a contractor for 20 years with a tractor. Box blade is great. But the land plan is for everyone easy. Good video keep up the awesome work. God bless you and your family.
I completely agree. I maintain my driveway with a box blade and you can scalp it real quick if you're not super careful. Much harder to do that with a land plane
Great timing with this video. I'm in the process of freshening up my 400' lane that has a 60'x 150' parking pad at the end. I'm laying the gravel down with my 2005 Hijet mini dump and leveling it out with a small land plan I made up.
Your property is beautiful. Every time I watch a gravel maintenance video it makes me appreciate asphalt and concrete. After spending far too much time raking gravel we finally bit the bullet and all but ~4k square feet is either stained and stamped concrete or reclaimed asphalt and our trails are dirt. RAP is now hard to find in my area because most crews grind and reuse it on the same project so it doesn't make its way to the general public anymore. Respect to those with the patience to deal with gravel.
I purchased a PTO tiller from GWT almost 2 years ago. It stays on my tractor 80% of the time. I have used it to replant grass on my acreage, create planting spaces, making new parking pads, etc. It also acts as extra ballast. I also have an original stump bucket from GWT that comes in handy. Thanks for all you do.
Great video Courtney! Started a small gravel driveway in front of our barn this spring; eventually going to extend it so will be contacting you for a land plane and dethatcher soon! Love the videos and the passion you bring to working outside with tractors
Chemical weed killer works great in those thin spots. Driveway looks great. I maintain my 1000 foot gravel driveway with a landplane and it works great.
1 1/2 inch to 1/2 inch stone with fines would pack in and make it harder (not impossible) for weeds to break through. For your attachment row, maybe a reclaimed asphalt product. Usually from tearing up a road. Sometimes an asphalt company has these seconds. Put it down like stone but it will become like an asphalt driveway (sort of) over a little time.
Courtney, don't know if you're against using a shovel but you could dig up the fiberoptic line to expose it then use machinery to dig a trench and lay 4" drain tile at the proper grade going under the fiberoptic line and drain the water in the direction you desire. Some people might call it a French drain, but at any rate drain tile should do it.
I have 3” of gravel over road fabric. Weeds grow freely throughout the rock (no topsoil req). Roots are only an inch deep in the rock, but they are very prevalent throughout the driveway.
Had someone recently tell me fabric wouldn’t prevent weeds since they would just grow on top of it. Do you feel like this makes the fabric unnecessary? About to purchase my first tractor as we are building on 11 acres and a driveway would be an awesome thing to save money by doing myself.
How about keeping edges nice and clean? I used a ripper on my grading scraper. Worked well, but looking for better ideas. I also thought about spraying with vegetation control.
Great video. Do you have attachments that would be good to maintain grassy/weedy paths? I have paths through our field and over time heavy rains create uneven walking areas that I would like to smooth out. Then I just keep the paths mowed for pleasant walking with the dog or friends who visit.
Courtney, I'm sorry but I laugh every time I see the B roll of you installing that culvert with your Summit Tractor, and the fiber you murdered along the way :)
Great video Courtney. I’m having my old asphalt driveway replaced with gravel. Which attachment would you recommend to maintain the driveway, if I could only have one?
The Land Plane is probably my favorite tool to resurface the driveway and it can move a lot of material. So if you have serious gravel to move, it's a good choice. A box blade can do even more outside of driveway work, but you won't find it as easy to resurface your drive compared to the Land Plane. And the Heavy Duty Dethatcher is the best multi-purpose tool, allowing you to 'freshen up' the gravel surface, but not fix any real problems. But then you can use it on your lawn, trails, to collect leaves, etc... So you get a lot of bang for your buck with that. Not a straightforward answer, but figured it all was relevant.
One thing that I noticed you're missing is gravel fines as a final top layer, if you get fines locked in between the bigger stones and get it nice and compacted, it will keep it bound together and keep it from washing out and will last for many years. As far as the road fabric goes, if you can get down to that sub soil layer of clay and get the top soil out you really shouldn't need fabric. Id also look at it from a cost point of view, is it going to cost more to dig or to just put road fabric down.
I've got a yt channel building off-road stuff (usually in tolerated pain) if the VBA sees it can that raise questions? Also, I saw a guy following me around town with binoculars. Like I was MI bro, you're not that sneaky lol
Concrete is the only permanent solution... too bad concrete is so expensive now. I have had the same issues. weeds will eventually grow on top of the rocks as well. I really don't like using round up. so i tried vinegar (25%) with salt and soap. it kills it but doest not remove it.. my limestone driveway has a tar base underneath it... a road crew had extra and put it down for me. Solid base and lime stone does not sink down into ground but weeds and grass grow on top of it.. around by my garage i have an overflow patch of gravel to make it easier to park in garage. i put landscape fabric underneath it.. I snagged it using the box blade it has been a pain since.. I would just not use it again so i can easily re grade that spot.
If you have a good layer of gravel, most weeds you see later have not come “through” the gravel - they have been seeded into the gravel by wind or birds. IMO landscape fabric is not worth the cost and effort. Use occasional herbicide applications to control any weeds that appear
Idk. It seems the whole reason for the gravel was the mud. Once the gravel is on I think i would box grad once or twice a year for heavy traffic drive and the rest mow once in a while when gradually moving the equipment around as used. The grass wasn’t bothering anything before you put the gravel in. Seems like a lot of work for something farmers never worry about. And as far as road fabric, I wouldn’t bother it is such a pain if you snag it later.
@@GoodWorksTractors Perhaps for light snow falls, last season the 2 biggest storms of over 2' came in late March and early April, they were wet and dense, no back blade would tackle that, my PTO snow thrower struggled and kept throwing the stone all over.
Don’t go with the spray and rake method for those weeds in the attachments weed wack it all THEN spray and you will have to find a schedule for spraying and you have to spray before you see any green growing
have you considered vertical drainage for some of your standing water problems? Take an auger dig some vertical holes 6" or so in diameter 1.5-2' apart and backfill that with gravel, then level it with more gravel.
Yeah. That's a solution I've thought about. However, as any standing water drains on its own after about 24 hours, I just can't motivate myself to prioritize anything for it right now.
Shop for driveway maintenance tools here: www.goodworkstractors.com/product-category/attachments/grading/
Nice video and totally correct. My wife and I turned 1500’ of mountainside virgin aspen and fir into a great 20’ wide driveway for our new build. The contractor bid was 120k. We bought a Kubota L4060, plotted a path and then spent two summers cutting the trees, removing the stumps (I rented a mini x), laying the fabric and then building a french drain and spreading 45 loads of rock and gravel in layers as needed. Total cost close to 70K and we now have a great tractor for snow removal and other chores going forward. This obviously took a lot of time but for us old retired folks that is the one thing we have planty of. 😎
Excellent point on the rototiller. Pro tip on gravel driveways. We live in the Pacific Northwest and mud is what we deal with. Don't use fabric to prevent rock from sinking into the ground over time. Make the first layer big 3"- 4" crush rock. It acts like snow shoes. The make the next layer 1-2" rock. Then top it off with 5/8" or so. Done deal. That road will never sink. Rock will never settle. And loaded concrete trucks can dive on it in the winter without leaving tracks
Road fabric is worth it. Cheaper than future gravel buys
I was a contractor for 20 years with a tractor. Box blade is great. But the land plan is for everyone easy. Good video keep up the awesome work. God bless you and your family.
I completely agree. I maintain my driveway with a box blade and you can scalp it real quick if you're not super careful. Much harder to do that with a land plane
I just got a Mahindra 1640 cab Hst and man, the box blade has already paid for itself. Great info.
Great timing with this video. I'm in the process of freshening up my 400' lane that has a 60'x 150' parking pad at the end. I'm laying the gravel down with my 2005 Hijet mini dump and leveling it out with a small land plan I made up.
Your property is beautiful. Every time I watch a gravel maintenance video it makes me appreciate asphalt and concrete. After spending far too much time raking gravel we finally bit the bullet and all but ~4k square feet is either stained and stamped concrete or reclaimed asphalt and our trails are dirt. RAP is now hard to find in my area because most crews grind and reuse it on the same project so it doesn't make its way to the general public anymore. Respect to those with the patience to deal with gravel.
I purchased a PTO tiller from GWT almost 2 years ago. It stays on my tractor 80% of the time. I have used it to replant grass on my acreage, create planting spaces, making new parking pads, etc. It also acts as extra ballast. I also have an original stump bucket from GWT that comes in handy. Thanks for all you do.
A project I enjoyed watching.
Great video Courtney! Started a small gravel driveway in front of our barn this spring; eventually going to extend it so will be contacting you for a land plane and dethatcher soon! Love the videos and the passion you bring to working outside with tractors
Great video Courtney. Nice to see the various equipment being used and to hear how worked . Thanks
I love the way Chris put "Griveway Drading" on the screen🤣
ha. thanks! gotta keep myself entertained while editing...
Chemical weed killer works great in those thin spots. Driveway looks great. I maintain my 1000 foot gravel driveway with a landplane and it works great.
‼️‼️ Perfect Friday Relaxation ‼️‼️
Much appreciated
❤️🙏 Love from Scotland ❤️🙏
Enjoyed the video. Weeds are the worse! But your place looks really nice! Have a great weekend
Thanks, hope you enjoy your weekend too!
Really digging your videos, brother. Very helpful!
Good job on the driveway. Looks awesome to me 👍🏻
Great video Courtney. Thinking I need a Landscape Rake sooner rather than later.
Thanks for ANOTHER great and informative video!!!
Thanks for watching!
1 1/2 inch to 1/2 inch stone with fines would pack in and make it harder (not impossible) for weeds to break through. For your attachment row, maybe a reclaimed asphalt product. Usually from tearing up a road. Sometimes an asphalt company has these seconds. Put it down like stone but it will become like an asphalt driveway (sort of) over a little time.
Did you not realize you hav 22:32 e to thnik about all of that to deal wiht the extra work. Either way, this video is absolutely perfect!
Beautiful no matter what you do every body has pro n con I just do it Love your work that's all I have to say Rudy G.
Beautiful video & job! 🍻🇮🇹🔝🇺🇲🍻
That driveway looks nice
Courtney, don't know if you're against using a shovel but you could dig up the fiberoptic line to expose it then use machinery to dig a trench and lay 4" drain tile at the proper grade going under the fiberoptic line and drain the water in the direction you desire. Some people might call it a French drain, but at any rate drain tile should do it.
Great video guy's 👍 yes keeping grass out of the stone is gard you have to work it or spray it 🤣
Great info. Thanks
Great info - thank you!
I have 3” of gravel over road fabric. Weeds grow freely throughout the rock (no topsoil req). Roots are only an inch deep in the rock, but they are very prevalent throughout the driveway.
Had someone recently tell me fabric wouldn’t prevent weeds since they would just grow on top of it. Do you feel like this makes the fabric unnecessary? About to purchase my first tractor as we are building on 11 acres and a driveway would be an awesome thing to save money by doing myself.
Man, that other property was beautiful. Not to say your current isn’t. Too bad you couldn’t keep them both!
How about keeping edges nice and clean? I used a ripper on my grading scraper. Worked well, but looking for better ideas. I also thought about spraying with vegetation control.
Have you tried crush and run , it gravel with gravel dust it can get almost as hard as concrete
Great video. Do you have attachments that would be good to maintain grassy/weedy paths? I have paths through our field and over time heavy rains create uneven walking areas that I would like to smooth out. Then I just keep the paths mowed for pleasant walking with the dog or friends who visit.
How do you do snow removal on a gravel driveway without damaging it?
Looks very nice. Good job.
Skid shoes
What are the specification on the road fabric you used? Is this something you got online or from a local supply house?
Dang I was the second comment! Anyhow I’m sure I’ll enjoy the video!
Courtney, I'm sorry but I laugh every time I see the B roll of you installing that culvert with your Summit Tractor, and the fiber you murdered along the way :)
lol and you just mentioned it 10 seconds after I typed this.
yep, smoked it!
Great video Courtney. I’m having my old asphalt driveway replaced with gravel. Which attachment would you recommend to maintain the driveway, if I could only have one?
The Land Plane is probably my favorite tool to resurface the driveway and it can move a lot of material. So if you have serious gravel to move, it's a good choice. A box blade can do even more outside of driveway work, but you won't find it as easy to resurface your drive compared to the Land Plane. And the Heavy Duty Dethatcher is the best multi-purpose tool, allowing you to 'freshen up' the gravel surface, but not fix any real problems. But then you can use it on your lawn, trails, to collect leaves, etc... So you get a lot of bang for your buck with that. Not a straightforward answer, but figured it all was relevant.
Road fabric seems l Ike a good idea
One thing that I noticed you're missing is gravel fines as a final top layer, if you get fines locked in between the bigger stones and get it nice and compacted, it will keep it bound together and keep it from washing out and will last for many years. As far as the road fabric goes, if you can get down to that sub soil layer of clay and get the top soil out you really shouldn't need fabric. Id also look at it from a cost point of view, is it going to cost more to dig or to just put road fabric down.
is there a good less evasive way to put a gravel driveway through woods to try noy lose trees?
You have beautiful dirt, but what about soil that is full of big stones?? Can you show how to work that what tools to use please!
I've got a yt channel building off-road stuff (usually in tolerated pain) if the VBA sees it can that raise questions? Also, I saw a guy following me around town with binoculars. Like I was MI bro, you're not that sneaky lol
Concrete is the only permanent solution... too bad concrete is so expensive now. I have had the same issues. weeds will eventually grow on top of the rocks as well. I really don't like using round up. so i tried vinegar (25%) with salt and soap. it kills it but doest not remove it.. my limestone driveway has a tar base underneath it... a road crew had extra and put it down for me. Solid base and lime stone does not sink down into ground but weeds and grass grow on top of it..
around by my garage i have an overflow patch of gravel to make it easier to park in garage. i put landscape fabric underneath it.. I snagged it using the box blade it has been a pain since.. I would just not use it again so i can easily re grade that spot.
Make Your Driveway Great Again!
If you have a good layer of gravel, most weeds you see later have not come “through” the gravel - they have been seeded into the gravel by wind or birds. IMO landscape fabric is not worth the cost and effort. Use occasional herbicide applications to control any weeds that appear
Fabric is more important in wet areas. One of the ways grass gets seeded is from lawn mowing. Try not to blow clippings onto the driveway.
We are having to deal with water and driveways on our land too
Idk. It seems the whole reason for the gravel was the mud. Once the gravel is on I think i would box grad once or twice a year for heavy traffic drive and the rest mow once in a while when gradually moving the equipment around as used. The grass wasn’t bothering anything before you put the gravel in. Seems like a lot of work for something farmers never worry about.
And as far as road fabric, I wouldn’t bother it is such a pain if you snag it later.
How much a yard did the gravel cost for 4000’?
Gravel needs constant attention, your road is somewhat flat and easier to maintain with gravel 😊
The follow up will be in the winter for snow removal without plowing up or piling up the stone.
we're pretty pleased with the inverted rear blade method: ua-cam.com/video/dzsdtqzcSnI/v-deo.html
@@GoodWorksTractors Perhaps for light snow falls, last season the 2 biggest storms of over 2' came in late March and early April, they were wet and dense, no back blade would tackle that, my PTO snow thrower struggled and kept throwing the stone all over.
Slip your dump driver a $20 or $50 every once in a while because a good driver saves a lot of time.
Don’t go with the spray and rake method for those weeds in the attachments weed wack it all THEN spray and you will have to find a schedule for spraying and you have to spray before you see any green growing
^spent years fighting that battle that’s my method lol
have you considered vertical drainage for some of your standing water problems? Take an auger dig some vertical holes 6" or so in diameter 1.5-2' apart and backfill that with gravel, then level it with more gravel.
Yeah. That's a solution I've thought about. However, as any standing water drains on its own after about 24 hours, I just can't motivate myself to prioritize anything for it right now.
Someone needs some bandmaster/
Spay them weeds with vinegar and they go away.
It was so pretty with the grass now it looks like a crappy Fire Road😅
the grass was a great look. but turns to mud after actually driving up and down it. and it doesn't look pretty then.
Nice if you are a multi-millionaire. No offense, meant from an everyday Conservative.
somehow I got unsubscribed. Weird
Please stop saying ACROSST. Otherwise, it's a lovely driveway
Please stop watching.