How To Install A Permeable Gravel Driveway Grid System 

Tell me about it. My gravel drive here in the uk gets weeds from above all the time 😡

It’s more to prevent the gravel from sinking/mixing into the soil over time.

100% Keeping leaves and fresh dirt out of the gravel does 100% more than the weed barrier for weeds (at least in my experiences!)

​@@next0845my favorite herbicide for weeds is Pelargonic acid, spring to set the stage for the year, prevention goes a long way. 2. If its hot, use salt water. Its a contact herbicide so wont totaly kill. But ywo treatments and many weeds die. Organic and cheap af.

Of course, nothing will protect this driveway from weed seeds falling on it. The proper question is: will these germinating seeds have a chance to reach the life-giving soil through a layer of sterile gravel and thick foil? I bet that before anything happens they will simply dry out in the sun. That's what the gravel and foil are for! If you want to maintain this condition for years, you must use a garden blower to blow away leaves, grass clippings and other biological residues, which over time may become food for weeds. A bit like lawns - they also need to be cut, or more generally: you need to take care of everything!

Yes, I agree, the drainage during heavy rainfall may not be adequate here for all installations, and while I don't know where OP is located, this could present a significant problem for some folks depending on one's location and climate. A project such as this is the perfect time to install a trench drain along the edge of the road, for example, or to install a longitudinal trench drain between the walkway area and the parking area. Then the walkway area immediately adjacent to the home should definitely be graded downward away from the building and toward the drain, with the driveway itself slightly crowned so that half of its width drains toward that trench drain, and half the width drains off the side of the driveway furthest from the building. (Such trench drains can also move water where you want it most, into adjacent planting beds during rain after a dry spell, by attaching perforated drain pipes covered with sock fabric in those areas, as long as the slope of those pipes is planned accordingly.) While this system is obviously meant to be permeable, anyone planning their own may want to consider that such a system will also tend to become less permeable over time as silt, mud, dirt and vegetation accumulate and gradually contribute to a greater density at the surface, and of course any ice or snow on that surface will completely change the equation. Above all, anyone contemplating sealing or topping such a system with tar at some point in the future will definitely want to make other provisions for drainage that may not have been necessary for OP. Planning ahead to accommodate extreme weather events is generally proving to be a safe bet!

Thanks for the kind words and support Aaron. I take it your a true tradesman and I always appreciate input form people like yourselves. Homeowner has never had any issues with water intrusion at the house and based on the two foot deep footing holes that I drilled on both sides the water weeps toward the retaining wall. Once the carport is built I plan to but a gutter system in and have it fed to a specific location. And yes I've seen other operators that handle these types of machines on a daily basis and the level of accuracy is amazing haha. Love it! Thanks so much for watching.

What’s your location? I’m in the Piedmont of North Carolina and curious how it would grow grass and stand up to 100+ degree summers.

@@CLIFFROD1 Mojave. Rolled sod into it.

@@CLIFFROD1 have to accept some wear and the product will hold water on one side of cell vs other. Same with shading if the sod or grass recedes. Not perfect.

i'd be worried about slip :|

There's no way to accurately compare the two as this is a fairly easy DIY option versus having to pay a crew to pour and finish a slab, and that's assuming that they'll work with DIY forms. $1,925 for the grid material, $750 for aggregate and I'm guessing about $150-200 a day on the track loader. Pretty sure a driveway like that in concrete would be close to $10,000.

@@lunchboxproductions1183 I think he meant putting up the forms, and having mixer drop off the concrete, and then float away.... Neighbor has a mixer bucket, so I could do it one box at a time..... I have a loop so don't need to drive on it while it cures.

These are equally as expensive as pavers and you are already doing 85% of the same work to install anyway.

One other thing to consider in lots of towns - is going from a gravel driveway to a concrete one - our local property taxman will raise my assessment by at least $10-15K - so they can drain more taxes out of me - that is why we keep a gravel driveway.

duh I like the way you think. reuse

all those roofing nails makes a good keep out sign as well.

Get some rock salt for the area with the fines that is growing weeds, it'll keep any kind of growth OR, you can mix a gallon of white vinegar and dissolve two cups of salt in the vinegar and pour it on that spot; that will kill whatever is growing and prevent more growth.

@@ApoliticalBlues Some folks may have trees growing nearby with roots underneath the pathways, in which case they'll want to avoid applying this advice too aggressively. A good rule of thumb is that many of the most important delicate, fine roots will be located just at the drip line formed around the tree when that tree is fully leafed-out. We had a neighbor who moved in and built a brick patio under the canopy of one of our old trees. This alone was hard on the tree, but then he applied concentrated bleach *liberally* and frequently to the permeable brick after the fallen leaves began to discolor the brick. That particular tree was dead within a couple of years-- go figure.

All of the chemicals in the shingles, depending what they are made of, will seep into the ground and poison it

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Yep thats my only issue with the whole project - the interface between the gravel and the road edge is going to become an issue. The question becomes: how to solve it?

@@markd.9538 I've done something similar, and I would have installed a long trench drain almost immediately adjacent to the edge of the road, and then patched and sealed the small gap between the two with blacktop materials to leave a nice neat edge that won't unravel further. (Actually, for stability under vehicular traffic in a parking lot, I surrounded the black plastic trench drain itself with a small neat border of concrete, stained black to match the blacktop and using temporary boards to keep the resulting concrete encasement tidy, and then patched the narrow gap between the concrete and the adjacent blacktop with blacktop patch.) The water running off the road and into the trench drain could then be directed into perforated hoses sloped downward on either side of the driveway, into landscaped planting beds, where that water delivered directly into the root zone of any shrubs might be particularly welcome after a dry spell. It might also pay to consider what effects city workers will have one day when they eventually have to strip and re-top that asphalt road. Gray plastic trench drain surrounded by a border of concrete to match the gravel might look better in this installation, and together this would tend to protect the structure of the driveway during such road work.

the drainage problem far as can be seen in the video will remain. also don't you think he will be forever chasing the transition line from street to gravel?

Really?! That's crazy. So interesting how materials change based on the area you live in. Thanks for watching.

Where would you like to see the pavers?

Maybe you could do something like I did using roofing headed to the landfill as the base and simple 8-0 gravel as topping. Do it as on the installment plan lol fix your worse spot first. Mine has lasted 30 years though no heavy trucks go on it.

@@itsno1duh What about nails?

Rolls of chainlink fencing

Excellent point about dust building up on top of the fabric. I don't recommend fabric to clients unless they are dead set on using it. For your drive needs, I would suggest you build a Roman road. Use large rock such as railroad Ballast or larger as the base. Then add a smaller rock on top of that, then a finer layer for the top with compaction between each layer. This allows proper drainage and interlocks the various rock sizes making a superior drive surface for vehicles and heavy equipment.

​@@joshuarousselow5546 although i really like this vid and think it a great improvement, your reply/comment got me to scratching my head wondering... when new RR track panels (rails already on ties) are put in, the dozers often take the ballast down and remove the fabric, from what i remember. and the layer on the fabric is usually the most dirt. and most rr access rds are built on just 57 rock. but sometimes the construction backhoe drivers or 3rd p excavators will have to put down riprap, then ballast, 57, and maybe crushed rock, in some geographical areas that are pretty much swamp all year. crush is used often around raised foundations or as a base to be compacted since it will pretty much shed water like concrete, and then a dressing of 57 for water runoff, good looks. but thanks for the good info. i think it will be 5+ yrs b4 this grid he used might have that issue, but i'm just guessing.

What is amazing about this project? The additional work or expense?

This video was an advertisement for the product. Just have the area properly graded and road base not clean rock

Yup. I have a gravel driveway and that is tricky to say the least.

Slit a piece of pipe to go over the cutting edge of a snowplow and it will go right over the gravel instead of digging in.

There’s no snow where he lives

@@thomastimas Where is he? Any snow or ice formed on the surface of that gravel will eliminate its permeability during the snow melt or subsequent rainfalls, which could create problems even if such cold temperatures are a rare event.

Thanks so much for the kind words and glad you appreciate my BYOT Shorts Channel. I still do shorts on this channel but it has to be project driven shorts. Not random shorts that have nothing to do with any of my projects. Always trying to put you the BYOT Fam first.

Yes, I agree.

The concrete is poured into the sonotubes.

Sonotube is used regularly below grade. No issues.

Haha he hit it twice in the same spot at that

I could feel how tired he was when he missed.

Ice will temporarily eliminate the permeability of the gravel-- definitely make additional provisions for drainage in your situation.

LOVE hearing that and thanks so much for watching. Truly appreciated and trying to make this world a better place in my own way :)

Yes-- compaction must be done in smaller lifts to be effective.

good question Roger. Once the grid system is filled up you really don't have to worry about turning the wheels. I did have to be carefull with the track loader making sure that I was going down straight when filling the grids otherwise if i turned while on the bare grids they would move around on me. Thanks for watching and asking the question.

Here it is,in Grades ! Concrete #1, Brick #2, Asphalt #3, Rock #4, Dirt #5, Yes Dirt ! My County & State charge for every TYPE of Increment !! That they do that ALSO with the LIVING things !! You put a Bush in,up goes your Taxes ! Take it Out,guess what, UP goes Your TAXES !! You made Improvements to your property,NO matter what you did! I asked the County Surveyor that was shooting Photos of ALL Properties,to get NEW DATA for NEW TAXES, Naturally !! I asked him about the Driveway material,if it affected the tax rate,and about flowers and bushes/trees,you get the idea. Any thing you do that CHANGES,makes an Improvement to your property,even if you RIP down a Junk Shed !! They are going to stick it in our @$$ ANY WAY they CAN !! VERY GREEDY !!! So we pay here for it in the LONG Haul.

Might have to suggest the garden beds once the car port is built. Thanks for the suggesting and for watching.

Thanks so much for watching and glad you hopped on for the ride haha.

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Around Seattle where this is filmed, gravel is sold by the cubic yard, not by weight