As a lot of people in the comments are saying, those stones you are making a path with are looking to sink. The method I have seen (used for paved areas here in the UK where the ground is soil on clay) is to dig out a few inches to a foot off the surface where you want the path to go, lay down and compact sand (with a heavy roller and whacker plate) over the top before laying down paving slabs or gravel (larger stones underneath and smaller on top for drainage). Looking at how wet the environment is, expect that wood panel to rot away within a year. Also with only having feet at the corners it is likely to collapse under someone standing in the middle. At least consider putting supports under the middle and along the edges to spread the weight before someone gets hurt. No matter what grade of wood panel you chose, the result would be the same in terms of bowing under weight. Marine ply might last longer as it is sealed against water ingress, but as I understand that is not what you are looking for. Considering how much distance you need the ditch to cover and how much gravel, etc you need to move I would highly recommend you look to renting a small digger. Yes, it might seem expensive at least until you work out how much time (and effort) it would save you and how much your time is worth along with the amount of treatment you might need after destroying your back trying to dig out and move all of the stones/rock/soil/clay manually.
He does say that it is a temporary measure, purely so the people delivering things to the house can do so without covering themselves in mud. I have no doubt that it will be replaced well before a year, based on what he said.
What you guys have is a beautiful new home and some temporary problems. This time next year all this will be a distant memory. You are a fabulous young couple with your whole lives ahead of you. The real problems are in the future and you are both smart enough to deal with anything. Love from the UK. x
Just in case you have to build another ''platform''....That board is OSB (Oriented Strand Board) not plywood. OSB 3 is rated for outdoor use, basically because it is glued with waterproof glue, it should only cost a few dollars more. Use the support timbers the other way up, they are stronger that way. Buy a hand saw, it will pay for itself by preventing the frustration of flat batteries.
That gravel your using is way too small its just going to sink into the mud. You want to put larger 6-8inch stone down first, compact it then slightly smaller, smaller again. . The stone your using on the path is the stuff you want to use on the top layer of the driveway. Larger stone is also cheaper.
We told him this a while back, he needs larger hardcore and whacker plate then the fine stuff on top. End of day it’s a mound of red clay that will always cause problems with drainage/subsistence and in summer it’s gonna get hot and crack all over the footings😮
agreed, railway ballast real chunky stuff compact the shit out out of it just keep going until you have a substation base, even with that you will still get some sinkage over the years but will help slow it down a lot
For the future, what you might need is trees and bushes, they will stabilise the soil and soak up a lot of water. It will help stop landslips in the future. But that is way down the list of tasks.
To start, put down lots of grass seed, or turf. You might have to wait for warmer weather if you go with turf. This will stabilise the surface, but the deep roots of bushes will help stabilise the slopes, fast growing trees will lock down the area around your home. Talk with someone who knows your local soil for what plants grow best. It’s a long haul. Even bushes on slopes can move if the slope moves, they will.
Hire professionals to get this important drive, drainage and base layer around the house sorted. Paying out more money now will save a whole bunch of pain later. If there are then issues with it, it's down to them to fix it Then get your utilities sorted. Get prepped before you move in
Hire a whacker plate and get it really compacted before you get more gravel and angle the drive towards the drain ditch, you will have a few problems with the tree roots when you dig it out. It will take a while but will be worth it.
That's bonkers it takes you 1.5 hours to go to your local department store when it takes the same amount of time to travel across the whole width of my country, wales 😂
Suggestion for you JT - and I'm sure you've had loads - research and hire a guy and his machine who will sort the ditch for you in half a day, certainly less than the cost of $500 per truck-load of gravel! And once dug, it's fairly easy to maintain. Keep safe.
It's wild how vast the land is where you are. If you look at the map of the uk I'm at the very centre. A 15 to 20 minutes drive in 3 directions to different towns, there's 3 different B&Q's Our version of home depot. Wickes store in those 3 Towns. And loads of building supplies in smaller town in between. If I drive 30 to 45 minutes in any direction there's literally 100s of stores like this big and small in that radius. Britain is so squeezed together and densely populated. It's good to see how someone else lives 👍🏻
you are supposed to have the saw at full revs before you put pressure on the wood. You were pushing it against the wood before it was moving - for future reference.
Check out how roman soldiers built paths and roads in camps in England, about 15 miles upriver of my hometown there's a roman town on the bank of the Humber, swampy AF near the river, they used spilt logs to make rafts on the mud to hold 1" gravel and stones 2-4"
solution to driveway hey jt lay your gravel and then give it a sprinkle of dry cement on top the moisture from the air will harden it and hold it together and help you get the most out of each load equals less loads and a more solid surface without movement or slip of the gravel as much and makes it harder to sink into land gets stronger the wetter it gets hope that helps i build gravel roads in wales very wet place and that is the best way trust me least thats what we found hope it helps you jt i just saved you a fortune makes the gravel road last twice as long
Stone and concrete mixed is damned near indestructible mate, my drive is made of that and at the bottom it's about a foot deep and the top 30 inches (thick layer of compressed aggregate on sand as a base, dug down to the chalk layer to place it) . Put it down 25 years ago and I reckon it'd survive an atomic blast, cheap too, I dug the flint stones I mixed into the concrete out of the front garden space that I replaced with the drive so got those free and used less concrete.
Lol coming from the UK it always startles me when someone from a big country says 'we're going to drive an hour and a half to the shop'. A three hour round trip!
Here in the uk my in-. laws are farmers and i got old plastic cover from the grass silage storage and then use stone on top for rockeries in my garden. Thatll stop the mud soaking up thru if u can get some plastic covering.
I know it’s not helpful now but just in the future, you just a weed barrier(to stop the stones sinking) and loads of bags of stones? 🙈 simple. Also keeps the stones from soiling, so it’ll keep your feet clean when going it the house. I was so confused with the wood and slabs 🤷♀️
If you rent a small compactor plate it should save you money. Once it dries out alittle go over it with the plate. Get 1 load of gravel and compact it straight away. You may need 1 more load of gravel but you shouldn't need any more after that. But compact it on every load and before. Mud season sucks.
So sorry you're having problems but as someone else said, better to have them now, before you're actually moved in, than afterwards when it could upset you're daily life and you should be enjoying and celebrating your achievements . Luv'n'hugs from Buckinghamshire, UK. ❤
I’m really looking forward to watching how your new home evolves. Got any future plans for your land yet? Keep your pecker up, JT - it’ll be fabulous when it’s all finished. 🥰
Need to lay down some hardcore, it's old building waste like bricks and big old chunks of concrete for the base and roll that into the ground and put the smaller stone chips or sand on top before laying the main drive surface down on top. Looks like you have a nice place when all is finished.
its called osb/ Oriented Strand Board used and treated with either shop bought treatment or home made ie 1 gallon diesel mixed with 1/2 gallon old engine oil apply well , it will not rot outside good for 20 years if a new coat applied say every year/ or 2 or 3
I am wishing you an 18v circular saw... trying to use a reciprocating saw to do precision cuts is nigh on impossible. Impressive you managed to build anything with it! BTW that isn't plywood it is OSB which unless really treated is a sponge.
from my years of watching gold rush, have u tried putting a culvert under the road? so i believe u slant both sides of the road so u can put a metal pipe under the road, then the slants of the road run the water down to the clulvert which should sent it off the side of your road from both sides iv never done it, just literally from watching gold rush, so just purely a suggestion :) also, iv heard woodchippings down before the rocks help soak moisture up, but again i am no expert so just a suggestion haha
would it potentially be slightly cheaper to use a layer or self binding gravel? my parents have a level drive way and it is a lot shorter than yours, but they had selfbinding gravel and then covered it in regular gravel, that was 15 years ago and its still good. it just, might save you a couple rounds of gravel for the whole driveway. even if you just used it in the worst parts.
I think where the puddle is at the end of the driveway you Could see if you can put a cattle grid in and drainage ditch leading off it when you have cattle
due to you have clay and it is not going to go away i suggest using pipes , dig a tunnel across your path more than two will help and have the other end of pipe on other side ,where the water will funnel through the pipe out on the other bank of the path , you also need to fill back where you put the pipe and i promise you it will work. you will not have any more water collecting on the clayforming puddles.
I'd love to live off the grid like this, wouldn't even know where to start here in the uk though! Are you able to get mail to the trailer or do you have another address for that?
Get @DirtPerfect the youtuber from Derby Indiana to sort out your drive, if it's too far for him he might know someone in Kentucky who can do it for you.
It will keep sinking, must have drainage. Clay soil expands and contracts. So a really tough base levels are key, not just layer after layer. Correct landscaping will be vital to that.
There's something called duckboards that are used on building sites. Basically scaffold boards. Alternatively get some gravel grids. As its getting towards spring, you try and get some grass seed on the way and that will help stabilise the soil for your other ideas.
you should have gotten a whole truckload of pallets and put those down temporarily. Because pallets are deeper than slabs or stones you have sinking room and they are wide enough to have a decent width walkway. Plus not sure about over there but over here pallets tend to be given away for free ;)
I'm a UK construction worker may I give you a surgestion before you put grave down use a thing called geo textile which is a woven you put it down onto the drive way you already have then add stone or grave to it and then you won't have to put multiple loads of gravel down wasting money it wants to be 6 to 8 inches thick
Did you say you were in Jasper Georgia? If you did there is another RU-vid user, who has bamboo plants they are removing some of, they are in Jasper Georgia, it would stabilise areas, fast growing fast and spreading so would need managing. They are Saving the Cabin. You might be able to help each other if you are near. They also are on red clay, which made me think you might be near . Good luck
Go find a pile of much bigger rocks and fill those bigger holes before you put more gravel on top. Take your truck into the woods and start loading up. Save yourself a ton of money and then pack gravel on top. You look stressed... take it easy, you'll get there eventually. :)
Civil engineer here. The drive has become a dam and slowing down the rate of water running off the hill.( this then gives constant supply of water running into the foundation of the drive). You will need to dig a gully on the high side of the drive. You can dig it bit by bit even if it’s just a small ditch eventually it will need to go all the way down the drive. One days hire of an excavator. Hang in you’re just starting out you’ll get there👍
Stone, lots of gravel. You should have made a temporary driveway before construction starts. It can then be upgraded to a finished driveway later. Also, power and water should be item number 1 on a building site.
JT hopefully I’m not the first to say this but look in to using Biaxel or triAx mesh with a vegetation blocking layer. Start with a good base and build from there.
As most have said use straw, get a few bales n lay it thick, should work as a temporary measure. I hope your work pays off though. Plant grass, trees and shrubs as big as you can and as fast as you can. All I can add is that one day you will look back at this and laugh 👍
Best of luck. It surprises me that your Home Depot is so far away. I live in South Wales about 12 miles from Cardiff. Our version of Home Depot is called B&Q. there are 4 big ones within 15 miles. We also have similar companies here, mine is just a mile away, sells building, plumbing, electrical, furniture, carpets, gardening, all that Home Depot sells and more.
Americans: oh no my power tools won’t work. If only there was some kinda way to do it without power. Like if only they invented hand powered saws hhhmmmm 😝🤔
JT, do you have old fashioned saws in the USA. The electrical ones give me headache real bad. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY WOULD LOVE to see you use a nice old fashioned non powered saw. Pretty Please ❤❤❤❤
JT thanks for the entertainment is like going to a circus, but please buy a hand saw better you break that than your kneecap. All in all terrific video and good luck with the project, at the moment you say you are no professional but wait for a few months and you will be a top ace amateur.
JT, as my late Mother would say “ Needs must when the Devil Drives! “ followed by “ Necessity is the Mother of invention! “ you’re doing a grand job Lad! ❤️🌹
be a good idea to use gravel and large broken gravel as your walking path , You will know if anyone coming up your drive way when they should not be . I myself have used the same as to know who coming at the front and who should not be coming at the back . The new version of a burglar alarm . We have a wooded area at the back , we have a fence but used pebbles , and certain traps to know if someone climbs the fence and used totes under ground in the woods with water that is prob 20 years old so if you put your foot in it , you going to get some weird kind of bacteria on you that is living , plenty of stingers that i cultivate ,natural defences and not connected to the3 internet
@@XENONEOMORPH1979 And the wild ones rock compared to flavourless shop bought ones. I once had an intruder in my garden and my dog chased him out through 6 feet of brambles, never came back again, though some of him was left with the brambles forever.
@@XENONEOMORPH1979 I think he needed a suit of armour to get through that bush, it was tightly packed between my fence and my neighbours. Also, I'm not sure these people really think think beyond whether or not they can kick your door in. Traps are good, in the late 70s we had someone breaking into an old metal shed in our family house back garden, my late brother wired it up to the mains, the full 230V, it was tripped one night and you know what? No one ever broke into that shed again.
