Contain Gravel From Washing Out
Gravel is a convenient choice for driveways, walkways, and parking lots. It requires very little maintenance, is easy to install, and lasts for years.
But despite these advantages, gravel also comes with a few cons — one of the main ones being, how do you stop gravel from washing out?
Foot traffic, cars, and weather all work to destabilize gravel and spread it around, creating a mess and also shrinking the driveway over time.
Fortunately, as your resident rockery and landscaping contractor experts, we at New Life Rockeries have a few tips on how to keep a gravel driveway from washing out.
Tips on How to Contain a Gravel Driveway
These tips on how to contain gravel driveway configurations should help you preserve the density and appearance of your gravel driveway, while effectively stopping it from washing out.
1. Pack the Gravel Tighter
When gravel isn’t tamped or packed deep into the ground, it is at a much greater risk of washing out or spreading around.
Even something as seemingly barbaric as whacking your gravel with a shovel repeatedly can actually help to secure it into the ground.
That said, we do recommend a more eloquent approach, something more effective, like a plate compactor.
2. Increase the Depth of your Driveway
While tamping and packing are both viable ways to harden gravel driveway surfaces, they may be ineffective if your driveway is all-around too shallow.
In fact, increasing the depth of your driveway may just be the easiest and most cost-effective means of keeping your gravel from washing away.
Even if your driveway lacks borders, spreading about 3 inches of gravel usually provides enough weight so that the rock won’t spread over time.
3. Driveways without Borders
A driveway without a border is more likely to spread and wash away than one WITH borders.
Wooden planks can go a long way to securing your walkways and driveways when laid as borders along the edges.
For this use case, we recommend wood, since it’s the best material for a straight path. If you happen to have a curved driveway or walkway, various stones can present a viable solution.
4. Plastic Pavers
The use of plastic pavers is another low-cost, highly efficient driveway gravel stabilizer.
Basically, these are a sort of templated, plastic grid layout that goes directly over top of your gravel driveway or walkway. They are highly-effective in compressing the gravel down to mitigate movement altogether.
This solution ensures maximum stabilization, and ends your days of having to sweep gravel back into the driveway.
How to Stop Gravel Driveway from Washing Out
Hopefully you can make use of one of the above suggestions on how to keep gravel driveway from washing away.
Gravel, while an inexpensive and versatile solution for most driveways and walkways, can be troublesome if you don’t rein it in with a stabilizing solution.
If you need more help on how to keep gravel in place on driveway surfaces, don’t hesitate to reach out to New Life Rockeries for professional assistance.