Doing a Driveway Yourself
Enough of drainage, my friends. But still on the topic of driveways, this post is in response to several emails I receievd on the matter of DIY Driveways.
Doing a driveway yourself can be an amazingly rewarding enterprise. I have seen the proud constructors of such behemoths smiling away after chasing down what I originally had assumed to be just ludicrous ideas. Once again, I face the knowledge that no one “knows it all”, and perhaps least of all, me. My one caution to every single constructor of one;s own driveway is always the same: prepare the subsurface right. If you notice a trend here, there is obviously some solid reasoning behind it, mixed with experience. Done correctly underneath, a person can actually enjoy the next process, knowing fully that this will be the “business end” of the art supplied for the finish.
In that light, I have seen driveways composed completely out of rock either bought or scavenged from nature. These have resulted in some fabulously beautiful projects, and I do mean just breath-taking. The amount of time and energy a home owner can lavish on a project makes what I do pale by comparison. Where my work is contracted and therefore time-related, yours can be a labor of love. Listen, that is huge.
Those driveways I just referred to had cement applied between the rocks to stabilize the them. They all were rotated to supply a flatter surface and then cemented into place. String was often used to maintain the perfect height, pulled taut and adhered to religiously as a topmost grade and level. The placement of drains and slopes returning water to the drains was just as often very artfully done. Whether washed river rock or “found” split rock, all these constructions were among the best I have ever run across. Granted, they represent a highly personal aesthetic and many people would not want anything like it. But to me, and knowing those who did the work and knowing the labor involved, I could not have been more dazzled nor more happy seeing such a fine result.
