Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 11:45 pm
Hi all
Time (and a dry spell) might answer this question but I want reassurance/bad news quicker as I am fed up.
I had thought I had come to the end of a long ordeal of creating a graveled drive area to the front of my house only to fall at the final hurdle. Today here, like most in England and Wales, we had torrential rain (about 90mm). Sadly the night before I had mostly spread out the 25mm depth of 10mm local shingle but not quite finished. I finished work early to spread out the rest and then give it a bit of a run over with the plate compactor before rushing it back to the hire firm. To my horror as I started to walk on certain areas I began to sink into the ground. :O The sub-base was made up of 125-150mm of type 1 which had been 'wacked' down but this seemed to have gone soft, to the point I could push my finger right into it! The worst areas were almost exclusively part of a second batch of type 1 which was delivered to make up to the full amount that was needed. I should say that there was a noticeable difference in the second batch: a) there were occasional large fairly round rocks of about 100mm diameter, b) there seemed to be less of the larger stones and more fines(much easier to shovel), c) also some of the smaller stones were actually fines that were stuck together having a consistency of clay. With hindsight I know I should probably at least queried this but I have been doing this driveway for a long time now and was trying to get it finished before the arrival of my second child (just fed up of walking in a mud bath to get to the house) so I convinced myself it would be okay. It certainly seemed to compact well in the dry.
So is this just because of the deluge of rain or have I been sold some sub-standard sub-base any thoughts would be very much appreciated.
Can I also say what a fantastic site and resource this is, it has been invaluable on the few occasions that my house renovations have required this type of work.10/10
Time (and a dry spell) might answer this question but I want reassurance/bad news quicker as I am fed up.
I had thought I had come to the end of a long ordeal of creating a graveled drive area to the front of my house only to fall at the final hurdle. Today here, like most in England and Wales, we had torrential rain (about 90mm). Sadly the night before I had mostly spread out the 25mm depth of 10mm local shingle but not quite finished. I finished work early to spread out the rest and then give it a bit of a run over with the plate compactor before rushing it back to the hire firm. To my horror as I started to walk on certain areas I began to sink into the ground. :O The sub-base was made up of 125-150mm of type 1 which had been 'wacked' down but this seemed to have gone soft, to the point I could push my finger right into it! The worst areas were almost exclusively part of a second batch of type 1 which was delivered to make up to the full amount that was needed. I should say that there was a noticeable difference in the second batch: a) there were occasional large fairly round rocks of about 100mm diameter, b) there seemed to be less of the larger stones and more fines(much easier to shovel), c) also some of the smaller stones were actually fines that were stuck together having a consistency of clay. With hindsight I know I should probably at least queried this but I have been doing this driveway for a long time now and was trying to get it finished before the arrival of my second child (just fed up of walking in a mud bath to get to the house) so I convinced myself it would be okay. It certainly seemed to compact well in the dry.
So is this just because of the deluge of rain or have I been sold some sub-standard sub-base any thoughts would be very much appreciated.
Can I also say what a fantastic site and resource this is, it has been invaluable on the few occasions that my house renovations have required this type of work.10/10