The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:33 am**

Firstly - thanks for the incredible site, I have been reading and learning (I hope) for months now.
I have finally summoned up the courage to risk the "Wrath of Tony" if I ask dumb questions.
I own a little OLD cottage in the back end of Wales. It is about 3/4 mile from the council road with access by a single lane farm track.
Over many years (about 400) the track has worn down to the bedrock/boulders - anything up to 2 metres below the surrounding fields. Fall over the 3/4 mile is about 10 metres.
Not only does my car gently run up and down this lane but the farmer who owns some adjoining fields tanks up and down in a variety of dirty great sh*t encrusted tractors and agricultural 4x4's

Because of the size of the project - the lumps and bumps and holes get leveled out with what ever I can get cheaply and in large amounts. So - 40mm down to dust/ road scrapings/crusher run is dumped on the track and then scraped flat with the front bucket of a borrowed JCB. On one occassion I scrounged a vibrating roller to help finish of the repair to a section - looked great when I had finished - didn't appear to last any longer than usual.

Problem is every time we get heavy rain (not infrequently in West Wales) the water runs off the fields onto the lane and along the lane like a young river -hoicking out all my hard work and spreading it all over the shop.

Any thoughts on what I could put down, (and how it should be put down) - that would stay down and would not cost the earth.
Any ideas other than buying controlling interest in ReadyMix would be very gratefully received

Posted: **Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:15 pm**

I helped to deal with a similar problem on a friend's farm at Blackshawhead - and it doesn't come much bleaker than that. The real answer is to install proper drainage - digging a ditch at each side of the road to ensure that the surface water runs off the surface as soon as possible. Unfortunately there were drystone walls on either side so we didn't have room to do that. The next most effective solution was importing demolition rubble with a high proprtion of bricks in it - this formed voids that allowed the water to drain down very quickly. Unfotunately after the first three lorryloads the neighbours complained that they couldn't get past while we were levelling it, so we had to abandon that plan.

Whatever you do, don't go for a central gulley. After a few years it starts meandering, and people start steering around the meanders, and before you know where you are you have the whole lot down on the main road.

Posted: **Wed Nov 23, 2005 11:53 pm**

There's no such thing as dumb questions - just inappropriate questions, questions that have been asked and answered a thousand times before, questions about what pointing mix to use, or questions that are answered in excruciating detail on the main website - that's what triggers the "wrath of Tony", not valid questions regarding a specific construction problem.

Jon is almost there with his suggestion regarding the drainage. getting the water off the surface and into an edge ditch is the key to success. That's exactly how those damned clever Romans built their roads, and given that some of then have lasted just a couple of thousand years, we have to admit they were on the right tracks (no pun intended)

So. A cambered profile, with a properly formed edge channel to each side. If necessary, a crossfall and a channel to just one edge. Put some thought into the channel - if this is taking ALL of the surface water from the entire length f the access raod, then the lower sections could be carrying helluva lot of water, so a 200mm pre-cast concrete channel isn't likely to cope. If you can divert the water every, say, 300m or so, and get it off and away from the road all together, so much the better.

Also consider intermediate restraints. Every 25m or so, run a line of kerbs across the road, bedding them on concrete and haunching to both sides. They can help reduce the incidence of migration and creep they can't stop it completely, but they can minimise its effects.

Finally, try to find a few quid in the budget for a decent self-binding gravel for the top surface. even if it's only 25mm or so, that can be eough to extend the life of the surface for a couple of years before it needs titivating.

Posted: **Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:06 pm**

Thank you gentlemen.
I guess I need to build up a lot more, so that the water runs off - rather than along! Thanks for the idea of intermediate restraints too. It's going to be good not to see all the work, and cash, in the field at the end of the road.
Glad the question wasn't too dumb Tony - but with a site this big and this comprehensive you've probably got the answer to everything in here somewhere.
Thanks again

The Brew Cabin

Build my own road - How little can i get away with