Soil Cement Driveway Update

[Depression]

I just fixed up the bottom portion a couple days ago. We had some serious rain for several weeks and there was some washout on the right/grass side of the driveway. It was about 6 inches wide and 5 inches deep. It went about 30 feet. I think had I been more proactive and repaired the driveway sooner the water coming down the driveway hill would have not eroded the area. Anyway I knew there was some repairs needed so I did that bottom portion. It was actually pretty easy. I took a soft bristle sidewalk broom and had a large masonry pan that I mixed about 3 gallons of water and 3 quarts of Portland cement with a drill and paint stirring device. I pressure washed the driveway, wet down the repair area with water, swept on the Portland slurry and mixed some Portland with Sand and water. I then packed it into the crevices with a trowel. The next morning, I made another slurry and swept it over the area again but this time I used a sloppy stone dust, Portland and water mixture and swept it over the entire repair area and onto the good surface. Some people could call this a failure. I noted defective areas the day after I did the job and always thought I would just fix it later. Well later came a couple days ago. I have a few small areas on the level part of the driveway that I still need to address. I ran our of Portland and energy. Prior to my driveway undertaking I watched many video's of gravel driveways and people watching my videos should note that almost my entire driveway is on a pretty steep hill. Everyone that has gravel on a hill has to always keep grooming the driveway and bringing the gravel back up the hill. I can roll floor jacks on my surface. If I need to repair it once a year so what. It should further be noted that I have used and abused my driveway. I have Bobcats constantly driving on and off it. I have moved much dirt across it with the skid steer. I have had multiple tri-axles of stone, sand, dirt up on it. I acquired about 10, 000 square feet of driveway that I can easily repair if needed for less than $1 per square foot. Had this driveway been done on a flat grade it would have little issue. The only suggestion I would have is to mix the material better than I did and make sure it is wet enough. I did that huge driveway in a couple of days and it was too big an area to tackle or attempt in one shot. Had that been 3000 square feet and flatter grade, I would have no repairs and would do this again without hesitation. Just need to get the mixture right. Thanks for watching.

[suemick]

I'm impressed. Looking at options to DIY upgrade my current driveway situation before it gets worse.

[vLife]

Keep coming back to this.. I love this project! how is it doing? I have some off-grid land in central Florida with a narrow, winding 8' driveway I carved out of the palmetto forrest. It's soft white sand I have to be careful not to sink into when I drive on it. I have this idea of doing something like this using the in ground sand with maybe 8:1 Portland Cement, but not smooth and continuous, but rather deep individual giant cobble stones that bevel one 1/4 bag at a time and reinforcing them with something freely available like shredded plastic bottes or tires even. I imagine building the drive sloooowly over a year. Ive done some testing with electric mixing drill and water from the ground and think it might work, but am yet to drive on it.

[patriotpioneer]

Just watched all 3, Thanks for pulling the Trigger on This Experiment. Im Thinking this is a Brilliant Idea!

[thousandroses]

Pretty neat. I'm guessing this would hold up even better in areas of the country without a frost layer. Seems like some of the damage maybe came from water penetrating the weaker areas and then freezing?? Thanks for update

[terrylutke]

I'm late coming to your video, thanks for posting it! Too bad you got caught with a big rain.
This was a very ambitious DIY project for sure, and well thought/planned out IMO. Here are my thoughts if I were to try this..
..Average delivered driveway mix is 4-5 bags of Portland per cu yard which will cover 80sf at 4" depth, I would shoot for that cement ratio.
..I might sample an area of 1"- 1 1/2" crusher run aggregate, although the finish might be poorer. I suspect the wear surface might hold up better with a mix of fines and larger agg. I suspect the larger agg would laterally move (squish) less during compaction.
..I might opt for numerous slow passes with a PTO tiller VS the Harley rake
How many sq ft was your project? Your estimated total cost to complete?

[EthanPDobbins]

Better than dirt and cheaper than a 4-6 inch concrete pad or asphalt. I figure you could Spread the cement out on the ground and run tractor tiller over it a few times. Smooth it out drive over to compact it and then water it in. Those rough spots you could just dump a couple bags of quickcrete smooth them out dry and forget about it. Or water them in either way it'll get hard and work fine.

[strawberryplains]

Good job. We just did this in our barn....Wondering if you could just pour a thin layer portland cement over the areas that didn't get enough and water the powdered portland into the existing driveway.

[stephenr]

I was wondering...could you till concrete mix into dirt with a high dirt ratio and create a kind of gravel as a base for an actual concrete pad?

[dustinbrandel]

Only real way to have a permanent driveway is to build it like an ancient roman road. Its gotta be dug down a few feet the whole way, and compacted down, then sandsoil, large rocks, gravel and sand, then pave it all over.
The layers of stones and materials beneath the surface will stabilize the underside of the driveway exponentially.

[dansilful]

So how old was the driveway when you recorded the video?

[insertphrasehere]

Looks to me that you want to mix cement into the native soil below the layer that you put on too (cement stabilised soil). Your surface is actually pretty good, your issue is that your base is subsiding, leading to cracking and crumbling of the pavement.

[luckyshu]

how did you come up with the conclusion of 1/2" deep portland cement ? for 6'x6' area in that type of material ? i have been around soil stabilization but on major projects $ million projects i am small self employed contractor on the side of my regular job. and do anything that involves gravel, black dirt, rip rap, grading sites I have 2 skid steers own my own soil conditioner which i intent to use tilling in portland concrete as well, as well as my own smooth drum packer for my skid steer, i am thinking of 4" of material i will use 1" of portland just for strength and that it will hold the material together better but my main question is how did you come up with the 1/2" per 36 sq. ft. ??? thanks oh crushed stone dust is there another name for that ?

[aa]

Have you tried using a floor jack on it? I was thinking about doing this for a garage floor. I would go heavy on the portland cement and mix it with a small tiller going about 4'' deep. What do you think would it hold up?

[informative_walrus]

I put up a metal shed and have gravel from my asphalt to the concrete about 8ftx75. I was thinking of doing the same thing. Do you think it would be solid enough to put an asphalt sealer over the top once cured to help hold it together and complete the look?

[clinteast]

What was the end cost of this project?

[williamdias]

I hate to tell you this buddy but that's not a very sturdy driveway and it's just gonna keep falling apart. I work for FedEx. I go up hundreds of driveways and they just keep keep getting worse and worse. That is not a good fixed for a driveway. Maybe 4 maybe a year or two, but that's it.

[phiksit]

It sounds like your walking on gravel, so... 🤔 doesn't seem like all the time and money spent was worth it, to me. Thanks for the update.