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Stone and gravel can shift or wash away for a variety of reasons. This shifting often occurs due to wear over time, especially if you’re dealing with something like a walkway or driveway. Your stone or gravel may wash away when it rains due to improper drainage. Read on to learn more.
To expand on what we said above, your gravel or stone walkway or driveway needs to be properly graded or pieces of it will wash away over time whenever it gets wet. Not only will it wash away over time, but when stone or gravel sits in water and stays saturated for a long period of time, it’ll weaken and start to break apart more easily.
There are a few ways to make sure your stone and gravel stay in place.
Properly installing your base layer can definitely help keep your stone and gravel in place. That means evenly spreading, grading everything the right way, and compacting enough to make sure nothing is loose.
In landscaping, edging refers to a boundary that you put down to help frame your workspace. In regards to keeping your stone and gravel from washing away, edging helps keep your material closer together, which makes it less likely to wash away, and physically blocks it from washing away by acting as a boundary.
We mentioned grading a few times but we can go more in-depth here. You’re going to want to ensure that the ground you’re working on lightly slopes away from your workspace. This helps ensure that water won’t pool by redirecting it to slowly flow away from your stone and gravel.
It really can’t be stressed enough how essential grading is for preventing your material from washing away. Without a proper slope, your material will wash away far faster, and it will just generally look worse. You don’t want your pathway or driveway to look flooded every time it rains. Creating a way for water to flow smoothly out of your gravel and stone will ensure that it lasts much longer than it would without.
There are a few materials that are great for stability in the face of water. Angular crushed stone has sharp edges that interlock tightly, which helps them stay put, even as water flows between them. You can also use any gravel or stone that is very compactable. The more a material can compact down, the less likely water can run through it, plus it makes for a very stable base for a number of projects.
We touched on this a bit earlier, but the weather can affect stone and gravel areas quite heavily. Rain and other precipitation can erode your stone and gravel, while the freeze-thaw cycle can loosen your base. Outside of structural integrity, inclement weather can also make your stone and gravel look worse over time. This is why properly prepping your stone or gravel for harsh weather through grading and other preventative measures is so important.
To make sure your stone and gravel don’t wash away you’re going to partake in some maintenance once in a while. You’re going to need to replenish the gravel or stone after a while to make up for what does get washed away, even if it’s only a little. You’re also going to need to redistribute the material to fill in low spots. Also be sure to compact down your stone and gravel to keep it tight, even if you don’t put down any new material.
Laying landscape fabric is a great way to prevent any weeds from growing, which will help maintain the appearance of your driveway or path. Learn more here.
rEAD MOREYou’ll know when you need to reinforce your base when your material begins to thin out in certain places, or it begins creeping outward due to water running through it. You’ll know when you have to rebuild the entire base when you see deep potholes, experience chronic pooling, or the material is too loose to fix.
Rainy weather can be a serious problem for your stone and gravel surfaces if you don’t prepare for it. If you follow the guidelines above you should be able to maintain your stone or gravel walkways or driveways for many years to come. If you want extra assistance, feel free to contact Landscape Barn and we’ll answer your questions and we can see how else we can help.
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