A driveway should not be an obstacle course or a danger zone, but rather a safe spot for your car to rest and your friends to park. If your driveway has to be repaired, it’s critical to seize the bull by the horns and get the job done.
A neglected driveway will only deteriorate. Therefore, the sooner you begin repairs, the sooner you will be able to enjoy your lovely driveway once more.
They’re understatedly appealing, and they get us from the road to the house quickly. However, potholes are one of their significant issues. Season after season, the potholes seem to proliferate, making every journey down the driveway a bumpy ride and causing your vehicle a lot of wear and tear.
Fixing a pothole in a gravel driveway, on the other hand, isn’t rocket science. Taking the time to care for and maintain your gravel driveway properly will also help to prevent future problems.
Table of Contents
The Easiest Way To Fix The Potholes
Using a driveway grader to fill up potholes and even prevent them from forming is far easier than carrying equipment and heavy stones all over your driveway to correct them. These are available in various variants, the most basic of which simply tow behind your riding lawn mower or vehicle.
You hook the machine up to your towing vehicle and drive it over your driveway, letting the metal teeth dig deep into the gravel, releasing the compaction and filling potholes. Fortunately, grading your driveway a couple of times a year can ensure a smooth, comfortable, and pothole-free surface.
How To Address The Potholes Issue In The Gravel Driveway Appropriately?
To adequately handle and resolve driveway issues, we must first understand why potholes arise in dirt and gravel driveways. Water that becomes trapped beneath the surface of the driveway is usually to blame.
As a result, increasing the drainage in the region should be part of your repairs. Before finishing the top surface, these drainage improvements should be made.
Follow the discussed below steps to fix the deadly potholes in your gravel driveway.
1) Clean The driveway Appropriately
Start fixing the potholes in the gravel driveway process by scraping or scooping any material from the pothole, such as debris, dust and other residues. Make sure you cut the hole straight down if the sides are unfastened.
Cut the hole’s edges straight with a shovel, resulting in firmer edges that are easier to deal with. Dig down and out a little if necessary until you have sturdy walls all around the hole. This will improve the patch’s effectiveness.
2) Use A Coarse Gravel To Fill The Holes
Now, it’s time to fill the pothole with coarse gravel up to three inches below the driveway level. After the coarse gravel is in place, press it down with a commercial tamper or a handmade alternative. Nail a small square of plywood to the bottom of a four-foot-long to create an affordable and effective tamper.
When filling a pothole on a dirt driveway, make sure the earth is mounded a couple of inches above the driveway’s surface. Make sure to water the gravel appropriately after placing the soil. In this way, you can make the gravel a little bit firmer.
If the dirt sinks below the driveway’s surface as a result of the tamping, add additional until the level is a few inches above the driveway’s surface, then compact it again.
When fixing a pothole in a gravel driveway, fill in the last three inches with gravel that matches the color and texture of the rest of the driveway. The material should be mounded until it slightly rises above the driveway’s surface. After that, rake it to blend it in with the rest of the driveway.
3) Compact The Gravel Down
The dirt or gravel must be compacted even more in the final step. Running your car’s wheels up and down over the mended area a few times is the quickest and easiest way to accomplish this. The pothole is typically sealed after a few runs.
Finally, make sure that the patch is completely packed. Driving your vehicle over it multiple times is the simplest way to accomplish this.
Making a note of drainage difficulties on your dirt or gravel driveway is the easiest method to avoid potholes. The best method is to make the highest point of the driveway the middle, with a modest downhill slope on either side.
It’s great if the driveway has a peak in the middle, at least one inch for every four feet of width, for optimum drainage. If this is not practicable, another option is to plan the driveway with a gentle slope in the direction where the water drains.
Final Thoughts
It should be ready to drive on once all layers have been properly compacted. It may require another top-up in the coming weeks, or the pothole may reappear if significantly cracked. In this instance, it is advised that the gravel base be adequately graded and re-laid.
To reduce the likelihood of future holes, attempt to lay the driveway with a gradient that allows water to flow from the middle to the edges.
Follow the methods above for any remaining potholes, and keep an eye out for new ones. You can also follow the discussed steps even to fix the potholes that occurred after the rain. However, you have to address the main issue behind the creation of potholes before considering any method or technique.
