Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Dec 22, 2010 8:40 pm Hi all, I'm new to the forums here and hope that with the wealth of knowledge and experience here, I might find some good tips for our current project. We have recently purchased a beatiful 5 acre patch of dirt near Picton NSW, and are currently pending council submission for a new 4br home. As this is being done by a building company, they have requested a construction driveway for heavy vehicle access. Herein ****** one of our first hurdles - our intended house location is 150m from the street! Does anyone have some ideas on what we can do as cheaply as possible to provide a reasonable all weather access over that distance? To make matters a little worse, the pathway that is best for trucks isn't where we intend on putting a permanent driveway. Hence, anything we put doen will have to be removed or easily relocated or reusable. Our land does slope sideways so I was considering just bare earthing most of it and rolling it to compress and harden it (hoping most water would wash over on the way downhill), and delay truck access after rain when it might be soft. I would just used crushed rock in a couple of low depressions along the way. Would really appreciate thoughts and ideas from anyone who has faced a similar problem. PS: Happy to post a few pics if anyone is interested The Wiz! Re: Best temporary driveway option for acreage 4Dec 22, 2010 10:19 pm Hi, Ballast was my thought as well. I just don't relish the idea of having to dig it all out again after being "bedded in" by numerous trucks. Not planning on any great agricultural pursuit but didn't really want 150m x 3m of bloody great rocks in the middle of everything. Gravel was also on my list but is expensive for this amount ($7,500) and isn't as easy to reuse. Wouldn't be as bad to leave there but seems a great waste of cash for "temporary" use only to be buried afterwards. I also looked at railway sleepers which could then be reused as driveway borders but not sure how they might weather the weight and traffic. Again, hate to watse a lot of cash (though these are around $1,500 only). What does anybody think of this as an idea, or are there better options? Re: Best temporary driveway option for acreage 5Dec 23, 2010 4:56 am pictures might help. why cant you use the drive you will use in the future for trucks? we used blue/brown metal but ours is only 20 mets.. if that long. it is a cheap rock, but our drive is staying there when finished and will have smaller rock/metal put on top then Re: Best temporary driveway option for acreage 6Dec 23, 2010 7:15 am Hi The Wiz! Welcome to the forum I'm not on acreage, but a sloping battleaxe block in Sydney (about 30m of driveway) and we had to put down crushed rock that was compacted. They were pretty large rocks. Can't advise costs as the builder did it for us as part of our contract (although I'm sure we paid for it a some point!) Cheers Bel Still not in. Don't ask!? Re: Best temporary driveway option for acreage 8Dec 23, 2010 7:40 am It might be an idea to think about what you want the driveway to be made of once you move in. If you are going to have a gravel drive, then you may as well get it done how you want it now, but if you are going to pave (LOL pave 150mt) or concrete/asphalt it should be OK to just dump crushed rock directly on ground as they'll scrape and lay a base for conc or asphalt Re: Best temporary driveway option for acreage 9Dec 23, 2010 8:22 am Hmm tricky one. Like Kiwi said why can't you do the one driveway for now and the future? Your idea of compacted soil or similar sounds sensible if you will not be utilising this driveway in the future due to lowest cost outlay, however as you said, heavy vehicle access during wet weather will likely be an issue. I was going to say use road base, but it still won't be cheap for that distance. I wouldn't have thought any sort of rock used would be able to be reused in any worthwhile quantity somewhere else once it has been compacted (read ruined) during the build. Re: Best temporary driveway option for acreage 10Dec 23, 2010 3:54 pm Can you not get the trucks to travel as for you desired driveway? Then they will compact the area and any base you put down (i.e gravel, recycled concrete, road base). Once the build is finished it will cost you less to put a finish on your nice compacted base than starting from scratch. Building an Eden Brae Saville 27 http://karry327.blogspot.com/ Building thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=44247 Re: Best temporary driveway option for acreage 11Dec 23, 2010 4:10 pm My new drive is 132m,had a quote for crushed rock (blue metal) later you will have a perfect base for your drive.Trucks delivering building material don't like soft ground if one gets bogged,others are likely to drop at front gate.something to think about.ps cost for rock was $900 got it straight from quarry,hardware wanted $1600 I am in Vic. Re: Best temporary driveway option for acreage 12Dec 26, 2010 12:15 pm Thanks all for your advice. To answer the most asked question, the ideal future path for our driveway leads through low hanging trees along the fence line. To go this path requires a tightish manouveur at the gate unsuitable for long vehicles or trucks. Te height issue could be addresses with lots of tree pruning which would also cost and detract from the look of the property. Hence the best path for construction vehicles is a more sweeping direction avoinding trees and tight turns. I'm certain ballast / crushed rock is the most suitable solution, but wanted to seek any other options before committing to this idea. Hate getting to the end of something and having somebody say "why didn't you just do ...." LOL Does anyone have any opinion on the sleepers idea? Being 3" thick they shouldn't break and also should be easier to remove later and possible reuse in either retaining walls or for edging along the 150m of proper driveway. Re: Best temporary driveway option for acreage 13Dec 26, 2010 12:31 pm Have you thought of using a geotextile under the gravel see this link http://www.permathene.com.au/?main_page=index&cPath=63 These geotextiles can help 1. Keep the gravel/ road base separate so it will be easier to remove 2. Mean that you can use less roadbase/gravel The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Hi, I'd like some advice on the best option please on the estimate options we've been provided from our builder. This is for the… 0 4066 1 4581 Hi JW I just read your post and I find this situation quite strange. When we build, we get a temp pole for construction which becomes the permanent pole for one of the… 1 3944 |