Use mulch as a driveway covering

driveway

I'm about to put a driveway down. Is it possible to cover the driveway with mulch instead of gravel?

Context:

In the woods. I want to keep the woodsy feel.
Long, mild winters. January average temperature is 38 deg F. Not much snow, and no plowing.
19" rainfall each year, in the fall/winter/spring.
Glacial till subsoil.

Best Answer

You could, but it strikes me as a bad idea for a few reasons. First, you'll have to replace it every year (or at least every 2-3 years). Second, you'll get much better traction on gravel, especially when wet or snowy. Finally, mulch is much more likely to wash out in the rain, especially if it's only a shallow layer.

Related Solutions

How to find the square footage of an irregular driveway

Approximately 9,800 square feet, assuming your drawing is accurate. I hastily colored in the image using MS Paint (not perfect, since JPG compression added a bunch of fuzzy grayscale values).

Then using MATLAB with the image processing toolbox:

width = 235; % establish scale parameters
height = 300;
img = imread('areatest.jpg'); % read image in 
bwImg = im2bw(img,0.5); % convert from JPG to binary BW
% find black pixels, divide by total image area, 
% and scale to square footage depicted in drawing:    
dwArea = sum(sum(~bwImg))/numel(bwImg)*width*height;

You may be able to work this online, with the compile online website. However, I'm not sure if it can read in files from your hard drive.

Build a gravel driveway over sand

For me living in the desert a sand yard is pretty common. Putting gravel on top of the sand here to add a bit of firmness is also common.
So as previously commented how much sand and what is under it will affect success and how long it lasts before sand comes through (if it does). The gravel will work into the sand, but this is not bad at all (concrete is sand, gravel and a cement, 2 out of the 3).
Two factors on how long it lasts before the sand does appear on top again will depend on water content, how much gravel is laid, how thick the sand is and compaction.
To start your effort, water the sand well and give it a day or so to soak and harden. If a compaction machine is available compact it when damp.
Lay your gravel on top, wet and compact it.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

How to find the square footage of an irregular driveway

Build a gravel driveway over sand

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