Summer and I are still working hard on the house everyday. It is funny, we moved down to Puerto Rico for a more relaxing tropical lifestyle and I am busier than I have ever been in my entire life. Ha, I guess that is just how it goes when you build a house.
Now that we have the beautiful hardwood floors in, it is really time to do something about the driveway. At the moment, it is just scraped dirt with some hard rock, but when it rains, it pretty much turns into a slip and slide. If you are parked down by the house and a good rain comes through, you aren’t leaving unless you have 4 wheel drive. For Example:
The mud and dirt from the driveway get tracked into the house by the dogs, us and our friends that come over. I mop in the morning and by the time Summer wakes up she doesn’t even notice that I cleaned the floor.
Now, we have plenty of options as far as driveway surfaces go, but I think our bank account is going to dictate what we are going to be able to do to resolve the problem quickly. Concrete is just too expensive right now, and we will be able to cover up a gravel driveway down the line with concrete when we can afford to pull the trigger on such an expensive project (maybe when we get the pool and cabana in the back yard :-).
Here is the basic layout for the driveway. Nothing fancy at all.
Does anyone have any experience with gravel driveways out there? The only thing I remember about them as a kid is they suck to walk on with bare feet. I am looking for a little deeper intellectual insight than that though. How often will we need to pour in new gravel? Do we need to build a form for the driveway or do we just dump the rocks and push them around? Will they drain well or will they all erode down the hill? Should we have a big roller come in and compress them down?
Do you guys have any insight on gravel driveways in Puerto Rico or elsewhere?
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Haha, I don’t think it is just building the house that takes all your time, it is sort of home ownership in general.
We had the same prob with our driveway in the beginning. I remember aiming down the hill to get out and would slide and hope I got the right angle when I hit the road. I hated it. Then my car would get stuck in front of the house and I would just leave it until weeks later when things dried out. Luckily we have 4 vehicles. Then Santa (Zoran aka “Zokey”) came with his “end dump” semi and brought me two truck loads of gravel for Christmas one year since I let him park his rig on my Maple Street property. Then cement came but that was so expensive but a godsend of luxury! We still have gravel in driveway and it gets mushed in but still I don’t slide down the hill. Also, we have a TR3 arena rake that is for gravel driveways as well and that keeps it looking decent.
My experience from Washington with Gravel is you have them come first with bigger rock, golf ball size. You let is settle for a while. Till you have a good base then, they come with more of same to fix any bald spots and get it level again. Then you go to smaller gravel, same thing till you eventually get down to the pea size. I think it’s all about how much you want to spend. Whether you do the other steps like rollering etc.
You spend a ton you will have super smooth, not so much you have bumps & ruts..
Merry Christmas!
I have some of the same issues with creating a driveway, but our place is hillside, so we have to either use concrete or the black tar, we cannot use gravel, since the rain will just wash it down. So our situation is worse than yours, but it is all good.
Summer - did you ever stop by Pineapple Hill? We will be back in a month. HOw we wish we could afford to move there full time!
Happy NY everyone!
Ah, the driveway…Stefan and I can be on such different pages, with this construction…;)
I’m sort of against dumping gravel and calling it a driveway (and or a solution). Especially because we are on such a slope. If you dump gravel, it will be just a few rainy days until it is washed down into a big pile down by the la quelabra…It would be one thing if it was $100 to dump some gravel, but it will probably by more like $1000 (at least), and that’s not even what we want. I would prefer to spend 2 times (5x?) as much to just get it done right and not have to do it again…
Our driveway in our El Yunque house is asphalt… ie, a road. It’s uphill and quite an angle. Not sure about the costs, since they were absorbed by the Federal gov’t when they owned the land, but we’re gonna be doing our first repaving soon, so when I get the costs, I’ll let you know. Bear in mind that our driveway is about 3/4 mile long, and on a steep hill.
Our house has a gravel driveway. When we first moved in we expected to build a garage and have the driveway paved within 6 months. That was almost 5 years ago. We are at the point now where other priorities keep cropping up and I wonder if we’ll ever have a paved drive. Bite the bullet and get it paved now. Otherwise, you’ll kick yourself every time you track mud into the house or chip your lawnmower blade on any stones that end up on your lawn. For me, it’s whenever I try shoveling the snow off of the driveway, but I guess that wouldn’t be much of a problem where you are.
Summer,
make an appointment with the Mayor’s office (they sometimes help permanent residents out with asphalt) He is in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, explain your problem to him and See if you can get your name on a list to receive help with the driveway.
It is a good idea to ask the Mayor since next year is an election year. Probably the Major will try to pave all the town’s roads and when that happens they usually pave the neighbors’ diveways. But before you approach the Mayor study the local political environment with your neighbors. Who knows maybe one of your neighbors knows personally the local Director of Public Works or better yet the Mayor’s party local representative. Political relationships come very handy on these situations.
Talk to your neighbors and ask them how the municipality has dealt with that type on issues in your area….in PR everything is about connections, so ask who is who….Never hurts to get registered…trying to get your two votes might land you a free driveway!