Hello everyone,
We want to add an additional parking space in our front yard. It will be used for our electric car. We actually like the idea of a gravel or crushed stone base, but I have already read several posts here in the forum advising against gravel for various reasons. The main issues mentioned were the tracking of gravel into the house and the high noise level when driving on it.
Yesterday, while out for a walk, we came across the compacted crushed stone paths typically found in parks. We like this natural approach a lot, so I wondered if anyone here has already implemented something similar or has experience with it. I would create a coarse gravel base, then lay a weed barrier fabric on top, and on that install cellular grids (also known as ground reinforcement grids). The hope with the cellular grids is to reduce ruts. I would also compact the gravel further. With the fine and compacted crushed stone, we expect to track little or no stones into the house, and the issue of high noise should also be addressed.
I have attached an example picture.
I would appreciate your assessment and opinions.
We want to add an additional parking space in our front yard. It will be used for our electric car. We actually like the idea of a gravel or crushed stone base, but I have already read several posts here in the forum advising against gravel for various reasons. The main issues mentioned were the tracking of gravel into the house and the high noise level when driving on it.
Yesterday, while out for a walk, we came across the compacted crushed stone paths typically found in parks. We like this natural approach a lot, so I wondered if anyone here has already implemented something similar or has experience with it. I would create a coarse gravel base, then lay a weed barrier fabric on top, and on that install cellular grids (also known as ground reinforcement grids). The hope with the cellular grids is to reduce ruts. I would also compact the gravel further. With the fine and compacted crushed stone, we expect to track little or no stones into the house, and the issue of high noise should also be addressed.
I have attached an example picture.
I would appreciate your assessment and opinions.
J
Josefstraße22 Feb 2025 17:44motorradsilke schrieb:
Gravel is definitely unsuitable for all two-wheeled vehicles. It feels uncomfortable to ride on with both bicycles and motorcycles. If children also need to ride their bikes over it, in my opinion, it is completely unsuitable.We have 80m² (860 sq ft) of basalt chippings (8-16mm - 5cm (2 inches) height) with gravel grids (120x100 cm (47x39 inches)) as a driveway and carport base. Thanks to the grids, the ground is so compact that it is easy to ride bicycles on it without any problems.Without going further into the "arguments"... we would do it again. None of it is really an issue or bothers us. You just have to carry the inline skates to the street...
W
wiltshire22 Feb 2025 17:44aniussi89 schrieb:
I would appreciate your assessment and opinion.If you want to keep it completely free of plants, the construction method you are considering is good. We made it much simpler. Basically, there is only frost protection (sharp-edged crushed stone) compacted on the ground (done by our landscaping contractor) and that’s it. It’s not gravel (rounded stones), but many people refer to it as such.aniussi89 schrieb:
The main issue was always the tracking of gravel into the house and the high noise level when driving on it.Both concerns are justified. Stones caught in tire treads and on shoes happen regularly – and this would also be the case with rounded stones. It doesn’t bother us. If we still had children running in and out, it would be a different matter.Harakiri schrieb:
I believe your example photo shows a water-bound surface, which is constructed quite differently compared to a gravel area with cells. It also isn’t necessarily suitable for a parking lot.That’s correct; here it’s often called a "Saxon water-bound surface." There is plenty of information online about it, including its challenging maintenance and upkeep. We had such a surface in front of our house and in the garden. First of all, our professional didn’t really know much about it because it requires a specific structure. On top of that, it was almost impermeable when it rained and the water couldn’t drain properly, which we urgently needed to fix. So we scraped out about 7cm (3 inches) of the fine material with a shovel, which was sometimes difficult, and replaced it with the same base material but with a different thickness (I would have to check exactly what it was or you can search the forum for my description). I also shared some pictures here recently.
We have two electric cars and really like the new driveway, especially since we didn’t want to use paving stones and the light brown color looks nice. The delivery truck dumped the material, and we spread it about 7cm (3 inches) thick with a wheelbarrow and then compacted it with a vibrating plate. We find it very practical to use and would definitely do it again. It also only cost a few hundred euros for a very large area.
You can see tire tracks, and occasionally a few stones on the street, but none get carried into the house since these are larger stones that don’t stick to shoe soles. The water drains very well, and the now rare weeds can easily be pulled out; the previous surface always looked unattractively mossy.
A
aniussi8922 Feb 2025 18:30Thank you all for sharing your experiences, as well as the pictures and specifications! I will now do more in-depth research and, if we decide on a Saxon-style pathway surface, I will look for a specialized company. I’ve also learned a lot; this forum is truly excellent. Wishing everyone a pleasant weekend!
Arauki11 schrieb:
Light brown limestone chippings 8/16, that’s what it’s called.I really like that. We have something very similar to what you have at the carport.Similar topics