cost of making road to house

8track

Has anyone got the cost per metre/yard of making a road from the main road to the site/house location? What is the most inexpensive effective solution - stone/gravel? The road I'd need will go over very poor ground - a combination of large rocks in some places and bog in others - probably about 200 metres long.

Thanks.

bbam

I'm no expert on this but it will very much depend on how deep of fill you need where the ground is poor and how wide the drive is...

You probably need an experienced site works person out to look at the work, even then I'd imagine you will only know how good the ground is when you strip it back..

Then there is the cost of the fill, "rock face" is a good cheap option to bottom out a deep hole then use 3inch down closer to the top..

If you skimp on the fill where the ground is poor, wet weather and heavy traffic onto a site will bring up the muck and esentially the original fill is lost !!

bbam

bbam wrote: »

I'm no expert on this but it will very much depend on how deep of fill you need where the ground is poor and how wide the drive is...

You probably need an experienced site works person out to look at the work, even then I'd imagine you will only know how good the ground is when you strip it back..

Then there is the cost of the fill, "rock face" is a good cheap option to bottom out a deep hole then use 3inch down closer to the top..

If you skimp on the fill where the ground is poor, wet weather and heavy traffic onto a site will bring up the muck and esentially the original fill is lost !!

Also a good idea to put down a permiable membrane to stop the stones being "swallowed up".
My driveway is just 3" down covered with type 804 (small stones & chips), during construction I just had the 3" down in some areas I needed to fill in the ruts a couple of times but after a couple of seasons it all settled down and then I laid a layer of 804 over it and it is fairly smooth, ready for tarmac some time in the future.

8track

Thanks bbam and dolanbaker.

bbam, I'm a bit away from getting siteworks estimates etc. I haven't the site bought yet - I'm waiting for the price of the site from the owner. How much I can afford to spend on the site will be affected by things like the cost of making the road - which I think is the most significant unknown factor I have at the moment.

dolanbaker, any costs from the work you did - say average per metre?

Slates

4' down costs €180 plus vat

reilig

8track wrote: »

Has anyone got the cost per metre/yard of making a road from the main road to the site/house location? What is the most inexpensive effective solution - stone/gravel? The road I'd need will go over very poor ground - a combination of large rocks in some places and bog in others - probably about 200 metres long.

Thanks.

Hey there,

I made a road to my site. 400m long, through some marshy ground and up quite a steep hill. I got a good experienced digger driver who knew what he was doing. He dug out the topsoil down to the subsoil. I bought in blast rock, and asked the quarry to give me half big rock and half dusty stuff from the blast. We put 1 foot of stone minimum all the way, and made sure to put the bigger stone on the bottom and the dusty stuff on top. In the marshy ground, we dug down to find something solid which was up to 5 foot in places, and on the hill there was a turn and it has between 4 and 5 foot of rock beneath it so that it will not move with the lorries crossing it.
With the blast rock, we have not had to put any 3" or 804. I hired a roller and the dusty part of the loads finished very solidly. No problem travelling om it with the car!

I have 2 pieces of advice for you:

1 Don't skimp or spare the stone for the road, remember it has to carry block lorries, readymix lorries and other delivery lorries for the construction. These lorries will push it in over time and leave a quality base for a road which you can finish once the house is built. It will go down in places with heavy lorries, but you can always fill these holes.

2 Get a good digger driver who has lots of experience and knows what he is doing. He will save you time, money, and will know how to do the thing properly. Digger drivers also have a good insight into the best stone and the best prices, and Don't let rookies around the place!!!!

Finally my costs:

€9500 in total.
7 day's hire for a 13.5 ton machine
€140 per lorry load for the blast rock.

Best of luck

Dan

Do-more

I saw a farm track in the UK last summer that had been topped off with recycled asphalt. It seemed to be a very good job as it bound together very well. Obviously it's a good bit rougher than fresh tarmac, but it was perfectly good to drive over and a fraction of the cost. Might be worth looking into.

reilig

Do-more wrote: »

I saw a farm track in the UK last summer that had been topped off with recycled asphalt. It seemed to be a very good job as it bound together very well. Obviously it's a good bit rougher than fresh tarmac, but it was perfectly good to drive over and a fraction of the cost. Might be worth looking into.

Yea, the stuff that comes off one of those road planers would be pretty good if it was levelled properly and rolled properly, it would finish quite nicely. But I cheched it out in the past, its more expensive than blast rock and you couldn't put it down until the road would have settled and most of the heavy lorries gone over it for your build.

Do-more

Do-more wrote: »

I saw a farm track in the UK last summer that had been topped off with recycled asphalt. It seemed to be a very good job as it bound together very well. Obviously it's a good bit rougher than fresh tarmac, but it was perfectly good to drive over and a fraction of the cost. Might be worth looking into.

Would you consider it suitable as a top dressing or is it too rough?

Do-more

Deleted User wrote: »

Would you consider it suitable as a top dressing or is it too rough?

It's hard to recall just how rough/smooth it was, but I've a dodgy ankle and it was fine for walking on so it must have been fairly good. I would say it was fine for a long drive such as the OP's, wouldn't personally go for it on a short drive or right next the house.

Do-more

Do-more wrote: »

It's hard to recall just how rough/smooth it was, but I've a dodgy ankle and it was fine for walking on so it must have been fairly good. I would say it was fine for a long drive such as the OP's, wouldn't personally go for it on a short drive or right next the house.

I'm looking at a driveway of 40m, so it's a maybe, preferably surface dressed with tar & chips (a la country road)

reilig

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm looking at a driveway of 40m, so it's a maybe, preferably surface dressed with tar & chips (a la country road)

It would be great stuff if you had the right way of laying it. If it is laid wrong it would be rough. You might have to consider hiring in a paveing machine or something similar to level it. You would definitely need a roller.

reilig

reilig wrote: »

It would be great stuff if you had the right way of laying it. If it is laid wrong it would be rough. You might have to consider hiring in a paveing machine or something similar to level it. You would definitely need a roller.

I'd get a friend of a friend who works for the council to do it, they did a neighbours a while ago, still looks good.

8track

reilig wrote: »

Hey there,

I made a road to my site. 400m long, through some marshy ground and up quite a steep hill. I got a good experienced digger driver who knew what he was doing. He dug out the topsoil down to the subsoil. I bought in blast rock, and asked the quarry to give me half big rock and half dusty stuff from the blast. We put 1 foot of stone minimum all the way, and made sure to put the bigger stone on the bottom and the dusty stuff on top. In the marshy ground, we dug down to find something solid which was up to 5 foot in places, and on the hill there was a turn and it has between 4 and 5 foot of rock beneath it so that it will not move with the lorries crossing it.
With the blast rock, we have not had to put any 3" or 804. I hired a roller and the dusty part of the loads finished very solidly. No problem travelling om it with the car!

I have 2 pieces of advice for you:

1 Don't skimp or spare the stone for the road, remember it has to carry block lorries, readymix lorries and other delivery lorries for the construction. These lorries will push it in over time and leave a quality base for a road which you can finish once the house is built. It will go down in places with heavy lorries, but you can always fill these holes.

2 Get a good digger driver who has lots of experience and knows what he is doing. He will save you time, money, and will know how to do the thing properly. Digger drivers also have a good insight into the best stone and the best prices, and Don't let rookies around the place!!!!

Finally my costs:

€9500 in total.
7 day's hire for a 13.5 ton machine
€140 per lorry load for the blast rock.

Best of luck

Dan

Great post Dan thanks very much and thanks to all other contributors. So €9,500 for 400 metres? Sounds okay. When you say marshy, would you say it wouldn't be as bad as bog and therefore bog could be a lot more expensive? Also, this figure doesn't include whatever you will put on top, if anything that is?

Re rookies - I think one (me) would be enough!

reilig

8track wrote: »

Great post Dan thanks very much and thanks to all other contributors. So €9,500 for 400 metres? Sounds okay. When you say marshy, would you say it wouldn't be as bad as bog and therefore bog could be a lot more expensive? Also, this figure doesn't include whatever you will put on top, if anything that is?

Re rookies - I think one (me) would be enough!

There's only 1 way to lay a roadway in bog. Don't break the top of the bog, lay teram and then put your stone on top of it. It will keep it up and it will carry all that you will need to build your house.

Dan