Making Gravel

A part of the project I removed to bring the budget down was tearing out half the carport pad and the back yard patio. I had an edge to work on as soon as the driveway was removed. I ended up using a 20 lb. sledge hammer to chew off the edge about 6"-12" at a time.

One thing that became evident during this process was how much small detritus I was going to make. Because of the wire embedded in the concrete it just wasn't possible to break it into only big pieces.

In the beginning I simply dumped the mountain of small refuse I've been creating into the space behind the garage, where they were going to put gravel anyway, which saved me the cost of one load of gravel. That got me thinking.

Soon I began producing and sifting my home made gravel into useful sizes and I quickly got it down to a system. Using three bins, a bucket, and two screens (1/2" and 1"), I end up with two sizes of "gravel" and two sizes of "rock".

All the refuse from the destruction, except the big chunks, goes onto the 1/2" screen (small gravel). Everything that doesn't fall through goes onto the 1" screen (large gravel). From what is left, I pick out anything larger than fist sized (large rock) and what is left is the small rock.

By making gravel I have seriously reduced the amount of material that will go into the trench, and have base material to use under the pavers I will be putting down elsewhere in the yard.

For now, the large rock goes behind the garage in the beginning of another level. The small rock goes in the front in a 10" deep trench along the sidewalk. This area is the setback in front of the retaining wall I want to build here. The rock will eventually be covered with gravel and pavers.

On the east side of the house, I used the large gravel and a layer of the small gravel to create a base for the pavers under my rain barrel and to create an edge along the house foundation. This has always been a difficult place to have plants because it is always very dry. Rain never seems to get in here so the only way I can have healthy plants is to water next to the foundation, which I'm reluctant to do.

The paved area will extend into a path that runs the length of the side yard with flower beds on either side. To create this path, first the topsoil is removed and sifted into the bed alongside it, along with the iris, peonies, dahlias and bulbs that were moved out of this area and the front yard before construction started. I will still need to redig the whole bed once the path is finished

Once the soil has been removed the large gravel goes down.

The small gravel goes down next to make a stable surface, and then the pavers. Finally, sand gets spread on top of the pavers, partly to fill the cracks and partly to keep the mud buildup to a minimum, since there is still bare dirt at either end of this path.

I've realized that, if I end up with more chunks and less gravel than I need, I can simply take the sledge hammer to the chunks and turn them into gravel. Handy.

Once I finished with the concrete for this year, I was also done building the side yard path and the flower bed. There is still a 10 ft. section to go, but that won't happen now until spring.

The other place I used it was to create a walkway along the west side behind the garage. Eventually I will put down pavers here too, but not until the dirt is spread and the garden laid out. For now the gravel gives me a walking surface other than mud.