Rural driveways around Spokane take a beating. Freeze and thaw all winter, then snowmelt running down the same line every March, and by spring you have ruts, potholes and washboard where you used to have a driveway. Regrading it properly costs a fraction of what most people expect.
What we do to a gravel driveway
- Cut out ruts, potholes and washboard and re-establish a running surface
- Re-crown the driveway so water sheds off instead of running down it
- Cut or clean roadside ditches and culvert inlets so runoff has somewhere to go
- Add and grade new crushed rock where the base has thinned out
- Regrade after a hard winter or after construction traffic has torn it up
- Widen, extend or put in a new gravel drive or turnaround
Why it failed the first time
Most failed gravel driveways around here are flat or slightly dished, so water runs along them instead of off them. Once water runs down the length of a driveway it carries the fines away, the rock loosens, and traffic pumps the base up into the surface. That is washboard.
We regrade with a crown — a slight peak down the center so water sheds to both sides within a few feet — and make sure the ditches and culverts can actually take it. Fixing the surface without fixing the drainage buys you one season. Fixing both lasts years.
When to do it
Late spring through fall. Material compacts best when the ground is damp but not saturated. Early spring, when everything is soft from snowmelt, is the worst time to work a driveway and also unfortunately when it looks the worst. If your drive is chewed up in March, it is usually worth waiting a few weeks rather than grading mud.
Fall is the best time to do it. Crowned and compacted before the ground freezes, a driveway comes through winter in far better shape than one graded in spring.
What affects the price
- Length and width of the drive
- Whether you need new rock or we can work with what is there
- How bad the ruts are, and whether the base has failed or just the surface
- Ditch and culvert work
- Access and turnaround room for the equipment
New rock is usually the biggest line and it is priced by the yard delivered. If your base is still sound, a regrade alone can make an enormous difference for very little material.
Related work
Driveways often go in alongside shop and pad grading, and if the water problem is bigger than the drive, see drainage and French drains.
Where we work
Spokane, Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Mead, Colbert, Chattaroy, Deer Park, Nine Mile Falls, Cheney, Airway Heights and Medical Lake — about 50 miles out from Spokane. We work the Washington side of the state line.
Grizzly Excavation Services LLC — Washington contractor license GRIZZES767J5. Licensed, bonded and insured. Free estimates.