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Landscape Design

Pea gravel path help!

14 years ago

Hi, we had a pea gravel walkway installed a few years ago and are so unhappy with it. Half of the gravel is gone leaving 4" of the steel edging exposed; it's terrible to walk in; and just not practical for walking from the front of the house into the backyard. I was going to buy more pea gravel to refill it but think it's a lost cause. We don't have the money right now to have it removed and replaced with something else. Does anyone have any suggestions for the short term (maybe 2 years?). I don't know about putting pavers in the walkway? Or some other type of stones?? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Right now I don't even USE the path- instead I walk on the grass beside it to avoid the quicksand feeling! Thanks so much.

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Comments (3)

agupton
14 years ago
The reason it is difficult to walk on is 1. Pea gravel has a poor angle of cohesion, meaning there are not jagged edges for the rock to brace against other rocks so the pea gravel moves around between each other. 2. There are few "fines" in the gravel. Since this is a natural rock and not crushed, the particle sizes fall in the same size category.

Solution: You need a crushed rock. This will provide sharp angles and fines that will fill up the voids. Dense Grade Aggregate (DGA) is a standard in construciton because it satifies both of these issues. It is not as astetically pleasing, but it is functional.

Since you are losing rock, I will assume the base was not prepared using sand or a compaction method. The rock is probably pressing down into the earth below or moving out the sides and having the same result. Either rip it all out and start over, or put the DGA in and hope this will solve your problem. Either way, no solution is a forever solution, so you will have to add rock over time, no matter your choice.
madeyna
14 years ago
You can add pavers but if the pea gravel is thick the pavers will move unless you dig them in. We did it by making a square with 2 by 4s then placing the square where we wanted the paver to go then removing most of the peagravel within the square then place your paver in the square you can add a little wet concrete under the paver if your still concerned it might move. Remove the square then backfill the peagravel around it. The paver should sit higher than the peagravel or that will cause a whole different set of problems. Its really easy and fast to do just one of those things that sounds complicated.
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Doesn't seem like it's necessary for any more people to cast a vote against pea gravel as a walking surface, but I will chime in with complete agreement that it is one of the best ways to wrongly use a material. Just looking at the slate chips has me casting a vote against it, too. It will be a tiny bit better than pea gravel, but far inferior to other materials. The key to getting a good walking surface of granular material is that, a) none of the materials are larger than about 1/2" to 5/8"; b.) in addition to the largest sizes, there are all sizes smaller all the way down to sand and dust; c.) the material shape is angular, not rounded like pea gravel. (The slate chips fulfill only one of these criteria.) There are many crushed rock materials that work well and they vary with the different regions. One just needs to visit the yards where such things are sold and see what's available. Another consideration if it will be used during the daytime is that darker materials are not as glaring in the sun. (This is important to many people.) As one example though it is hard to find, crushed brick is about as nice as it gets. It's dark, pretty colored and packs down hard. Cinders, if not too large, is good too. In the end, a good surface should be almost hard enough to bounce a basketball on.
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zachary_joyce
14 years ago
Klingstone Paths is a liquid that is poured over loose stone pathways binding the stones together making a solid, ADA compliant and maintenance free path while keeping the natural look of the stones. It is easy to apply, environmentally friendly and allows water to percolate. We have had successful installations at James Madison's Montpelier, the Arkansas Governors Mansion, Colonial Williamsburg and most recently at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

Here is a link that might be useful: Klingstone Paths

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