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Gardening with Stone

Stabilizing Pea Gravel

16 years ago

Hi....Without going into the details of "what was I thinking", I need to stabilize pea gravel in a pathway.

Does anyone know of a product or way I can get this stuff to become a firmer surface? The gravel is contained in the pathway with an edging of brick and has a base of landscape fabric.

Is there something I can add to it such as sand, a smaller gravel, dirt, anything that will help?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give.

Murphy

Featured Answer

sawdust_maker

16 years ago

Also not an expert, but I've seen how this works first hand.

Pea gravel on its own is like a pile of marbles. When you walk or drive over it, it slides around easily. Note that crushed stone does not behave this way. The sharp edges don't let things move as easily.

In order to stabilize this, you will want to add contractors sand or a very fine crusher run to it. This will help to lock it all together, filling in the interstices between the larger pea gravel with small stuff that does not move easily.

John

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Comments (6)

natalie4b
16 years ago
Hi Murphy,
I am far from being an expert, but from my limited experience adding sand makes the surface tougher and easier to walk on. In time it gets more compacted and sturdier.
Natalie
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msubobcat
16 years ago
I have a similar problem with a large covered portico. There are ~150 12" square step stones all surrounded by pea gravel. I'm in a constant maintenance mode trying to keep the pea gravel in place. The following advice was recently offered to me. I have yet to investigate this but it sounds like something worth lookoing into:
"I've been on several pathways that have clearly been some sort of stabilized agg product. They're sold as soil stabilizers (type that into google and settle in), but the principle is the same. I haven't used them myself, don't know how they're affected by climate (the website below is for a mfr in Phoenix), and don't know how well the product works as a "retrofit"- but it *could* work. Come to think of it, one of the private residences in Colonial Williamsburg has a stabilized pea gravel front walk."

Here is a link that might be useful: Stabilizer Solution
zachary_joyce
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Hello All,

My name is Zachary Joyce. I am the marketing director for Klingstone Paths. We sell a liquid polyurethane that is used to bind together loose aggregate to make ADA compliant and natural looking pathways. If you are interested in our product I ask that you visit www.klingstonepaths.com. Our technical department can answer any questions you may have.

Here is a link that might be useful: Klingstone Paths
earthdogmom
15 years ago
Hello, I guess I should have come here first, but I got an idea to have a totally untamed garden in my front yard which is not landscaped. I put in a wattle fence (twig), and then I decided I needed a walkway, so I used pea gravel surrounded by some type of rocks I found. anyway, I like it, and I am thinking of having it wend its way through the entire area. I also made some round planters out of twigs. I don't mind that they pop out a little..
pmeans123
15 years ago
We had a pea gravel patio that we converted to a natural stone patio. I didn't want to waste all of the pea gravel, but it wouldn't make a stabilized base on it's own. Our local guys told us to mix it with stone dust.

You may want to try that to a base layer and then have a inch layer of pea stone on top. I'm not an expert either, so if you do this, try a test section first.

Below is the whole story on how we excavated the pea gravel and how to build a stone patio

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Build a Stone Patio

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