Making stone path, would this work?

[ElleSkywalker]

Evening,

I need to make a couple of paths from my stables to drive (both in my garden, no planning required) I am waiting on a neighbour coming to see if he wants to do it for me but time is ticking on and concerned its not going to happen so wondering if building the paths on top of the grass might work?

So plan was, take off top soil, put down hardcore, add limestone 4mm to dust on top. Run digger over to squish flat.

Emergency make do version to save time, put limestone directly onto grass so path is higher than ground level, run digger over to squish flat. No taking off topsoil or hardcore.

Thoughts?

 

[Tiddlypom]

We've done both versions. The second option works surprisingly well, and we only had a garden roller to compact it . That was crusher run, so slightly larger limestone chunks, topped with limestone fines.

It works much better when the ground is soft, so that the limestones squishes into it.

 

[ElleSkywalker]

That's good to know as we are def running out of time that the ground is solid so at least if neighbour can't do it we have an option ?

 

[tda]

Another option would be to buy some Mud Control mats and top with sand.
Instant path

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Another option would be to buy some Mud Control mats and top with sand.
Instant path

I have lots of MC mats that I use in field, the paths needed are permanent and will have very light traffic so would rather not waste MC mats for paths

 

[ycbm]

Yes it works, it's how all my paths have been made. I don't even roll them, they just consolidate naturally in use.
.

 

[ycbm]

And this is my new path from the barn into the field, made with all the old tarmac that came off the yard. This is an unexpected bonus!

This path a year ago, today it is just a flat strip bordered by grass, dry in all weather's. It has 6 tons of stone from 5 years ago under the tarmac scalpings. It used to be very wet.

 

[ElleSkywalker]

That looks ace YCBM, am thinking about 10cms high of stone before squishage would work?

 

[ycbm]

That was probably 10cm. Depending on how wet the ground is it could need a top up of about the same in a few years. I'll get you a picture of it as it looks now tomorrow when it's light.
.

 

[Tiddlypom]

This is my former very wet spot, it's a walkway between the two fields.

It's probably got only 5 cm of limestone on, as it was leftovers and that was all we had. We barrowed it in by hand and tipped it into the mud. At the point the pic was taken, the horses were using it daily to travel between fields so it got muddy from what they carried in the feet. It's firm, though, I can drive the Shogun over it .

It could be tidied up and topped up if it was in a smarter area.

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Thanks for the pic TP, makes me so much less worried that have missed the window! I know I can get the limestone delivered at fairly short notice, it was digger, driver and skip to put top soil in that were really worrying me! Sure DSW or I can use a mini digger so that makes things much more doable!

 

[PurBee]

Im currently making a really long track and using a ‘shale’ type of rock (called ‘slig’ here) - i get quite cheap - 100 euro per 14 tonne load. Its similar to limestone in that it squishes together when digger is tracked over it.

Im putting it directly onto the top soil/grass - having done this method over the years - i use around 1 foot depth of the stuff, squish it with digger tracks - it compresses to around half a foot, and the track can then take the 3 tonne digger weight easily without sinking at all.
The track is used for horses and tractor/heavy loads so would also take the 2 tonne weight of the landrover too. My land/areas i’ve done this are fairly damp year round, we get high rainfall.

I never thought id get away with it, not bothering to remove the topsoil, but it knits together solid ontop of even fairly soft topsoil, like a hard crust. Works very well!

I would caution as TP says if you have some larger chunks of stones, some smaller and dust mixed together, you’ll get a more solid path. It depends on the wetness and depth of the topsoil you want to cover - the wetter and deeper it is the larger the chunks of rock…im using sizes from 1 foot across down to dust, a real mix, on very moist 1 foot deep topsoil with limestone subsoil.

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Thanks PurBee very helpful ?