Muddy Dooryard

[mattymadore]

I have a large dooryard, fairly flat and completely dirt. In the spring the snow melts off the road and around the yard, and the frost comes out of the ground, creating a mud pit that my car barely gets through. Could anyone offer some suggestions for what I might be able to do on my own to help with this problem? We have a dirt road, and the dooryard is about 60 ft x 80 ft.

Thanks
Matt

[Johnny]

have you thought about putting gravel down where your drive way is then sowing grass on the rest of your front yard?

[mattymadore]

My only concern there is that the gravel would simply sink into the mud and not help the situation. The mud in the drive is deep enough that my car gets stuck up to the bumper and I need to put in 4 wheel drive with my truck.

[Yanita]

Hi,

Since you are sinking that deeply then this goes beyond just laying down a top substrate.

Sounds like you will need some heavy equipment (a dozer). This could get quite costly. You may need to have some under ground drainage installed, new sub base of course stone and work your way up to finer materials for your top base. Proper grading of the driveway would also be necessary.

Or if this expense is not doable, do as I am doing right now from excessive rain over the past week and half. Park car at end of driveway, laid down sheets of ply and use as walkway to the home....A PITA, ugly as sin but at least the driveway will/can dry out without major damage.

Yanita

[mjbrown65]

you could doze down and put a good base of gravel, then add crusher dust to the top. after a rain and driving on the driveway, the crusher dust packs in and creates a good solid driveway.

mike

[Greg]

With that much mud, you will need to at least go down 6-12" add landscape fabric, then use gravel. Depending on the "lay of the land" you may also need to do some drainage work. Greg

[Yanita]

Hey folks,

LOL, we are giving redundant info here, can anyone offer anything other that what I already posted?

Yanita

[flcruising]

Crushed limestone. My mother used it on her semicircular driveway, and it is HARD. It's not gravel as it becomes like concrete after a few rain showers. There was no special sub-base needed, but you may need to remove soil to keep from elevating it too much.