Crushed Granite Aggregate Over Old Asphalt Driveway

Here are directions for making a beautiful crushed granite driveway that looks like a garden pathway.

We let our asphalt driveway crack and weather for 18 years, but you can do this sooner.  Kill all visible grass and weeds in cracks using a strong herbicide. Apply one (1) inch of finely crushed rustic granite stone--finer grades work best (rust coloration).  Rake the surface smooth with a garden rake and drive back and forth to pack it down. Then walk, run, drive and enjoy.

You can have crushed granite stone delivered from most stone quarry retailers or many large garden center retailers. If you’re really ambitious and have a SUV or a pickup, haul it yourself in tubs and buckets. In 2006 we paid $90.00 a ton and used close to eleven (11) tons on our 220 foot driveway. We hauled some in our SUV to start the project, but gave up and paid for delivery for most of it. After two years we needed to add 1 1/2 tons to fill in thin spots and some runoff pathways because our driveway has a gradual slope. That initial addition was followed by another smaller addition a couple years later for general wear and tear.  Later, each maintenance application gets smaller and easier so you can avoid delivery costs if you haul it yourself from the quarry--that’s what we did. 


Negatives:  Raking is necessary on sloped sections, especially after heavy downpours. 

Tip: It’s easy to rake granite stone aggregate when wet. When it’s dry, it is very difficult.
Winter snow removal is tricky. If you hire a snow plowing service, their plow blade will have to be set 1” above grade to prevent scraping the granite aggregate away from the asphalt sub-surface. If you don’t do that, you have a mess. It is desirable to do your own snow removal, so you can minimize mess-ups. If you buy or use your own snow blower, also set the slide-bars one (1) inch above grade. This results in a winter driveway that has some packed snow from time to time, but it is actually a very Norwegian thing to do. In Norway snow is packed down not shoveled, so we're told.

Economic benefits: Our initial investment for 11 tons of crushed granite was less than half the cost for repaving our asphalt driveway.  Annual maintenance costs for the stone driveway average out to less than 25% of what ongoing patching and seal coating costs would be for a typical asphalt driveway.

Environmental Benefits: A gravel driveway with a cracked asphalt base provides a rain-water permeable surface. The cracks in the porous base asphalt driveway allow for natural rain water adsorption and groundwater regeneration with minimal run-off.

More Benefits: Aesthetically pleasing, as when flowers are planted along the sides and spill over onto the stone. It gives the visual effect of driving up through a garden path. A wonderful example of a crushed granite driveway can be observed in the film “The Queen” . It serves the Royal family well at one of their country estates.