08/22/2026
Commonly asked question is do gravel driveways need periodic maintenance and how much? The answer is yes and there are a lot of factors that need to be considered of how much maintenance it is going to need.
Just a few factors are, how much daily traffic consisting of cars or heavy trucks, slope/steepness, drainage conditions, water table and one of the most damaging is how many heavy rain storms do you receive.
Here is a driveway that was done by us two years ago. Two years ago it had deep gorges and washouts as the water was not able to get off the side of the road. We came in and shaped the driveway, dug ditches to remove the water away from the road and placed ledge-pack. The photos don’t do justice to how steep this driveway is, which is very difficult to keep from washing out with heavy rains.
This time the driveway had no washouts or gorges and the homeowner wanted it refurbished and reshaped due to the winter plowing and rainstorms before it needed major maintenance.
Grass growing in the driveway is another question. Unfortunately grass will grow in the gravel in areas where it does not receive traffic. One item I recommend to use both helps the driveway stay solid and helps keep the grass away is calcium chloride. Calcium chloride keeps the moisture in the gravel to help the fines (small dirt particles) of the material remain locked in and prevents growth of grass.
Here are some photos of the reconditioning before and after. We added a thin layer of ledge-pack on top and this time the client had the the area around the house completed.