Gravel Delivery Where the Frost Goes 48 Inches Down

The lane is what brings most people here. A drive that carried a loaded propane truck all summer goes to ruts in the third week of March, the plow has already shaved half the crown into the ditch, and none of it can be put right until the frost lets go. Gravel delivery in this state is planned backwards from that week. Depth first, material second, a date on the calendar third.

Frost sets the depth before anything else does

• Frost reaches at least 48 inches under a footing in the state dwelling code, and 48 to 72 inches under a road by late winter. No gravel layer gets anywhere near that.
• The thaw works down from the surface. Meltwater sits on subsoil that is still frozen, and everything above it softens.
• Lake clays along Lake Michigan, Green Bay and the Fox Valley, and the red clay plain on the Lake Superior side, hold that water longest.
• Central Sands outwash drains within days of the thaw, but the base still has to carry the truck.
• Driftless silt loam ruts early on a grade and keeps washing wherever a hillside seep comes out.
• Class II state highways and posted county, town and village roads carry spring weight limits while frost comes out, roughly early March into May.

Depth and compaction answer the load. Crowns, ditches and clear stone answer the water. Most failed drives in this state are drainage failures wearing a different hat.

Base, water, surface, soil and armor: six lists, one lot

Six short lists cover nearly every order that goes out.

• Under soft or wet subgrade. Breaker Run is stone taken through a primary crusher to 6 inches or less, laid to correct ground before anything finer goes on it.
• Under traffic. 3/4" Traffic Bond is the dense graded base Wisconsin yards sell by that name. It packs tight and holds a crown.
• Where water has to keep moving. Drain Rock, #57 Stone and 3/4" Crushed Stone have the fines screened out, so the gaps between stones stay open in a trench.
• On top. Driveway Gravel on a lane, Walkway Gravel on a path, Screenings under pavers and flagstone, Pea Gravel in a play area.
• Growing and grading. Top Soil for a new lawn, Garden Soil in raised beds, Fill Dirt to bring low ground up and Shredded Mulch over the beds.
• Holding a bank. RipRap and Large River Rock where wave attack, spring runoff or a high lake year is pulling ground off a shoreline or a culvert outlet.

The full catalogue, twenty-four materials, sits on the materials page with the size and grading listed for each one.

Pencil arithmetic for a 60-foot drive

Take a hypothetical drive 12 feet wide and 60 feet long, getting a 4 inch compacted layer of traffic bond.

• 12 x 60 = 720 square feet.
• 4 inches is 4 divided by 12, or 0.333 feet.
• 720 x 0.333 = 240 cubic feet.
• 240 divided by 27 = 8.9 cubic yards.
• This site publishes crusher run and road base at roughly 3,000 lb per cubic yard, near enough 1.50 tons per yard, so 8.9 x 1.50 = about 13.3 tons.

Those weights are approximate, and the depth quoted is the compacted one, so loose material will stand higher until it is rolled. The material calculators run the same arithmetic for all twenty-four materials and hand back cubic yards, tons and cubic feet together.

Gravel delivery day at the end of a township road

• Quantity and a delivery date are picked on the product page, and the ZIP code entered at checkout is what arranges the delivery.
• Material arrives by dump truck and comes off as one pile at the spot you mark.
• What happens on delivery day covers the access, the marking and whether anyone needs to be standing there.

Work out the depth, run the tonnage, then set a quantity and a date on the product page. If the lane bends, the pad is a pear shape or the bank is steeper than it looked in October, send the measurements through the contact form and we will go over the figures with you first. The ordering questions page covers what comes up after that, and who is behind this storefront sets out what happens between checkout and the tip.