Today began with a rethink on how the driveway was configured. The Three times that Leesh has seen it now she has commented that it has been too high and was I sure that it was low enough in the ground.
In total denial I assured her that it was fine, but packed in loose, spongy clay and sitting so that water was running around it and not through the culvert pipe, it was never going to work, and after two weeks I finally collected the resolve to attack the job, of course like every day recently on the Island it was wet and windy. Firstly I scraped back the gravel and then had to shovel out the clay, which of course was sodden and heavy and difficult to shovel. I then removed the pipe culvert and dug out the ditch to make it deeper. After I was satisfied relined the bottom with crushed rock and then stacked in the pipe with loose gravel around the pipe, now it is sitting at about ground level and the water appears to be entering and exiting in a satisfactory manner.
After three hours of back braking labour in the pouring rain I finally had the culvert pipe reinstated and backfilled with gravel, with all the clay material removed, it appears to be much more effective. If only I had done this before.
Also worth noting I’m using a plastic culvert which is specifically designed for agricultural applications and can take the load of a tractor. This is counter to the council’s wishes for a concrete pipe. However as the concrete is much more expensive, $600.00 (additional delivery from Melbourne), much less easy to handle and is prone to becoming brittle and cracking over time. The plastic is easy to handy ½ the price and is very durable. So we’ll see how we go with the council.
We purchased 6m of pipe at $300 including delivery
Also for the job I required a 6 cubic meters of crushed rock ($60 per cubic meter) and after the driveway settles in about two or three weeks I will apply a layer of finer rock dust to compact into the drive.
The total cost of the driveway job will come to about $700.00 including about 8hrs of labour. The council will build the culvert for you for $1100 (excluding the rest of the drive) so there is a significant cost saving involved with by organising this yourself, also crushed rock driveways are a good cheap alternative to concrete. However it is thought to be diplomatic to see what the neighbours have done and aim to replicate this standard.
For the general construction job(s) we also brought a council road obstruction permit which costs $50.00 and comes into effective immediately from payment and lasts one year upon issue.
I will have to get up early to finish off the job tomorrow, joy.
Cheers AJ
