Driveway Stones

Make the drive up to your home a nice one with beautiful driveway stones.

Let’s talk about driveway stones….

It’s that time of the year again. Spring thaws, rains, waterlogged and mushy driveways. The most common solution to this problem is a top stone dressing for your driveway. The least expensive and most popular stone happens to be one of the best products, which is Michigan limestone.

Sizes Let’s start with the various sizes, common name, and description of the Michigan limestone. The Michigan limestone is gray in color.

1/2″ Clean (25A)

  • Thumbnail in size
  • Great top dressing in dry weather
  • Little dust in dry weather
  • Easy to walk on

3/4″ Clean (6A Lime, or #57 in some states)

  • Great top dressing in wet weather (will not disparate into the ground as quickly as the 1/2”
  • Little dust in dry weather
  • Still easy to walk on
1″ Down (21AA)
  • A mix of 1” or so limestone down to a fine powder of limestone
  • Suitable for new driveways (although a base of larger stone is more desirable)
  • Packs hard like a concrete
  • Very easy to walk on
  • Dusty in dry weather
1 1/2″ Clean (5G)
  • A bit larger than golf ball in size
  • Little dust in dry weather
  • Harder to walk on
  • Suitable for a base or extreme mushy driveways
1″ – 3″ Clean ( Ohio 2)
  • A mix of golf ball to small fist size stone
  • Little dust in dry weather
  • Extremely hard to walk on
  • The best stone for a new driveway as a base
  • Excellent for a base in low lying wet areas (the water can still flow through)

During the spring thaws, the recommended size is the 3/4” clean. Freezing weather will cause frozen clumps of stone in our piles. The 3/4” breaks up the best when shoveled up by the loading machine. The 1” down freezes the worst of all the stones. In fact, depending on how frozen the piles are, 1” down may not even be offered for delivery during the winter months.

 

Crushed natural stone is also a popular choice for a driveway stone. Crushed natural is a bit more costly than limestone, but offers a colorful alternative to limestone. Crushed natural consists mostly of Michigan granites. The color is a variety of blue, gray, green, and pink. The overall tone is blue with the lighter colors accenting. Two sizes that are commonly stocked are 5/8” and 1”. Both of these are a clean stone with little dust.

 

Some driveways require a more colorful application. While more expensive, there are many exotic stones that are suitable for driveways. Some of these stones are; barn red, red granite, geo blast, bluestone #5, slate chips, and northern sparkle.

How much stone do I need, and do you spread the stone? To calculate the amount of stone you need, you will need the length and width of your driveway. The formula for calculating yards is length x width x depth / 27. The length, width, and depth must be in feet. The suggested top dressing depth is 3”. Therefore, you must convert the 3” into a decimal (for feet). We will supply the conversion chart for you, as follows:

      1. .083
      2. .166
      3. .250
      4. .333
      5. .416
      6. .500
      7. .583
      8. .666
      9. .750
      10. .833
      11. .916
      12. 1.00

Therefore, if your driveway is 100’ long, 8’ wide, and you want to top dress it 3”, you will need the following: 100 x 8 x .250 /27 = 7.4 yards (you could round up or down to 7 or 8 yards).

 

The answer to the second question about spreading the stone is, yes we can. At no extra charge, we offer a “tailgating” service. The driver will set the chains on the dump box and let the stone spill out of the truck as it is dumping. This service is done to the best of the driver’s ability, and according to conditions. Tree’s, power lines, and slopes will affect the results. The customer will most likely still have to rake or shovel the stone in some, or a lot of spots.

 

We also have machines available for large top dress, or newly constructed driveways. There are extra fees for the machine services. The fees will vary depending on the size of the job.