Dirt Roads

[Homerr]

Can someone please explain to me HOW going fast down a dirt road is suppose to damage it?<br />I've always heard this, but nobody can prove it.<br /><br />I live on a dirt road that is not maintained by the county. The rest of the neighborhood has always pitched in and paid for general grading etc...<br /><br />The county will come in and pave it for a little more taxes. The rest of the neihbors (a few in particular) cannot see the benefits of this. Spread over 20 years, the taxes would be nothing.<br />I for one will NOT pay for a dead horse.<br />Why keep filing in holes? Year after year. They grade it, dump more granite, and a few months later..the holes are back.<br /><br />They got angry at them a while back when they came around asking for money.<br />I told them until my 4x4 can't get down the road, I won't pay. Needless to say, they haven't asked for money since!<br /><br />A paved road is better on your cars, it increases the value of your home. Heck, I was recently denied a loan by a lender who woudn't fund because my house was on a dirt road! <br /><br />How does one get through to these people?<br /><br />H.

 

[crab bait]

Re: Dirt Roads

that's just it, HOMERR,get thru to them..<br />write alittle letter explainin' your views an points an pro's & cons.. make some copies & drop them off in there mail boxes.. <br /><br />just don't get stuck in a pothole...

 

[12Footer]

Re: Dirt Roads

Taxes smaxes. Why not get several contractors to bid on paving your road?<br />Your community would pay the same or less to a contractor that the county would charge y'all.<br /><br />We did that in the last nieghborhood I lived in (my bro still lives there).<br />The only drawback is your assesed property value, and therfore, taxes go up anyhow, as soon as the road is paved.<br />I guess you can tell I hate taxes.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Dirt Roads

From what I have been told....<br /><br />If you are going fast, or accellerating on a gravel road, when you hit a bump/ridge/hole, your tires will lose traction, causing wheels to spin. When your tires again make contact with the gravel, there will be gravel displaced making the hole deeper or longer. Some of the gravel will pile up on top of the bump. So now we have a bigger bump and bigger hole, which will now cause your tires to bounce and create more bumps and holes....Now we have a washboard. Also, the more gravel that is displaced into the ditches, the more gravel that will need replacing.<br /><br />I also live on a gravel road and have several washboard areas near my home. They are where people accellerate after an intersection, and going up a small hill. My problem is that the town grader driver will not grade deep enough to eliminate the washboard, so it returns within a few hours of being graded. He "has been doing this for 68 years" and knows what he's doing. ARRRGG!! The town also won't add enough sand/clay/gravel??? to build up the road. Every road within 5 miles is blacktop, except mine which has 39 homes and 8 businesses on it.

 

[JB]

Re: Dirt Roads

Ahoy, Homerr.<br /><br />I lived with about a mile of County dirt road for the first few years I lived here. The County graded it from time to time. I still had about 1/4 mile of gravel driveway to get to The Hideout.<br /><br />About 6 months after I got elected to the School Board the County paved it. (The road, not my drive.) I didn't even ask, and I am the only home on the road.<br /><br />Is your road private or is it a county/municipal road? You might try a foray into local politics. They pay a lot more attention.

 

[Homerr]

Re: Dirt Roads

Thanks guys...<br /><br />H.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Dirt Roads

homerr, don't worry about it, just go faster and you will be on top of the holes and just go over the top.

 

[DJ]

Re: Dirt Roads

Homerr,<br /><br />Don't go paving that road on your own! The county might not like it, not up to their exacting specifications you know , and they might make you tear it all up.<br /><br />Roscoe's description of how a road gets potholed and washboarded is right on.<br /><br />JB, You must have really intimidated those folks!

 

[Homerr]

Re: Dirt Roads

Well, it's always been a 'Hatfield vs. McCoy' fight.<br /><br />I don't play the game myself.<br /><br />If they want to keep pissing money away, let 'em.<br /><br />I made my point. Ifn' my '76 Ford 4x4 with 36" Buckshots can't get through, then maybe I'll pay for a grader! <br /><br />H.

 

[plywoody]

Re: Dirt Roads

There is lots to building a road that not every contractor with a bulldozer who is punching in a road to build some houses concerns himself with.<br /><br />Things like culvert sizing and placement, road drainage, ditching, and the like.<br /><br />DJohns is correct. Don't go paving a road without approval, unless it is officially designated a "private road" and even then you may need, depending on which locality you live, engineering studies and drawings and the like to make sure you are not doing any damage to any adjacent lands and the like.

 

[Ross J]

Re: Dirt Roads

You might like to look into using dehydrated lime and clay mixed with water to remedy the situation.<br />Here there's a system for turning dirt roads into a concrete like substance that's cheap and works for many years without grading at all.<br />I've had a hand in a couple of them.<br />First the road substrate must include clay at some stage,<br />Second you rip the surface open with a bulldozer fitted with rippers.<br />Third you rotary hoe the top foot into as fine a mixture you can get.<br />Forth you get a truck to spread dehydrated lime on top of the rotary hoed surface.<br />Then you rotary hoe this well into the surface.<br />Nearly done - Water and lots of it, applied from a water truck till the surface boils. It looks spectacular and the steam is awesome.<br />Rotary hoed again and rolled, it'll set just like concrete and there'll be far less cost than using the conventional tar seal.<br />I've seen the local authorities use this method then just seal over the top for big roads which have stood the test of time.<br />Just a suggestion.<br />Ross<br />PS, I couldn't go without telling you the best way to clean a toilet ever. A handfull of dehydrated lime tossed into the toilet bowl, left to settle and stop boiling then flushed. I've seen many a building site toilet cleaned spick and span that way - not plastic ones though.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Dirt Roads

Dehydrated lime?? What are we talking about here? Do we call it something else here in the states?

 

[Ross J]

Re: Dirt Roads

I don't know what you guys call it over there, if I can find a scientific name I'll post it.<br />I do know its from the ground and is held in bulk in large silos till needed. It's trucked covered for obvious reasons till used. It looks like a white powder much like flour.<br />Ross

 

[Ross J]

Re: Dirt Roads

Calcium Hydroxide, also called slaked lime Ca(OH)2, is obtained by the action of water on Calcium Oxide (LIME).<br />When mixed with water, a small proportion of it disolves, forming a solution known as limewater, the rest remaining as a suspension known as Milk of Lime.<br />Calcium Hydroxide is used primarily as an industrial alkali and as a constituent of mortars, plasters and cement.<br /><br />This is all from the Encyclopaedia Britannica.<br />Ross

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Dirt Roads

I don't know about it's road building characteristics, but I do know that it will kinda do away with unwanted dead critters.<br />I mean, there is a guy here at home that owns a big pay lake and after he first opened some 8 year back, he got a truck load of bad/sick catfish, and after about a week, they started showing up dead and he got them out of the water and hauled them up the holler and dug a hole to put them in and put dehydrated lime on them, and in no time at all they were reduced to just bones with no smell or nothing, so use it with caution for it is very rough stuff if you get it on you.

 

[Scoop]

Re: Dirt Roads

They used powered lime with a lot of burials. It cuts down on the smell.

 

[Jack Shellac]

Re: Dirt Roads

Also used to use it in outhouses down here for obvious reasons. May still do in the more remote regions,