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Warning: My neighbor's gravel advice cost me $200
My neighbor Steve told me to use crushed limestone for my walkway because it packs down harder than regular gravel. He said he'd done it before and it looked great. I went ahead and bought 3 tons of it from the local yard in Austin, spent an entire Saturday spreading it out myself. After the first good rain, it turned into a muddy mess that stuck to everything and killed the grass along the edges. Now I have to dig it all out and start over with proper decomposed granite like I should have done from the start. Has anyone else had a neighbor steer them wrong on a backyard project like that?
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joel_jones3d ago
Ah man, crushed limestone really isn't the same as what they use for roads - it needs a stabilizer or it just turns to mud when wet. Steve probably meant well but that stuff is more for horse arenas and heavy compaction areas, not walkways.
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uma_williams3d ago
Always thought the mud thing gets overblown. We've got a limestone path behind our shed that's been fine for years with just a little gravel mix on top. @joel_jones, might depend on the clay content where you live.
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the_diana1d agoTop Commenter
Totally get what @joel_jones is saying about the stabilizer thing. Honestly seen a lot of folks just skip that step and end up with a muddy mess after one good rain. Tbh you can get away without it if you slope the walkway right and pack it down super hard like with a plate compactor but most people don't bother with that kind of detail. Ngl a little bit of cement powder mixed in would fix that mud problem before it even starts.
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