Is My Driveway Going to Get a Sunk In It?

[crokett™]

I had several stumps ground out yesterday. 2 of them are where I am going to expand the driveway to a parking area - I'm going to spread several inches of crush n run. One of the stumps was above ground, so there's some woodchips. The other was mostly roots but it was enough that it started sprouting again. So that's sawdust mixed with dirt. Will I regret just raking everything back into the holes and putting the new parking area over top or should I haul all that stuff off and fill with packed dirt?

[Matthew Williams]

It will decay, you can fill it with rock now or later.

[Bob10]

IIRC you are some land any chance you can make a fire pit in the ground out stump holes? Some diesel and charcoal fire might go a long way to getting rid of anything that will decay

[JosephP]

Digging out and backfill now = a small portion of paving project total cost.

Cutting pavement/backfilling later = larger cost and mismatched pavement.

[Bob10]

I dug out an Acacia I cut down it took a few days but I avoided the decay and sink that usually occurs with a rotting stump, plus it allowed planting something in it's place without the worry of the decaying stump making the ground too hot for something put in the same place

[Robert Adams]

Any time you grind a stump you need to dig up the wood chips. You will always regret leaving wood chips from a stump in the ground. It takes years to decompose and it attracts mushrooms often stinky ones. Then you end up filling that spot for years as it slowly sinks.


Like others if there is enough there soak it with diesel and burn all that junk. Or haul it away. With a gravel drive it's very important. Also there are fabrics and meshes you can put down under gravel driveways to make them much less susceptible to potholes etc.

[K. L. McReynolds]

Ditto what Robert said. I worked around chip dumps for years and have seen them still loose and sinking after 15 years. Granted, this was a commercial sized dump covering about 2 acres, but the area where trucks drove in to reach the dump point was mushy. I have an area in the back yard where a stump was ground last summer. Piled up the chips in the hole about 6" higher than the surrounding ground and watered it 3-4 times a week. The top layer is still chips, but under that is close to being dirt. Still soft enough for the dog to sink in. And I've had to add to some low spots.

[TDKPE]

Dig it out. Fill it with crushed rock (you can go larger for the bottom of the hole) and compact in layers. Crusher run for the last 8 inches. More or less. Compacted in layers. Let it sit, and drive on it for that matter, for as long as you can, before regrading, compacting, and paving.

[crokett™]

This driveway isn't gonna be paved any time soon. What I might do is just clear all the stump stuff away and when I get the crusher run delivered just use some of that to fill the holes in. They aren't that big.

[toolie]

That will help, but leaving the area of the new DW unfinished while it is driven on for a while will help compact whatever is there for a more solid base. But do remove as much of the wood chips as you can. You won't regret it.