Asked on Feb 19, 2019
How do you keep stones from sinking in mud?
by SHERRY
+1
We needed to expand the width of our driveway so we poured sm.stones over the ground, they sunk, we tried garden stones they sunk in the mud too.The soil has clay under top layer. Can anyone help us with a solution? Thank you
Suggested Project Book
Easy! Remove the stones. Lay several layers of top quality landscape fabric. Secure to ground. Replace the stones. If you want to take it a step further, here is how.
https://youtu.be/upV9gQv6Ks4
https://m.wikihow.com/Make-a-Gravel-Driveway
Hi, Sherry,
You needed to dig down sufficiently deep and install many tons of 2B gravel first.
Clay is notorious for being heavy, sticky, and acting like quicksand if heavy stones or weight is placed atop. It becomes ridiculously muddy in rainy/wet/winter weather, and will compact like concrete if walked on, in those conditions.
In a lawn area, it requires digging deeply, adding huge amounts of glauconate greensand ( east of the Mississippi) or gypsum (west of the river), composted cow manure, perlite, and lime, to change the soil acidity.
I agree with Olivia that you'll need to put something under your rocks that will keep them up and allow proper drainage. Maybe even consider sand or pea gravel under the rocks.
You need what they call Crusher Run gravel, it will form a surface so the bed of the drive is built up and will hold. We hauled ours from the gravel pit and because a deacon from our church worked there he advised us when we had the exact same problem . Hope you can get some gravel that will work, Sherry