Sultan sits on the Sultan River, on the way up the highway toward the trails and the passes. Yards step with the terrain. Water comes off the higher ground, crosses a lawn, and heads for the river or the ditch. Foothill drives fail where water runs down the wheel track. The rock needs a crown, a ditch, and a size that does not float away.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98294 · 2020 population 5,458
A drive that can take the wash
We use crushed rock that locks, and we give the water a ditch that is not the middle of the drive. Culvert crossings get cleaned or replaced if the old pipe is the reason the rock keeps disappearing.
Steep sections may need more than gravel. If the grade is a slide waiting for rain, we talk about a wall or a different route before we spread three loads that end up at the bottom.
The ground in Sultan
The useful projects are the ones that make a sloped lot walkable: a gravel path that stays put, a rock wall where the bank is cutting, a drain at the top of the slope so the patio is not the creek. Forest edge is close. Alders and maples lean in, and after a wind the cleanup is limbs, not a few leaves on a patio.
Lawns exist on the benches. They need seed that can take shade at the tree line and a soil that is often thin. We do not promise a golf-course surface against the timber. Native mountain plants hold the cuts better than a bark bed that just slides downhill in January. Access for machines is usually fine along the highway side and tight once you are in the trees. We look at that before we promise a wall.
How we do the work
Gravel stays put when it has a compacted base, a fabric or a separation from the clay, a slight crown or a cross slope, and an edge. A load of rock dumped on the grass is a mud pit by spring. We dig out the soft soil, build the base, and top it with the rock you actually walk and drive on.
The top rock is not the same as the base rock. Base is angular and locks. The surface might be smaller crushed rock or a cleaner gravel, depending on whether this is a drive, a dog run, or a path.
What we look at first
- Cars, foot traffic, or both
- How soft the ground is in March
- Where the water crosses the drive today
- An edge against lawn or beds so the rock does not migrate
Base rock and top rock
The base is larger, angular, and compacted in lifts until it stops moving under the machine. The top is smaller and thick enough to cover, not thick enough to rut into piles. One material dumped once is not a drive section.
Edges and weeds
Steel, timber, or a paved border on a walking path. On a farm drive, the ditch is the edge. Weeds in gravel get pulled or treated early, before the root is a shrub. A thick, clean surface grows fewer of them than a dirty thin one.
Fabric
Separation fabric keeps clay from pumping up. It is not weed magic, and it is not a substitute for digging out the mud. We lap it and we cover it. Sun-baked fabric at the edge means the gravel was spread too thin.
More from this crew
- Gravel installation across Snohomish County
- French drain installation in Sultan
- Fence installation in Sultan
- Hardscaping in Sultan
- Paver installation in Sultan
- Gravel installation in Monroe
- Gravel installation in Gold Bar
- Gravel installation in Index
Sources for the climate and the water
- USDA plant hardiness map for choosing plants that can take a Snohomish County winter.
- EPA WaterSense on watering less once a lawn or a new planting is established.
- EPA Soak Up the Rain on keeping roof and yard water from becoming someone else’s problem.
