Putting down gravel

[redkite]

We've decided to lay some gravel but we are not sure how much we'll need by weight. Although our local (British) builder sells it by the ton, he cannot tell us how much we'll need for an area 10m by 7m added to which, he'll only do a 20 ton delivery - which seems an awful lot of gravel.... or am I wrong

Any ideas guys?

[Clair]

Some info here: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1/1371610/ShowPost.aspx#1371610

[redkite]

Thanks Clair and if I'm reading it right, 5 ton will be more than enough for 70 sq m

[LBV Charente]

We recently did something similar for an elderly neighbour - his area was about 100m2. We used 6m3 of gravel (about 8 tonnes) and it cost us about €30 per tonne delivered by a local builders merchant. We laid it to a depth of about 3" (8cm) and made sure we had a good draining membrane underneath to supress weeds. The membrane cost us about €1.25 per m2 from Bricomarche.

 

[Théière]

Have you seen your ederly neighbour recently? [:)] 3" is getting to the point of too deep, 2" is better for any vehicles that may need to drive off the gravel.

[La Guerriere]

It is also stuff that comes in different sizes: if you have too fine a stuff it will a) wash away and b) be stuff you get stuck in as noted by the revered teapot. You may find it cheaper to get from a local quarry, and you will be able to go in and choose the size. We have different sizes in our farmyard for vehicle traffic and for garden purposes.

[LBV Charente]

[quote user="Théière"]Have you seen your ederly neighbour recently? [:)] 3" is getting to the point of too deep, 2" is better for any vehicles that may need to drive off the gravel.[/quote]

Didn't use it on a drive - calcaire would be my first choice for that. Gravel tends to deform too easily for our liking. You simply end up with large ruts over time.

As for our friend, we simply helped him create a low-maintenance area in his garden. It started off at 3" but over time it will gradually settle to more like 2". As it's a maison secondaire it made more sense that way.

[Russethouse]

 There are several online calculators for weight to cover area....http://www.earthproducts.net/do_it_yourself/calculators_gravel.html

[thunderhorse]

Gravel averages out about 1.6 tonnes per cubic metre. From there it's easy to work out:

10m x 7m x (say) 5cm x 1.6 = 3.5t

8cm depth will give you about 5.6t.

[Théière]

[quote user="LBV Charente"]

[quote user="Théière"]Have you seen your ederly neighbour recently? [:)] 3" is getting to the point of too deep, 2" is better for any vehicles that may need to drive off the gravel.[/quote]

Didn't use it on a drive - calcaire would be my first choice for that. Gravel tends to deform too easily for our liking. You simply end up with large ruts over time.

As for our friend, we simply helped him create a low-maintenance area in his garden. It started off at 3" but over time it will gradually settle to more like 2". As it's a maison secondaire it made more sense that way.

[/quote]

Oh yes I see, totally agree.