Driveway Edging

[jpanhalt]

This has nothing to do with electronics.

My home has a long, gravel driveway of about 1400 to 1700 feet. I keep it covered with limestone gravel, but that quickly gets pressed into the Earth's mantel and disappears forever.

As I mow along the edges, I try to avoid loose gravel, but picking up a few stones and the resulting noise and wear on my blades is unavoidable.

I was wondering about your ideas for non-typical edging. I would probably do only 600 to 800 feet of the drive nearest the house. Some ideas I had were reclaimed plastic decking (about 3/4 " X 4") set on edge or maybe pressed and treated recycled cardboard "bricks". I don't particularly care if they deteriorate over a few years. I just want a reasonably neat edge that won't tear up my mower blades. Railroad ties would be expensive and a PITA to install (they are too wide for an average trencher), but are not totally out of the question.

All ideas welcome.

John

Edit: Has anyone experience with split railroad ties? There is a sawmill nearby, but I am sure he would not want to hit any nails or stones in the ties.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

I do have an idea for you. Use paver edging, It's available at Lowes, but I didn't see it on the website, but have seen it at the stores. The nice thing about it, is that the pavers sit on top of it because it is of an L shape and the winter freeze/thaw cycles don;t raise the edge.

A reminder that your driveway needs a solid base and therefore it needs landscape fabric at the very bottom. Usually you will benefit by a layer of sand or fine stone over the fabric. See: https://www.ehow.com/how_5577262_install-base-pavers.html

I've tried a few things for edging. The balck plastic with the round edges doesn't like a lawn mower, but it's fine say between a sidewalk and a rock bed. It's not fine around a tree.

I used a fiberglass edging material that cam in like 30' lengths and was staked in place with U shaped metal anchors for an unconventional paver project. I used pea gravel instead of paving sand. The drawback is to have to use a weed killer between the cracks, but it was fine for my application. A paver sidewalk under a clothesline.

The next paver project will use the "paver edging" strips.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

I found it under 5512 "paver edging".

 

[jpanhalt]

I could not find that product in Lowes, Cleveland. But Google shows it to be at Lowes. I find Lowes search engine frustrating and even less helpful than talking to one of the sleepy head sales associates.

Under "paver edging" Google was much more productive. This site had several alternatives that match your description:

https://sek.us.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=58

I like the recycled plastic, as that should be kinder to my blades, and the buried L-shape should help hold it in place. Will check into costs on Tuesday.

Thanks for the idea. John

 

[iowa]

Hi there jpanhalt and KeepItSimpleStupid.

How did the paver edging work for you? I've been searching high and low for something that will work to keep the gravel in a driveway I plan to build.

Thanks.

 

[tcmtech]

Speaking of railroad ties I may have a solution for that thats basically free if you don't mind doing a bit of paperwork and waiting.

Stop by your nearest railyard and ask about used railroad ties and timbers. They will give you the name and number of the companies assets handling person or department.
Once you tell them you are looking for used ties be prepared to sit a month or more before they give you the paperwork to sign. From there the odds are you can have all you can haul probably for free!

I work at the local rail yard here in Minot ND and I started the process a few weeks ago and from what I understand most rail road company's are happy to have anyone willing to do the paperwork dispose of their old ties and timbers for them!

As fas as installing goes just rent yourself a mini excavator and hire a few high school kids for the weekend.

If you were closer I would let you have all you want on my account when they finish the paperwork, Would two or three semi loads be enough?

 

[jpanhalt]

Thanks, I will look into it. Local lumber yards have grade 2 (?) of used ties at $10 each (FOB lumber yard). I have seen many hundreds of used ties strewn next to a few lines in the area and wondered if they were for the taking. I don't want several hundred, but two hundred might be quite useful, particularly if they are free. I have the excavator with thumb and 12T wagon to move them.

This is probably a dumb question, but how do you determine who owns the used ties? Aren't most rails shared?

John

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

I gave John this source https://www.yardproduct.com/index.php via PM a while back. The prices look a lot better.

I've only used the stupid stuff for smaller projects. The problem with the stupid stuff is that there isn't much to hold it down, so freeze-thaw cycles cause the edging to come up. An L-shaped edge seems to be the way to go. Anything smooth will have issues.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

I think the easiest way is to call the DOT in your state and ask who owns a particular RR crossing and possibly get a contact number. Here, the RR's maintain the crossings.

Here, I think I would call Amtrak or the local steam train attraction. Since they are non-profit, they may or may not have any, but I do know where their yard is. It's about an 18 mile section.

I would not be surprised if the RR ties are hazardous waste. Copper anti-rot compounds. That's why they would like to re-purpose them.

 

[tcmtech]

Around here Amtrak runs on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe lines all the way to the west coast. They themselves don't own any track but rather rent time on the BNSF tracks.

If I am reading it right my references here at work suggest that Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX ,of which BNSF presently is renting a good number of locomotives from for oil train duty here in North Dakota, are the two primary rail companies in the Cleavland OH area.

If you want to know who's track is who's just watch the locomotives and the car names. Whomever has their name on the majority majority of them is the track owner and the one to talk to.

As far as the old ties along the rail lines around here they sort of just leave them behind hoping someone takes them so that they don't have to waste time and resources picking them up unless they absolutely have too.

They wont make a fuss about you picking up a few old ones here and there as long as you are not close to the tracks when a train comes by. However get too close and believe me they will have you radioed in and the sheriff will be out there before you realize it!

 

[jpanhalt]

I will check it out today. This crossing and a few miles north and south were rehab'd this Summer. The right-of-way was loaded with single track ties.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=41.147913,-82.250488&num=1&t=h&vpsrc=0&ie=UTF8&z=17

John

 

[atferrari]

Edit: Has anyone experience with split railroad ties? There is a sawmill nearby, but I am sure he would not want to hit any nails or stones in the ties.

In my job I've seen used ones quite frequently, but always free of anything like bolts, much less nails. Stones? No stones either.

BTW I recall a packing list of a shipment coming from Europe calling them "sleepers" (which is the literal tanslations of what we call them here: "durmientes"). Does it makes sense in USA?

 

[jpanhalt]

Here is what Google shows for durmientes:
**broken link removed**

I have not seen such ties, as the ones I have seen all have approximately a square cross-section.

John

Edit: In the US you can get a "landscaping" ties, which are considerably smaller than true railroad ties. The ones I have seen are consumer treated wood, not the creosote used by railroads.

 

[atferrari]

All durmientes here are like in that picture.

Those "sleepers" I mentioned above, they were of square section. They seemed creosote treated. Coming from Spain. Too many cracks at the ends.