Gravel paths are great. They crunch when you walk on them. Water and air pass through them. Since gravel is flexible, tree roots under paths won’t cause any damage as they grow. Great, until you need to roll something over them or walk repeatedly through the same area.
If you want to use the area for parking or vehicular access, they’re really not so great… unless they’re a bit more engineered.
Although we would not be driving through our back yard, we would push a wheelbarrow, waste receptacles and other wheeled contraptions over the surface.
Luckily, there are products on the market that transform your shifting, foot-sinking, wheel-rutted gravel path into a firm yet highly pervious surface. All you need is the cellular containment material, your gravel and some geotextile fabric.
Cellular Containment (EZ Roll)
Here’s the EZ Roll, fresh off the pallet, direct from NDS. It really is a roll, although at 360 pounds or so, it’s not too easy unless you have two people helping. If this were a driveway, the roll could have been dropped right onto the prepared surface: easy. Since we’re using it to make wheelbarrow-friendly (and firmer) paths, we’ll be cutting it up as needed.
Gravel
Here’s the gravel, a few yards of Ione Gold, 3/8″ crushed rock. We’ll have to transport it all by wheelbarrow, but once the cellular containment is down, this will be much easier than before.
Since we posted this years ago, the quarry closed for Ione Gold. We’re using California Gold most often now. Typically two things happen with gravel: the source runs out, or the type you want gets scarce and the price skyrockets. Either way, it’s time to find an alternate.
Filter fabric / Geotextile
Use this if you’re using gravel without cellular containment, since the containment system may include filter fabric
If you’re either using compacted aggregate underlay or gravel direct, use filter fabric; it will keep fine particles and clay from mixing with your gravel.
Once the path’s been dug out to accommodate the gravel, we put down a sheet of geotextile fabric to keep the soil and gravel separate. This material allows air and water to pass, so everything stays permeable.
Cutting
When the roll arrived, it looked like we might need a Sawzall or other more complicated piece of equipment to cut it. Nope. All we needed was a sharp pair of clippers. If they’re not sharp, the clipper blade won’t make a clean cut through the bonded filter fabric.
I used kind of a “shark” approach, where I stuck the clippers into the material from below, cutting the plastic and the filter fabric, then sliding the blade along the fabric, then repeating the plunging shark motion when I arrived at the plastic again.
Installation
EZ roll installed in place. Note the anchor pin on the upper right side of the image.
The EZ Roll gets staked down to keep it from sliding. This is probably more important for vehicular areas, but it does make installation easier, since it holds everything flat as you install the gravel.
The roll comes with a box of anchor pins. You hammer them into the ground through loops (holes) in the plastic grid of the EZ roll.
If you’re using something other than EZ Roll, the system will probably be similar, but be sure to read the instructions in any case.
A thin layer of gravel (or sand) can go over the weed barrier fabric, just to create a level surface for the cellular containment.
You can skip the filter fabric here to save cost, since you’re just making things level without fluffing up the soil – fluffy soil will settle later.
If this had been a vehicular area, things would be more complicated, with a thick layer of compacted aggregate going down over a first layer of filter fabric, then the cellular containment sheet.
In any case, check with your containment system’s manufacturer for instructions specific to what your doing and for your soil type.
Adding the gravel
Once the lower gravel bed is level, the cellular containment gets rolled into position and staked down. After that, all that needs to be done is adding a layer of gravel.
We put about 1/4″ to 1/2″ of gravel over the top so that the grid won’t show unless there’s some major scruffing going on. In that case, a quick wipe of the foot re-covers the cells.
As you can see, the grid is completely hidden.
You may need to occasionally rake gravel back over exposed areas to hide them. Occasional raking is a good idea anyway since it removes debris and keeps the gravel looking neat and level.
Thanks to NDS for supplying the sample EZ Roll Gravel Pavers. I don’t know why they call it pavers when it’s a big roll instead of separate units, but then I’m not the head of their marketing department, either.
If EZ roll isn’t available in your area, or you just like choices, Invisible Structures makes a similar product, GravelPave2.
Some products are interlocking tiles, easier to transport and install in smaller areas.