Fixing Gravel Driveway after the Pole Barn Construction

Today we are getting two dump truck loads of gravel to fix the driveway. Probably about 15 tons per load. We have 2 places to fix. One is where the driveway has big ruts from all the heavy traffic during the construction of the pole barn. The other is in front of the pole barn to make the driveway come up to the new concrete of the pole barn. I don't have a box blade or land plane, so I am just going to use the loader bucket level everything out.
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Country View Acres
P.O. Box 469
Robinson, IL 62454
We live in southeastern Illinois on a 41 acres homestead. We just finished building our log cabin overlooking our pond. We are trying to grow our own food and raise livestock. Follow us on our journey living the rural life and developing our property and becoming more self sufficient.

[@CountryViewAcres]

I want to eventually get a land plane with some rippers to maintain the driveway. But buying a grapple first. The grapple has been on order for 6 weeks now. Hopefully I will get it soon.

[@alexandert6489]

Now before ya spend more a cultivator does wonders. My grandparents used to just run the cultivator on the driveway and re level with the blade (like the one you used for moving snow in one of your videos) or bucket

[@alexandert6489]

And also use the sicle bar mower on steep parts. My grandma has a steeper drop and the sicle can cut there so should work for ya

[@stevemartinez6757]

Just saw your comment about the land plane. I have never used one but from what I have seen it seems to be the best tool for maintaining a driveway. You will love the grapple. I have one on my skid steer and use it quite often.

[@batpherlangkharkrang7976]

Hi..... Evan nice to see you, thank you for showing your video homestead chicken Duck Goose farmer garden 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 👕🐔🐓🐥🐕🐈🐖🐐🐄🏡🎥👍👍👍

[@michaelsudak6559]

Recently bought a T394 with a grapple. You will have great fun with it. A bit of a learning curve, but does a whole lot of work.

[@csnanny1882]

Now that you have your long work schedule over with,you will have the farm looking great again. I’m waiting for a video. I am happy you got a new tractor. A little at a time.

[@bay9876]

Really good truck driver who knows how to lay down a good gravel road bed.

[@SIB1963]

For just a second, I actually thought I was watching Diesel Creek.

[@walterchapman2884]

I understand there's so much to do around a farm. It's hard to be able to sit around and relax on your days off.

[@PurpleCollarLife]

We get pretty excited about fresh driveway gravel each summer. Who would have thought that it could bring so much joy?! #purplecollarlife

[@robertpayne2717]

Funny several years ago I built a heavy box blade for my tractor I even used it to make a seed beds in my garden...

[@littlemogocreek]

Need a box scrape Evan. Time for toy shopping again ;-) You did do a great job with the float position on that bucket though. It;s hard getting gravel just right. Nice job filming Rebecca.

[@TCWRHF]

Looking good brother! That float feature looks like it works good for back dragging like that

[@jerryroberts631]

Ya make it look fun, I know it isn't, but ya make it look like it is, lol. Beautifl barn.

[@jimmypowell7508]

You may find in the future you want to add the crown in the middle of you driveway to aid in water control so it flows off the driveway

[@oxfletch]

Looks like that dump truck operator was really good at spreading! Hope you kept his number ;) Nice job grading with the bucket

[@leol1682]

Evan we all new that for the flowts on a tractor .loader . mine it's 1999 and have it a flots.

[@bionict-rex4326]

Just before you reach the end of your drag, try curling up the bucket while still in float instead of just lifting up the entire loader. It leaves the end of the drag perfectly flat instead of a little gravel speed bump.

[@leol1682]

Good job your doing .

[@Void9961]

Y’all’s place is coming together very nice brother 🤙 thanks again for sharing with us

[@DonTXPgr]

I love watching your videos. I have making plans to search for land 10 to 30 acres I will design my own house since I worked in architectural firms for almost 24 years. It will be a modern farmhouse and of course with a barn like yours. Thanks for your inspiration and keep up with great vlogs/videos!!

[@royjeter121]

Looking good be safe

[@edgeoftheforesthomestead602]

The difference between men and boys is the size of their toys 🚜🚜 great video as always...watching from Texas

[@jerrywoodlee2345]

The area along the road that you can't mow you could put a large drainage tile there and cover it with dirt that would help support the driveway and you could start mowing it as well. It would look much nicer.

[@jimmygarringer6136]

Hey Evan, be brave and mow that strip by the fence with the sickle bar mower...

[@cathiwim]

Theres an electric fence onthe other side of the grass. Just a weedeater will do

[@lorenmeyer5290]

Gooood morning Evan & Rebecca driveway is looking good! Have a wonderful week!

[@randalljones137]

Did not realize th barn was that close to your house. Very nice

[@CountryViewAcres]

Yes, just a few steps away. I think it's a perfect location.

[@shakey1311]

I really like to see people enjoying what they worked hard for !!!

[@patricklipsius8380]

You can spread some dry cement over the gravel. It will stabllist the gravel more when it get wet

[@peggysizemore4207]

Hi Evan👋🏻 don’t even mow the sides of the drive, that tall grass looks nice blowing in the breeze

[@jorgensonoutdoors3013]

I strongly disagree nothing is better than when you can drive along a driveway and not get the side of you car hit by grass

[@peggysizemore4207]

@@jorgensonoutdoors3013 to each his own

[@sherry2836]

Very nice. Would love to see a garden and animal update😊

[@kingkong7617]

You could see the trees swirling in the wind so no drone, but the driveway looks really good and the barn turned out to be a blessing with all your tools and work area in there plus you can park your vehicles in there also.

[@hankfacer7098]

Evan, now you are into road construction, you amaze me.

[@larryscoles1837]

Keep up the hard work looking good and keep the videos coming

[@kipcudd7253]

You'll want a crown so water won't wash out the middle of your road plus having a land plane with rippers works really well maintaining a gravel drive.you might need an angle blade to clean your ditches out.

[@marksimonar1550]

It's looking great Evan !

[@Wheelloader__]

I’ve done gravel jobs with the bucket. After you do it a while you get pretty good at it. I have a box blade and I still do gravel work with the bucket. Nice video. I have a TYM tractor too. T494 with a cab.

[@ciphercode2298]

Everything's looking great,time to go fishin.

[@CountryViewAcres]

I have, it just hadn't been on video. Caught over 15 fish the other day. Filleted 7 of them and fried them up the next night.

[@ciphercode2298]

@@CountryViewAcres That's real nice,cant beat a good day of fishin.

[@nealpurdy1202]

Evan you can mow that grass on the side of your drive with the sickle bar mower. Farmers used to make money mowing the sides of the road with their sickle bar mowers where i grew up.

[@joelsmithers6887]

Another job well done sir. Looking good!!!

[@margaretbedwell58]

Looks great Evan. Between the truck driver knowing how to drop that load and you knowing how to spread it out, the driveway and approach to pole barn looks great. Enjoy that breeze. Have a Blessed day.

[@PoplarRidge]

Great video (as always!). You might consider taking the gravel on both sides of the concrete apron to the corner of the building. That would allow you to drive up on the side of the apron if you need/want to and also less mowing of a hard edge (less weed eating) and also make a natural edge for the driveway.

[@gregj2647]

Great progress is being made. Ignore the comments of the unhappy few. I know how hard and time consuming videos are to make. You’re doing a great job. You and Rebekah have a great future 👍 I’d get your dads box blade and rough up the 2” stone. The smaller rock is below and needs to be brought back to the surface. I’d do this before buying more.

[@Me-ov9nw]

Looking great! I somehow found that gravel "waterfall" from the truck very satisfying to watch🤣

[@boathead22000]

I would get that area where the pea gravel is showing built up with some dirt. you could top it off with some sod to keep it from washing out.

[@jeffgrogan3173]

I think you did a very fine job with the bucket in leveling out the gravel good job. God bless you and amen

[@davidwatsonii9469]

I'M AFRAID YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TROUBLE ON THE SIDE WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE BOTTOM OF THE SLAB, IF CONCRETE ISNT SUPPORTED IT BREAKS

[@jerrywoodlee2345]

I agree if he doesn't support that side it will definitely break off when he drives over it. And the other end as well

[@jimmieusaf-pol2639]

Evan talks about that toward the end of the video, and how he is going to fix that, if you care to go back and watch the last 2-3 minutes of the video.

[@davidwatsonii9469]

@@jimmieusaf-pol2639 YEAH HE DOES, ANYONE WHO WATCHES USUALLY WATCHES ALL OF ITJUST BECAUSE I DIDNT FEEL THE NEED TO DELETE MY COMMENT, I THOUHT THEY WANTED PEOPLE TO COMMENT SO I LEFT IT

[@deannaoverstreet4146]

Everything looks so good! So proud for you both!

[@nickmastroianni5557]

Diesel Creek just put out a video where he used a power rake to resurrect a church's stone/gravel parking lot. Very impressive results. Worth a look.

[@CountryViewAcres]

I checked some of his videos last week. I will hop over there a look for that video.

[@margaretpervier8357]

That looks really nice.😊

[@w.a.stewart3191]

You did a great job.

[@frrapp2366]

you might rent a trackhoe and clean out and widen the inlet of the pond to get the dirt to fill in along the building i would also put in a small retaining wall for a unloading dock by the cold room

[@robertmatthews4285]

Delivered fill dirt is cheap. Then put a thin layer of top soil on top.

[@garycrumrine9538]

You may want to work gravel around that corner to support that side of concrete. If you don't, that corner is going to bust due to lack of support.

[@danielheartsill4269]

Could you use the cutter you cut hay with to cut that side of the drive way? Drive looks very good along with the pole barn. I am glad you have the pole barn/workshop to have a dry, clean place to maintain your machinery.

[@bobjoncas2814]

...lookin' good, nice job. stay safe..

[@paulcole2575]

Great video keep up the good work

[@williamlane9140]

Nice work man! Just a thought...if you dredge out the pond, use that dirt for the side of the barn.

[@CountryViewAcres]

That is one possibility. But we would need the dirt from the pond to dry first before back filling the barn.

[@duncanraeside3290]

That one nice looking pole barn!

[@marshallsuber3346]

Thanks for the update.

[@Robert-nf1di]

Used your circle bar mower to cut the grass a long the fence an the driveway

[@olddawgdreaming5715]

Thanks for sharing with us Evan. Looking good around there, get something done where the gravel has come out from underneath the concrete. Hopefully it will be good? Glad things are coming together again. Fred.🙏🏻🙏🏻👍👍👏🏻👏🏻👋👋

[@therabster1995]

Great job. Keep up the good work

[@DavisFamilyLife]

Love the progress. Another great video. 👍

[@ruadhscottygirl2480]

Couldn’t you dig out a small pond in a cattle pasture and use the soil for the pole barn? Plant a few trees around the pond. Cattle love to lay in the shade and it would be an alternative water source.

[@carolynclark8780]

Great idea!

[@jamesmorrison1884]

Get a 7ft blade for your tractor would be great. Have a good day.

[@algigirl]

You'd need to dig a water run off trench on one side of the road and other surfaces that over flowed when it rains.

[@jackmargason2594]

Looks great Evan!

[@bevnelson3678]

Looks good

[@johnlongssilverrailz5873]

I especially like the tall feathery grasses bordering the driveway. Nice job

[@donf5722]

Good job Evan you’re such a hard worker! I enjoy your channel buddy.

[@jamesboris1233]

Look great

[@pampilgrim2274]

Hi, Evan! The driveway looks awesome!

[@oldtimeengineer26]

I would mow that part of the drive way with your cycle bar mower, It should do a good making it look good.

[@jorgensonoutdoors3013]

That’s what we always do

[@maddog2771]

Dude I'm pulling my hair out every time you drag that bucket over the new concrete ,

[@Tonetwisters]

Great video, Evan. Thanks for the Email last night!! Got on the Teeter TWICE today! Better back is coming! Great job on that gravel! You have so many skills, and I enjoy all the different projects you and Rebekah work on. I know you guys must sleep very well at night! Be blessed ...

[@jeraldboyd8166]

Had to turn it off around the 9:30 mark. Got sea sick...usually enjoy your videos.

[@kirbyholton1082]

Evan you could probably find you a small dirt pan to pull behind your tractor that you could create you a borrow pit area to get the fill you need to do your leveling around the new pole barn. Keep those big heavy trucks off your gravel drive. It is looking really good.

[@beonyourown9864]

dis is amezing

[@stevemartinez6757]

Nice job spreading the gravel. I am still learning how to be more efficient doing the same thing with a skid loader. A box blade works good if it is set up right for maintaining the driveway. One tool that I have seen used but never tried is a land plane. It seems to be the ticket for driveway maintenance. Funny how this video came up today. I have some stone coming tomorrow that I will be spreading on our driveway. It's going to be a first layer after stripping the top soil and adding some clay/sand mix as a base. I plan on about a 4 inch layer for now with similar material (limestone from 2" down to dust). We are still doing construction on our home, but the driveway needs a bit of work to make access a little better for the equipment coming in and out. Once it's done I'll probably dress it up with another material.

[@gilbertmick62]

Bonjour bien travailler il faut toujours renouvelée pour ne pas avoir des surprises d' affaissements après l'hiver 🇨🇵🇨🇵🇨🇵😘🤗 papy gilbert de France bisous bisous

[@rickdearmont9950]

Fun Fact: the auto generated subtitles thought the truck dumping gravel was applause.

[@bikerdad63]

Hey Evan. If you have any construction sites in your area you can always stop in and see if they have any fill dirt they need to get rid of. Most of the time the most you would have to pay is transportation.

[@dickdavidson3616]

Just a thought…..Maybe take a look at staining the 4 pressure treated posts on the side of the pole barn black to match the rest of the finish. They really stand out in the background of this video.

[@CountryViewAcres]

I was wondering if I could get something to wrap the posts to match the barn. But yes, they do stick out. But trying to fix it will be low on the priority list.

[@dickdavidson3616]

@@CountryViewAcres thanks, agree

[@dickdavidson3616]

Could look into enamel metal cladding, it would be the best but also the most expensive.

[@tomscott3939]

crusher run with driving compacts really well!!

[@douglasmacarthur8775]

A "quirk" of mine while farming was to never drive twice in the same spot on the driveway. Driving the EXACT same spot creates ruts which collect rain water.

[@RainMan32114]

Maybe dig the pond a little bigger and use that material to backfill pole barn

[@marksimonar1550]

Get a roller in there and compromise everything down then go from there.

[@ncrpejxi]

Build up the side of pad with soil and grass

[@robertpayne2717]

A good 6 foot wide box blade would be great for driveway...also you should've where the drive was badly rutted you could have bought some Geo-textile fabric and covered it with Crush and run limestone believe me it works added expense but it works if available crushed concrete works better especially close to the house rain will wash all the fines into base unlike limestone and your shoes soles will stay cleaner

[@rt3box6tx74]

The draft control is probably shot on that antique AC. Rule of thumb... estimate how much gravel you need, then order double. Never bring in new dirt if you can avoid it. Never know what noxious weeds you may get.

[@nottodayfolks4923]

Use the sickle mower to mow along your driveway. You dont need to drive in the ditch to mow it.

[@Truthandlight77]

A sickle bar will mow those edges down nicely. Watch the fence line with it though.

[@waynejones5239]

Use your sickle bar mower to mower to mow the bank

[@robertpayne2717]

Geo-textile fabric usally can be found at a construction equip. Rental supply house...it's fairly expensive so it's your call not mine

[@michaelchamberlain4618]

Use the sickle bar to cut that area.

[@billykowalski4305]

What about spreading ALL of that bad hay out in the areas you are trying to raise up? It will be higher than you need, but it will settle quick and not take nearly as much soil to fill the space after. Bam. Two birds, one stone-bad hay gone and you don't pay for dirt. Just a thought

[@22gonefishing]

Have you thought about digging a small ditch to aid water run off from the pole barn pad and down spout from pole barn and run it to the pond. Driveway is look good with the new layer of gravel.

[@gregkurtz4374]

Dig some dirt from the side of the pond. (suggestion)

[@justinauman5438]

Maybe you could ask the state or township whoever maintains the roads around you if they are doing any shoulder cutting work and have any fill dirt when working close to your place we are always looking for dump sites when we do shoulder cutting

[@Truthandlight77]

My birthday is on Saturday :)

[@farmall1farmall132]

Watch how you tilt and drag you can bend the hydraulic cylinders