Thousand Square Feet: A New Driveway

Is anyone else in awe that it is August already? Time keeps slipping away so very quickly! With a week like last, it is no wonder. We were so busy, going somewhere every day, which is not the norm for us. One major event of last week was the building of a new driveway out at the country property. This is something we had been debating since last year. The reason we wanted to move it is this: the original driveway is narrow and if we want to not have to shovel the snow in the winter and would like instead for dad's large tractor mounted snow blower or blade to move it, we needed a wider driveway. That could have been as simple as adding on. But the other, greater issue, was where we wanted the house to go. We have plans for it to be in a certain spot and weaving the old driveway through the yard to get there just didn't really make that much sense. It made more sense to make a completely new, wider driveway farther down the road. So last fall, all the trees that would be in the way were cut down. Then this spring, Jay doubted the wisdom of moving the driveway. After we cut all the trees. They were already growing back but still, we cut them all down, moved all the branches, hauled all the wood away. It was a lot of work. Then we stopped. And Jay thought. And thought. And thought. Jason is a thinker, in case you didn't know. At times it drives me batty and at times I am very thankful for his thought process. When he makes a choice, he doesn't usually change his mind. I know that I really wanted the driveway to move even if it meant more work but I thought it would work best for the yard. I had to give up that desire to allow Jay the freedom to make the best choice all around. If we left the driveway, I could live with it. There are many more important things in life to wonder about then a driveway! If we moved it, that would be fantastic. So, on his own last week, he came to me and said we are moving the driveway and getting an excavating company to build a new one - we had planned to do this ourselves! I was so EXCITED!

Spot for new driveway before cutting trees.

Trees are cut and stumps are being removed

Old driveway

Digging up old driveway

Moving dirt to new driveway location

Watching the action

New driveway crosses the ditch

Old driveway removed

So, that all happened on Thursday morning. Then Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, they hauled clay to form the long driveway to the house. First they removed the topsoil because a driveway built on topsoil is bound to be a mushy mess once the frost leaves the ground in spring. Forming a driveway on the clay out of clay ensures a hard driveway unaffected by frost. So, truck after truck hauled clay. (The clay was free since we were taking it from the same hole they were making to fix the lagoon at Jay's hog barns.) The dozer packed it between every load. It is a good foot higher than the ground around it, 350' long and about 25' wide! Lots of room to get large equipment in! Lots of room to drive! Now, we just need to let it dry out and harden then before winter we will bring in the rocks and the driveway will be done, for now! What a thrill!