Do-It-Yourself Gravel Driveways

Mark out the location you want for the gravel driveway with either rope or spray paint. Dig your marked-out section down to a depth of 4 inches; this will help contain your stones. Square the edges of the trench with your square-edged shovel and check their depth with a tape measure. Keep the trench as flat as you can by raking it with a stone rake as you go. Compress the loose soil with a hand tamper or weighted roller as you go.

Add 2 inches of rough stone pack that is made up of dirt and fine stones to the trench. Rake out the layer and spray it down with a hose. Compress the stone layer with a hand tamper until you have a smooth, hard surface.

Lay landscaping fabric over your layer of rough stone to prevent weeds from growing up through it. If the trench is wider than a single run of the fabric overlap a second run by at least 3 inches. Drive spikes into the fabric as you go to hold it in place. Make slight cuts at either side of the fabric to roll it around corners.

Cut two notches into a two-by-four that are an inch wide and 2 inches tall. Space apart the notches the distance that you want the outside of your driveway to be.

Run plastic or steel edging around either side of your landscaping fabric. Use your notched two-by-four to keep the edging the proper space apart and lightly pound the edging through the landscaping fabric into the earth below. Always pound on a scrap piece of wood that is placed on the top of the edging; never directly hit the edging.

Add some of the removed dirt in behind the edging to give it strength and blend it in with the ground. Add filler dirt to the back until it is level with the rest of the ground.

Add gravel to your driveway between the edging pieces and rake it out until it is level. Continue to add more gravel until it is half an inch below the top of the edging. Tamp the gravel down and add more. Continue this process until you have a solid packed surface half an inch from the top of the edging.