"Tom Nie" wrote in message
...

Good thoughts and appreciated. The organic bit was a concern I had that
you
confirmed. It'd have to be removed before the stumps cut down, if I went
that way, otherwise I'd just be revealing more stump. One thought put
forth
was 5" of stone.

ABC stone is a crushed mixture that packs like concrete. NC DOT uses it a
lot and it's fairly reasonably priced.

Is it crushed limestone? If so, it can't be beat.


The dozer guy who cleared the stumps for the house insisted on them being
about 4' proud and then had some he walked the dozer around trying to get
'em loose. That's why I'd expect them to tear up the surrounding area when
they get to a decent sized one. I agree mightily about 12' wide. F350
dually
longbed with a gooseneck ain't too cool on a 8' driveway.


4' would be about right for a dozer. It needs a leverage point to push
against. A backhoe will dig them out without leaving 4' standing. As well,
a hoe won't have to get around the stump as much as a dozer will. My
strongest recommendation would be to hog out the stumps with a hoe and then
bring the dozer in to do the cuts and fills. Cut the organic out until you
hit good sub-base, then bring in bank run gravel to bring yourself to within
3-5" of finish grade. With 8" of bank run on top of a good, clean sub-base,
and well compacted, you can get by with just 3" of crushed limestone and
never have a problem for years. If you live in snow country you'll push
some of the limestone off every year, but you can rake it back. Some will
erode away from your car tires, especially on the turns. I re-topped my
driveway with just a skim coat (2") after it had been in place for about 13
or 14 years. It was still quite solid, but there were wear areas that just
needed some more crusher run.

--

-Mike-